manga: Ultimate Venus Vol 1-2

Yuzu never knew she had any other family until her dying mother asked her to deliver a message to her grandmother. Kicked out of her apartment for not being able to pay the rent, Yuzu is planning to sleep in the park until a handsome young man named Hassaku finds her and tells her he was sent by her grandmother. Said grandmother being Mitsuko, the glamorous head of the Shirayuki family, who lives in a castle and has a small army of bishounen footmen who double as bodyguards. She doesn’t care about her daughter’s last wishes but decides to have Yuzu trained as a potential heir, and gives the job to Hassaku.

It’s not particularly original, but is fairly entertaining, and doesn’t seem to be going the reverse harem route it initially looks like. Yuzu is possibly the only shoujo heroine who can top Tohru Honda in her fixation on her dead mother, though Yuzu’s fixation tends to manifest itself by spouting her mother’s rules, which seem to include things like “if a man corners and threatens you, kick him in the nuts,” and “if someone grabs you, bash them in the face with your bag.” Unfortunately, the various men so far are largely jerks, especially Hassaku, her apparent love interest, who spouts on about his complete devotion to Mitsuko, hints at a past with Yuzu, and regularly talks about how Yuzu’s wants and wishes are irrelevant in the face of his duty. I’m sure he has some deep, angsty reason for this that fans love to bits. Really, he seems to be the kind of hero that most love. He’s rather…kdrama-ish? But I’m really not interested in the deep, angsty pasts that will make his (and all the other jerks, I’m sure) being a jerk to Yuzu totally sympathetic. Really, aside from Yuzu and Mitsuko (who’s rather cool in a scary way) most of the cast are decorations or jerks, with the exception of one character who seems to be being set up to be the sweet guy passed up for Hassaku.

Once A Princess by Sherwood Smith

First, a small cover rant that is totally unrelated to the quality of the book itself: A headless woman cover! Why must my Sherwood Smith book have a headless woman? I don’t think I’ve read anything from Samhain Publishing before that isn’t one of Smith’s books, but they managed to let the women keep their heads! (I might be less annoyed if the sequel’s cover didn’t have a man with a head AND a face…)

Thirty or so years ago, a hippie named Sun met and fell in love with a prince, Mathias, from another world, and they married and had a daughter, Sasha. The prince never promised her that things would be easy, and they weren’t. When his brother-in-law, Canary ok, not his real name, but we’ll stick with the nickname) took Mathias to war, Mathias sent Sun and Sasha back to Earth. Unfortunately, Mathias never came to or sent for them, and their only contact with his world were the enemies who sometimes tracked them down.

Eventually, Sasha decided she’d had it with the constantly travelling and the combat training and such and settled down to become a waitress, only to be found again, this time by people who claim to be allies, and they take her back. Sun, naturally, is having none of that, and also returns to find her daughter, and hopefully learn what happened to Mathias, and both get caught up with factions working against Canary.

I like that Sun and Sasha aren’t quite welcomed back with open arms, as people aren’t really sure whether they abandoned the kingdom, or that they had to go, and I’m glad that Sun doesn’t seem to have spent the last 15 years asexually twiddling her thumbs and pining for Mathias, and that Sasha curses her hormones when it comes to the loudly dressed pirate, Zathdar, because she may not trust him and he may have awful fashion sense, but that doesn’t stop him from being attractive and witty. I have a fondness for stories driven by family, even if the family members aren’t actually interacting much, and this delivers.

There’s also crossdressing, secret identities, an absentee prince, a possibly mad queen, spies, traitors, inept rebels, and soldiers turned hoodlum.

In short, the world of fiction needs more stories about badass mothers on the run with their kid. Pirates can come too, though they might want to reconsider their wardrobes first.