![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
As I am ALL ALONE at work again today, and thus working the closing shift, I had free time between lunch with the parents and coming to work and ended up going to Hastings, where the used books rack seduced me into buying the following:
Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear*
Ombria in Shadows by Patricia McKillip
Melusine by Sarah Monette*
Seimaden Vol 1 by Higuri You**
*I swear these have been recced to me, but I can't remember who by.
**This involves a man who became a demon to save his true love, only to have her die anyway, and has been sitting around waiting for her to be reborn ever since, and has to win her back now that she has been. Not quite my usual fare, but then, neither is Cantarella.
Meanwhile, has anyone read/does anyone read the following(all of which caught my eye while I was looking for a couple manga that weren't there):
Air Gear(it sounds fun, but A) same person as Tenjho Tenge, and just glancing through the first volume of that set off the wrong alarms, B) the rivals clubs/gangs thing has gotten rather old, to me)
GinTama (aliens invade Earth and put the samurai out of work, so they take up odd jobs? Could be amazingly awesome, or amazingly wrong...)
Kurogane(half metal samurai boy out for revenge with a talking sword. See above.)
Also, no one wants to explain Tsubasa Vol 16 to me?
Upside to being alone? Aside from the fact that I'm getting used to it, I don't have to worry about anyone looking at my Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service manga and giving me weird looks.)
Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear*
Ombria in Shadows by Patricia McKillip
Melusine by Sarah Monette*
Seimaden Vol 1 by Higuri You**
*I swear these have been recced to me, but I can't remember who by.
**This involves a man who became a demon to save his true love, only to have her die anyway, and has been sitting around waiting for her to be reborn ever since, and has to win her back now that she has been. Not quite my usual fare, but then, neither is Cantarella.
Meanwhile, has anyone read/does anyone read the following(all of which caught my eye while I was looking for a couple manga that weren't there):
Air Gear(it sounds fun, but A) same person as Tenjho Tenge, and just glancing through the first volume of that set off the wrong alarms, B) the rivals clubs/gangs thing has gotten rather old, to me)
GinTama (aliens invade Earth and put the samurai out of work, so they take up odd jobs? Could be amazingly awesome, or amazingly wrong...)
Kurogane(half metal samurai boy out for revenge with a talking sword. See above.)
Also, no one wants to explain Tsubasa Vol 16 to me?
Upside to being alone? Aside from the fact that I'm getting used to it, I don't have to worry about anyone looking at my Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service manga and giving me weird looks.)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 08:52 am (UTC)We get a fae kelpie, who suddenly gets stuck with someone else's conscience and emotions
- a female kidsnatcher for the Fae who used to be the daughter of the leader lady of the rational wizards on the opposite side
- a werewolf inheritor of King Arthur's job
- a rational King Arthur like I haven't seen since the Fionavar Tapestry (he doesn't show up enough in E. Wein's books, although he seems to have some common sense there, too).
- The light and dark Seelie Fae courts, plus Robin Goodfellow
- a new Merlin who's female
- an enemy wizard who has to realise he has been lied to for years on end
- the mother of the world
- lots of Tam Lin references
- lots of references to Hell and Lucifer and Christopher Marlowe
- the father of the female lead who was the husband of the Faerie Queen and is now ambassador to Hell
- the most capable and sympathetic Morgan Le Fay ever
- lots of magical bonds that can kill you if the person who holds them dies
anyway, it's a first book of a whole series she's planning and she wrote she'll jump around the timeline in the series, so the second one Whiskey and Water (out now) is actually a follow-up to this, but the third and fourth ones (out later this year) jump back to Elizabethan times and tell some pre-story (how come Christopher Marlowe ended up in hell).
It's not an easy to read book, you have to pay attention like with all of her books, but I think it's worth it.
Gintama
Date: 2008-03-15 08:01 pm (UTC)I actually have read air gear - and well....boy gets into territory fight with roller skating thugs, goes back to the house he shares with three attractive sisters, they all happen to be sekrit ninja roller skaters, he gets a pair of tricked out roller skates...wackiness ensues.
I keep on waiting for something to happen - because I'm an art geek, and I do like the artwork, but storywise, it's not terribly compelling (I only base this on the first three volumes I own), and ultimately, story is more important.
Re: Gintama
Date: 2008-03-15 08:04 pm (UTC)Air Gear...ham...I'm mostly a story and character geek, with art as a nice bonus...
Re: Gintama
Date: 2008-03-15 08:19 pm (UTC)I'll have to check it out. And ES finally finished, so now I can get it.
D'oh, forgot to add
Date: 2008-03-15 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 09:35 pm (UTC)Hmm, I was a translator for Air Gear scanlations for a while. I like it for the gorgeous art (awesome poses, stylish panel layouts and funky street fashion) and the capable execution of the standard shounen formula. After a while you can just tune the boobs out because the author provides plenty of fanservice in the form of hot guys too... Despite the relentless barrage of boobies, most of the female characters are fun and more than capable of holding their own against the boys. So it's an average series with nice art. I got kind of bored of translating it, though, because the plot is so much fluff.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 09:42 pm (UTC)The problem I have with trying out Air Gear isn't the fanservice so much...I tried reading the first volume of the TenTen manga and despised it, and I had the TenTen anime rec, and didn't finish the first ep. Just rubbed me completely wrong.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 05:30 am (UTC)I really love Akito/Agito. He's the most interesting character and the most fun to watch.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 11:26 pm (UTC)Air Gear is less wacko than Tenjou Tenge, simply because it's really just a simpler story but you can still tell that Oh!Great cannot write worth a damn.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-15 11:32 pm (UTC)Is there anythign incredibly awesome on Air Gear to compensate for the writing?
no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-16 02:43 am (UTC)