Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Romance & Manga

I went to the UBS yesterday afternoon looking for a Juliana Garnett title, as recommended by Romancereadingmom. I didn't find the one she read (The Laird), but I did find The Knight & I already have The Scotsman in the TBR. I also bought another copy of Anne Stuart's Black Ice. The original copy I had disappeared out of the TBR & I can't find it.

As I mentioned a few days ago I really want to dig in & read some manga. Daughter reads the series that are TV tie ins & she really enjoys them. I thought I'd try it too- show the Daughter you can teach an old dog new tricks, LOL. The UBS has barely a half a shelf, but I did find one I wanted. Only one or two of the books had a description of the story. Some begin on what would be, in most Western countries, the back cover. Others were set up like regular books (Front to back). Anyhow, the one I bought is actually book two in a pair. Written by Hiroaki Samura the series is called "Blade of the Immortal" and the book is On Silent Wings II.

The back cover says:

"In her quest across feudal Japan to avenge the murder of her parents, Rin has seen too much death and agony. When she befriends a young boy, she is horrified to discover that his father is one of her parents' killers. Weary of blood, Rin now wishes only an apology from the killer, a mask maker whose only desire is to keep his evil past from his son and who will take up the sword again to protect his secret. Protecting Rin, however, is the immortal samurai, Manji, but if he kills the mask maker, will Rin's young friend be drawn into the same cycle of vengeance that has scarred her own life?"

According to the author blurb, Samura has won awards for this series both in Japan & the U.S. I am attracted to the quest storyline & the fact that none of characters appears to be an archetype. I am totally unfamiliar with Japanese cultural & literary archetypes though, so I might discover later that these are stock characters. Still, it looks & sounds promising.

Daughter read the first several pages & wants it when I'm finished so at least that part of it might work.



3 comments:

Tara Marie said...

After reading 2 lousy books, I've moved on to rereading The Scotsman and probably will read The Baron after that.

Manga leaves me completely clueless, but as my son wont be reading these anytime soon, I'm not worrying about it now.

Bob & Muffintop said...

Tara- Sorry to hear you're in a bit of a slump. Rereading some oldies but goodies will hopefully do the trick & get you back to your usual pace.

Martheus- Thanks for the heads up about Blades of the Immortal. I appreciate it. Can you recommend any other series? I'm very new to manga & need some ideas. TIA

ag said...

Hey Amanda,

I just bought the first 13 eps of Twelve Kingdoms, an anime series based on the manga series by Fuyumi Ono. Liked the synopsis. Let you know if they're any good.

I really dig these time travel stuff compared to some of the darker, macabre, and slightly tragic series with vampires working hand in hand with humans to rid the realm of evil. Oh yes, long before Underworld came along, there was Blood: The Last Vampire and Vampire Wars.