2023 Book Reviews October-December

All of the books/graphic novels in this article have an ISBN and that is why they are in this category instead of with comics as comic spotlights.

Fiction

Star Wars: Poe Dameron, Vol.2: The Gathering Storm

I felt that even as a graphic novel that there wasn't enough meat to this. It need more to it. It was kind of nice getting more of Poe's story, but it felt half done. 3 stars out of 5 or a C.

Komi Can't Communicate Vol 13

This was not too bad of a story. Manga like this are good at showing things like social disorders and the impact that those disorders have on people. 4 stars out of 5 or a B.

Cells at Work! Vol 1

OMG, I wish I would have had this manga years ago when I first started studying biology. This series is a great way to sneak in learning into pop culture. For those that don't know, this series looks at how cells in the form of manga characters work together to keep an organism function. Like many of the action scenes is when the body gets invaded by some type of pathogen. This was also a Five Below find and I think it's great that they are selling the first couple of volumes for cheap to help pull readers in without them dropping bigger bucks when they are just wanting to sample something. 5 out of 5 stars or an A+.

Bride of the Water God Vol 1

I found the first 4 books of this series at a garage sell. The owner said she was getting rid of them so she could get new stuff. You never know where you will find things. What attracted me to this series was the artwork. The cover art was not a lie on this one (which does happen a lot). The story is ok. I wish there had been a little more character development in this first volume to pull you in and make you want to read more. 

Bride of the Water God Vol 2

This volume did pick up on the intrigue with possible scandal as Soah starts to be exposed to more of the secrets in the realm and craziness with he love life. More of this kind of material should have been in volume 1 to make readers want to more on to volume 2 instead of making readers wait for things to get good. 4 stars out of 5 or a B.

D.Gray-man Vol 3

This trope seems very over done where a character gets trapped in a repeating day. I'm not really sure how I feel about this series. I have friends that really like it, but there just doesn't seem to be a draw to me. I'll give it a few more chances and I hope that this series picks up a bit. 3 stars out of 5 or a C.

Fairy Tail Zero

I really liked the Fairy Tail anime. The manga is ok. This was an interesting backstory to show how the guild got its start. At the same time I want to let people know that it can be depressing. There is death and the twist at the end is so sad. You have been warned. 4 stars out of 5 or a B.

One Piece Vol 8

Deciding to go back and read more One Piece after the live action series has come out was a great idea. This one was especially heartfelt since this one includes the evolution of Sanji joining the crew. Now when reading this, even though you already have the visualizations of the characters, I found myself putting in the live action cast. 4 stars out of 5 or a A-.

One Piece Vol 16

Chopper enters the storyline here and they are such a cute addition. I did enjoy4 stars out of 5 or a A-.

One Piece Vol 18

Not a big Ace fan, but if you are here you go. 3 stars out of 5 or C+.

Angelic Layer Vol. 3

CLAMP has so many good series out there, but this is not one. It was hard to get into. For a battle focused manga it moved really slowly without achieving anything. I wish that this volume would have gone into a little more of the behind the scenes stuff with her mother. This series has some cool aspects like this back story that CLAMP just did not build in a way to capture readers in the same way that their other series do. I would be willing to give more of this series a chance, but only because it was created by CLAMP. 2 stars out of 5 or a D.

Nonfiction

They Called Us Enemy

I had been wanting to read this graphic novel for awhile ever since I heard George Takei talk about it at Fan Expo years ago. This is a great example of how graphic novels can be used to teach. Seeing things from a kid's perspective is also important in understanding how events can impact everyone and the impacts that those events can have on a person's life. I would highly recommend this book to not only people interested in history and the Asian American experience, but also to general readers so they can expand their knowledge base around the human experience. 5 stars out of 5 or an A++.

Picture 1 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32791635-star-wars

Picture 2 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55711437-komi-can-t-communicate-vol-13

Picture 3 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29844802-cells-at-work-vol-1

Picture 4 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1702887.Bride_of_the_Water_God_Volume_1

Picture 5 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1997428.Bride_of_the_Water_God_Volume_2

Picture 6 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/569432.D_Gray_man_Vol_3

Picture 7 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27774550-fairy-tail-zer

Picture 8 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/364955.One_Piece_Volume_8

Picture 9 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/662986.One_Piece_Volume_16

Picture 10 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2382362.One_Piece_Volume_18

Picture 11 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42527866-they-called-us-enemy