My favourite reads in 2024, part two: mangas

Part two of my favourite reads in 2024 is about mangas, manhwas, manhuas and webtoons. I read 143 comics last year, the large chunk of which were review copies. Of those, I mostly only read the first volume, not finding them interesting enough to continue, but I’ve found some really great ones among them too. On top of those come webtoons, which I haven’t reviewed, either because they’re ongoing or because there aren’t entries for them on Goodreads. I mostly posted my reviews there, with only a couple of exceptions that I published on this blog.

Here are my favourite reads in the order that I read them. Click the titles for my reviews on Goodreads. (You can find my favourite novels of 2024 here.)

This Time I Will Find Happiness by Mamenosuke Fujimaru and Riko Saiki is a romance manga about a young woman who has lived a several lives, only to lose her fiancé in all of them for another woman. It starts a bit slow, but the story turns more complex as it goes on. I have read the first three vols and have vol. 4 waiting already.

My Ultramarine Sky by Nagisa Furuya is a lovely stand-alone high school BL manga of two classmates and childhood friends who fall in love.

Therapy Game Restart by Meguru Hinohara, of which I read vols. 3 and 4 last year, continued a fine manga of a rather difficult m/m romance between a vet and a photographer. I’m eagerly waiting for vol 5.

Spy x Family by Tatsuya Endo is one of my absolute favourites. It’s about a unique found family who each hold a secret from another: father is a spy, mother is an assassin and the daughter can read minds. I read vols 11-13 past year, the last of which I got as an ARC, so it won’t come out until later this year.

Another great favourite is Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture by Toji Aio and Mikage Sawamura, of which I’ve read the light novels out so far too. It’s about a professor of folklore and his assistant exploring supernatural events in Japan. Manga vols 3-5 came out last year and I read them all.

One of my absolute favourite feel-good reads last year was Mr. Villain’s Day Off by Yuu Morikawa. It follows an alien general conquering the earth, only to be distracted by the cuteness of pandas. Five volumes are out in English and I read them all.

Tied to You by What and Chelliace is a BL romance where fated mates discover each other by a red string that appears between them. Two volumes are out, but the rest is available on Tappytoon, and I’ll finish it there, as it’s not available as an ebook.

Another feel-good, low-angst read is The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity by Saka Mikami. It’s a sort of Romeo and Juliet story between a good girl and presumed bad boy, who is actually a sweetheart like her. Four volumes came out last year and I read them all.

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies by Cocoa Fujiwara is a bit like Mr. Villain’s Day Off, but with a romance between the conquering alien general and a magical girl. It’s a volume of the complete series, and unfortunately unfinished, as the author has passed away.

Takara’s Treasure by Minta Suzumaru is a stand-alone BL romance between two college students who make an unlikely pair. One of them has a trouble understanding social signals and the other is the coolest guy in the university. 

Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite by Julietta Suzuki is a funny manga of a vampire girl who moves to Japan to be closer to the fandom of her favourite TV series. She strikes a friendship with a boy who knows vampires are real. Only one volume is out so far, but I’ll read more.

Semantic Error by Angy and Soori Jeo is an interesting start to a BL college romance, not that there’s any romance in the first volume, as the men hate each other. I’ll definitely read more.

Worst Soulmate Ever by Haruta is a fun start for an omegaverse BL romance between two men who also hate each other. Only the first volume is out, but I’ll read more.

The Big Apple Vol. 1 by Harusari and Hodot is a Korean manhwa about a sniper for a secret agency and his businessman boyfriend. Only one volume is out so far, but I’ve been reading the official webtoon on Tappytoon, and I have to say, the first volume doesn’t do a good job giving out where the story goes.

My favourite romance manhua by far was I Ship My Rival x Me by PEPA and Qualia. It’s the sweetest and funniest BL of two Chinese idols whose fandom is convinced the two are in love, even though they’ve barely interacted. But a movie project changes things. Only one volume is out, and no ebooks, but I was impatient and located an unofficial version online and binged the entire hundred or so episodes. In my defence, the official English webtoon no longer exists, as Bilibili, the Chinese publisher, shut down their English webtoon service, so the fans had uploaded what was published and translated the rest.

Dinghai Fusheng Records by Fei Tian Ye Xiang and Qian Er Bai is a danmei xianxia manhua of the last exorcist and his martial god hero on a quest to find out why magic has died. Only one volume is out so far, but I’ll definitely read it all.

Among the cute, low-angst reads was My Kitten is a Picky Eater Vol. 1 by Migiri Miki of a man who has trouble organising his own life rescuing a little kitten who refuses to eat anything but what he cooks for him. Only one volume of 13(!) is out, but I’ll read on.

My Secretly Hot Husband by Harara and Jungyeon is a manhwa transmigration webtoon of a Korean woman reborn in a fantasy world, where her family makes her marry for her father’s debt. Only one volume is out so far, but the official webtoon is on Tapas, and I’ll continue there.

In December, I became obsessed with Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint by singNsong and Sleepy-C. It’s about Kim Dokja who finishes a webnovel he’s been reading for a decade about how to survive an apocalypse, only for the world to end and the world of the book take its place. Only five volumes are out and only as physical books, which is why I’ve postponed reading it (I don’t have room in my shelves). But I haven’t been able to leave be, so I’ve been reading an illegal version online, as the original doesn’t exist anywhere that I can access it.

Along with the Omniscient Reader, I picked Solo Leveling by Chugong and Dubu, which is about another young man, Sung Jinwoo, trying to survive an apocalyptic world too. He’s the weakest of hunters clearing dungeons in Seoul who dies and reawakens with a computer system that helps him become stronger. Ten volumes are out in English so far, but the official webtoon is on Tappytoon, and I’ve been reading it there, although I’m reviewing it volume by volume on Goodreads. So far, I’ve read three vols.

In addition to these, I’ve been reading a dozen or so webtoons on Lezhin. My favourite is Jinx, a BL manhwa of a toxic MMA fighter and his sweet physical therapist. I’ve already read what’s published so far twice. Second season just began. Dawn of the Dragon, another BL just ended, as did BL series Low Tide in Twilight, and Limited Run, just to name a couple of favourites. Ongoing comedic favourites are BL Be My Baby, and Paws and Claws, the latter of which just began. On Tappytoon, I recently began I Tamed My Ex-husband’s Mad Dog, an ongoing fantasy romance.

Jinx by Mingwa

All in all, my reading was heavy on comics of all sorts. As all my favourite series are very long, I suspect the same will continue this year.

My favourite reads in 2024, part one: novels

Year 2024 has officially ended, and so has my reading year. I wrote my last review on the New Year’s Eve, which isn’t to say we didn’t celebrate at all, but we were at home and I had time for reading. The last book I read was Solo Leveling vol 3 by Chugong & Dubu, a very good manhwa series I picked on Tappytoon, but which I’ve been reviewing based on published volumes.

I read 207 books last year, of which 64 were novels and 143 mangas, not including ongoing webtoons that I haven’t reviewed. Most of the mangas were review copies and not all were that memorable, but I’ve mostly reviewed them on Goodreads and not here. Some gems among them too, though, and I’ll be going through those in part two.

Of the novels, quite a few were Chinese serialised danmeis. They’re not always very good books, but they are entertaining and belong among my favourites. Two of the series were concluded last year, Thousand Autumns by Meng Xi Shi and Guardian by priest, both of which were very good. The latter has a TV adaptation too, which I talk about here.

Twelve novels stood out this year. Here they are in the order I read them. Click the link on the book name for the full review.

He Who Downed the World by Shelley Parker-Chan. It concluded the Radiant Emperor duology, and while it didn’t hit me like the first volume, She Who Became the Sun, the year before, it was excellent queer retelling of real historical emperor.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennet started a wonderful fantasy mystery series, Shadow of the Leviathan. Everything works, the unique world, the mystery, and especially the wonderful characters.

Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo is a great debut. It’s an UF mystery set in modern Seoul, and follows a detective who can see the spirits of living and dead.

Cascade Failure by L.M. Sagas is an excellent sci-fi debut. Set in deep space, it follows a ragtag crew trying to save the universe. I also read its follow-up Gravity Lost. It was good too, but not quite as impressive as the first book.

Death in the Spires by K. J. Charles is a wonderful historical mystery set in early 20th century Oxford. It has a lovely queer romance and an unconventional ending for a mystery.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler is a western version of more typically Asian isekai genre, where the character is transported from the modern world to a fantasy world. The main character has died thousands of times trying to save her new world, only to reborn. This time, she’ll be the bad guy.

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis is another great debut. An evil wizard had lost his memory and decides to turn a new leaf. It doesn’t go entirely smoothly. A fun read. 

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee is YA sci-fi set in a unique universe where peoples’ worship upholds gravity. Two competing systems of faith create conflicting gravities, between which the main character has to choose.

Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh has to be on the list too. I love Psy-Changelling series and this addition to the long series was a bit better than the couple of previous ones.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is one of her fantasy retellings. It’s a great, gothic tale set in a slightly fantastical world, complete with an undead horse.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo is a short fantasy homage to a city loved by a demon. It doesn’t have much of a plot, yet it was impossible to put down. I also read her The Brides of High Hill, an interesting gothic novella set in ancient China.

And lastly, The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap, historical novel set in the early 19th century Edinburgh where anatomic schools are in great demand of dead bodies, giving rise to a macabre industry of body-snatchers.

All in all, an excellent, varied list of books that kept me happily reading the whole year. Stay tuned for the manga edition of my favourite reads last year.

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Resurrectionist by A. Rae Dunlap

The Resurrectionist is a historical novel set in 1820s Edinburgh, which was the centre of medical learning of the time. Not only were the ideas concerning medicine more enlightened, the students were able to study with actual human bodies, albeit those of the dead. But people weren’t exactly willing to donate their bodies to study medicine, so the only legally available bodies were those of people executed by hanging. It didn’t offer many opportunities, so the bodies had to be obtained by less legal manners, hence the rise of body-snatchers like Burke and Hare, who made steady business with providing bodies to anatomy schools.

James Willoughby is the third son of a landed gentry and is expected to find a profession to support himself. He spends a brief spell in Oxford, studying to become a clergyman, which he is wholly unsuited for. But science, especially medicine, draws him. So he abandons Oxford and declares to his family that he’ll be studying medicine in Edinburgh instead, leading to his father’s untimely death. That has unfortunate consequences for James, because it turns out, his father has gambled away the family fortune and there’s barely any money for his studies.

It doesn’t matter at first. He finds a cheap accommodation, throws himself to his studies, and makes some like-minded friends, enjoying the freedom of spirit Edinburgh offers. But then he learns about the anatomy schools that offer a proper chance to practice with human bodies, and he has to join one. Problem is, it costs money he doesn’t have.

Unwilling to let the opportunity go, he asks if he can help out at the school in exchange for a cheaper tuition. And the surgeon’s assistant, Aneurin MacKinnon, a dashing and brilliant if slightly eccentric young man, agrees. James is to be a lookout while Nye tries to capture body-snatchers. Only, that’s not what it’s really about, as James discovers for his horror. Nye is a body-snatcher too, or a resurrectionist, as he calls himself.

They part ways, but when James’s family informs him that the money is completely gone and order him to return home to become a businessman instead, desperation leads him back to Nye to become a body-snatcher too, as the money is good. It’s a life-changing experience for him. Things seem perfect at first; his friendship with Nye is blooming amid their criminal adventures, soon deepening to love and adding another thing he needs to hide from his friends. But this doesn’t last. A ruthless gang of body-snatchers arrive to Edinburgh, and James and Nye find themselves stepping on toes of Burke and Hare.

This was a good book, and an excellent debut. The story was interesting and flowed in a fairly fast pace. The narrative emulated 19th century prose very well, made fresher by the first-person point of view. James was a likeable if single-minded in his need to study medicine, but not always observant when it came to his surroundings and his friends, so the historical setting and side-characters apart from Nye remained slightly vague. It’s not a long book, and while it wasn’t a “Twisty Gothic Mystery” that the subtitle promised, it was entertaining. The ending was open enough that there might even be more adventures of James and Nye. I would be willing to read them.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint vol 1 manhwa by Sleepy-C and singNsong: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint vol 1 manhwa by Sleepy-C & singNsong

I kept hoping the manhwa would come out as an e-book, but no such luck, so I finally caved and bought a physical copy. My bookshelf is not thanking me.

This is an excellent start to a series, if somewhat abrupt. No time is wasted with backstories. We meet the protagonist, Kim Dokja on a subway train on his way home from work as he finally finishes a book that he’s been reading for ten years, Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse. He’s been its sole reader the entire time, and as he sends a thank you note for the author, he gets a free download in return, after which the book disappears. And then the world ends.

It turns out, the universe is a playground of constellations who watch the worlds and their inhabitants struggle in their final moments for their amusement. The best they support and sponsor as their incarnations, until it’s time to move to the next world. And everything is unfolding exactly like in Kim Dokja’s book. But he’s not the protagonist. He’s not even someone who’s supposed to be in the book, let alone survive the first scenario designed to kill as many people as possible.

However, he has the entire book at his disposal and knows how to play the game, which comes with displays of dialogue boxes and experience points. And he’s granted a special skill: omniscient reader’s viewpoint, which allows him to read the minds of his opponents. Armed with this knowledge, he sets out to survive.

The first book sets the scene and gives us a good idea of the kind of person Kim Dokja is. He’s a survivor, not a victim, underdog, but not discouraged by it. I like how he’s atop of things from the start, morally a bit grey, intelligent, and cunning. Other characters are introduced as well, but only briefly. Art is beautiful large-panel webtoon illustrations, and work in print too, which isn’t always the case.

My only complaint is the insistence of these English translations of switching the order of Korean (and other Asian) names to western one with first name first and family name second, as if readers are too stupid to know the cultural difference, and leaving out the polite ways of addressing people that are integral of these cultures. But it’s a minor thing; I can switch it back in my mind—and in this review. I’ll definitely continue, even to the detriment of my shelves.

The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish Vol. 3 by Xue Shan Fei Hu: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol 3 by Xue Shan Fei Hu

The delightfully silly transmigration story has reached its third volume. Prince Jing has been ordered to the empire’s western border to show his mettle, and naturally Li Yu, his beloved pet fish, follows him there. It’s a quiet town pestered by bandits and locusts, and Li Yu has practical suggestions for solving both. The latter is handled by bringing ducks to the affected areas to eat the insects, which leads to establishing a restaurant too.

The main story is Prince Jing and Li Yu consummating their relationship (which I thought they’d done already), which leads to a surprise pregnancy. The fish scamming system, the programme guiding Li Yu’s transmigration journey, had asked for Li Yu’s consent, but did it during the act itself, when he wasn’t exactly paying attention and just agreed to anything it said. The possibility of pregnancy hadn’t even occurred to him, both of them being male.

Luckily, the system gives him a choice to handle the pregnancy as a fish. It still makes him a rather unique male fish, but at least the entire thing is easy for him. The only difficulty is hiding it from Prince Jing, because he still believes the prince doesn’t know the man in his bed and his favourite pet fish are the same. But when four fish eggs pop out, it’s difficult to keep secrets anymore.

Four lovely boy fishes emerge, but they need to wait for nine months before they turn into babies, a good stretch to fake Li Yu’s pregnancy. Despite some questions raised, most people take it in a stride. In the background, Prince Jing is trying to make the emperor to accept Li Yu as his consort instead of concubine. Once the babies are born, i.e. turn human, he finally gets the permission and the two get married. No one opposes and no one questions that the babies are theirs. There’s even blood test done by imperial physicians who confirm the children’s lineage.

Apart from one last test for Li Yu, during which he learns to transform into a merman, the rest of the story revolves around the babies. They’re rather unique, having spent nine months as fishes learning things a normal human baby has no idea of. They can communicate with each other and try to do so with others too, and learn to walk and talk and even sort of write before they’re even a year old. They’re cute, but not as cute as Li Yu as a fish, and there are no silly antics. Even outsiders notice this, when Prince Jing tries to show off a substitute fish as his favourite pet.

But the sixth prince hasn’t given up his ambition to be named as the crown prince. He’s stirring trouble on the background, and is ready to strike. The volume ends just as he makes his move. It’s a cliffhanger of sorts, but I would’ve read on even without it. The feel-good, low angst silliness of this series keeps me happy for days.

That being said, I only gave the volume four stars for slightly slower pace. Li Yu turned into a respectable adult who no longer had time for his fishy antics, and the children weren’t quite up to his level of cuteness yet. The next volume appears to be the final, so I’m hoping it’ll bring the old Li Yu back.