What I read in February

February turned out to be a good reading month, despite being short, brought about by a week-long vacation that I mostly spent reading. I read eight books and twelve mangas, and liked almost everything. Links are to my reviews on this blog or Goodreads.

My favourite book turned out to be The Orbof Caraido by Katherine Addison, a novella set in her Goblin Emperor world. It was a surprise addition to my reading list, as I hadn’t known it existed. I read it the moment I found it, and now I’m eagerly waiting for her The Tomb of Dragons which comes out later this month.

I read books 2 and 3 in Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde alt-history fantasy trilogy, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands and Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales. I’d postponed reading the second book, but then I got an ARC of the last book and had to read them back-to-back. It was a good decision, in hindsight, as the last book continues where the previous one left. Both were fun and good.

Other review copy reads included Juliette Cross’s A Rebel Without Claws, which started a spin-off series in her earlier world. I didn’t like it as much as the earlier series, but it was fine. I also read The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton, a fun sci-fi romp that turned out to be one of my favourite reads last month. The reading month ended with a review copy of The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor, a YA fantasy that had potential for more, but a fine enough read.

My Chinese danmei enthusiasm was rewarded with two books, both of which came out last month. Peerless vol. 3 by Meng Xi Shi was a great addition to an interesting series about two secret service bosses in ancient China. Intrigue and heartbreak aplenty. And in Case File Compendium vol. 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou the complicated story of two men who hate each other for various reasons saw one of them have a change of heart. Maybe it’ll turn out to be a romance after all.

I read five review copies of mangas, but none of them stood out. There was Love on the Horizon 1 by Machi Yamashita, a cute but small gay romance; Palace of the Omega, Vol. 1 by Fumi Tsuyuhisa that I really didn’t like all that much, mostly because the love interest was a child; Fall In Love, You False Angels 1 by Coco Uzuki was a silly and a bit weak high school romance; My Stepmom's Daughter is my Ex, vol. 1 by Kyosuke Kamishiro and Rei Kusakabe was also a high school romance, but surprisingly bitter; and lastly one more high school romance, A Star Brighter than the Sun, Vol. 1 by Kazune Kawahara, which was cute but really slow.

I had better luck with mangas that I chose for myself. There was vol. 2 of I Ship My Rival x Me by Pepa, a fun, sweet, and cute series of two Chinese idols working on a same movie. I’ve read the entire series online already, but the official second volume came out last month so I re-read it. It was still perfect.

The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity vol 5 by Saka Mikami continues to be my feel-good high school romance manga, sweet and uncomplicated. I found a new feel-good manga too, A Man and His Cat vol 1 by Umi Sakurai of a man who gets himself a cat after his wife dies, giving a home for a cat no one else has wanted. Funniest high school manga was The Otaku Love Connection 01 by Chu Amairo of a boy who ships his class-mates’ romance.

On action front, I finished two volumes of Solo Leveling by Chugong & Dubu, vols. 9 and 10. I’ve read this online too, on Tappytoons, but I review it volume at a time. The series keeps getting better. In addition, I’ve been reading Omniscient Reader manhwa by SingNSong and Sleepy-C, but I’ll have to wait forever for official publications to catch up before I can review it. I also read Black Butler 1 by Yana Toboso, but for once I encountered a manga that I couldn’t get into at all. My other webtoons have almost all gone to hiatus, so there’s nothing to report there, except Jinx by Mingwa BL manga is getting on gear after a slow start for season 2.

Excellent reading month, if I say so myself, with all kinds of fun books and comics. March is packed full already too. I hope I have time to read it all.

 

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor

The Otherwhere Post takes place in a city that used to be a shared point between three worlds, which all occupy the same space in their universes. Travelling between them used to happen through doors upheld with magic. But then one of the worlds was taken over by a fast-spreading poisonous vine, killing the place, and the doors had to be destroyed to stop it from killing the other two worlds too.

Seven years later, there’s still no travelling between the two remaining worlds except for couriers who can create individual doors for themselves to deliver letters, some of which have waited since the doors were destroyed. One such letter finds Maeve, several years after it was sent.

Maeve is the daughter of a man who was accused of destroying the world, and a survivor of it. Her father’s name is a curse and she’s learned early on to hide her connection to him. She changes her name and living place constantly, never settling anywhere or confiding in anyone. But then the letter tells her that her father was innocent. She needs to learn the truth, but the problem is, she doesn’t know who sent the letter.

Her only option is to join the school of scriptomancers to learn the ancient art of travelling between the worlds. She cheats her way in and starts to investigate. It proves to be difficult in many ways, but the biggest obstacle is that in order to create a door to another world, she needs to reveal her real name.

But someone in the school already knows it. She’s getting threatening notes, some of which are spelled to physically harm her. She prevails and even makes friends who seem eager to help her, even if she doesn’t tell them the truth about why she’s investigating. But whoever wants the truth hidden isn’t above killing.

This was a good book, but it fell a bit flat for me. The world was interesting, but underused, as it mostly took place in one world and inside the school. The scriptomancy was intriguing, but the narrative never made proper use of it, even though it was pivotal to it, and Maeve’s knowledge of inks and languages was all but ignored. Side characters were nice; Tristan made a good YA hero with his tragic past and willingness to help Maeve, though the inevitable romance didn’t convince me. I liked the slow burn though, and that the pair didn’t hook up the first chance they got.

However, the mystery and how Maeve investigated it was downright infuriating in its randomness. Most clues were handed to her and then she made a mess of them. But the biggest disappointment was Maeve herself. She was a character whose first instinct was to flee at every obstacle. While it was understandable at the beginning, she never grew out of it, or grew as a person. It made it difficult to root for her, knowing she would always take the easy way out, cheat, lie and run no matter who it hurt, to which she never gave the slightest thought. Most disappointingly, she was sidelined from her own investigation at the end. It may seem like she solved it, but she only learns the truth because the villain tells it to her, and then officials take over, leaving her to read what was happening from letters.

Nevertheless, this was an easy, fairly enjoyable read if one doesn’t overly analyse it. It wasn’t too scary and there were no graphic scenes, so it suits younger readers too. This is a stand-alone, and the ending is conclusive and good.

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

Peerless Vol. 3 by Meng Xi Shi: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Peerless vol 3 by Meng Xi Shi

The story really gets going in volume 3. It starts at the encampment of the Western Khaganate where Cui Buqu and Feng Xiao had been honoured guests until the second prince was suddenly murdered at the end of the previous volume. Now the men stand accused of the deed. The way out of the situation is to solve the crime themselves. But instead of Cui Buqu doing the investigation, he volunteers to stay as a hostage while Feng Xiao investigates. Only, the latter has no intention of doing so.

Cui Buqu has an ace on his sleeve though, and doesn’t need Feng Xiao—until he does. In the end, the mystery is solved rather fast, and not in any way I thought it would. The men are now free to travel back home where they are hailed as heroes.

Their adventures at end, they continue their separate lives as heads of their rivalling secret service organisations. But Cui Buqu has promised a rare musical instrument for Feng Xiao as a reward for saving his life. It turns out to be in the hands of Cui clan, and the men travel together to fetch it. But the instrument is all but forgotten when Feng Xiao has a chance to learn about Cui Buqu’s past and his connection to Cui clan. It’s an interesting and sad story, but Cui Buqu has a chance to air old grievances and eventually emerge on the top.

But the men haven’t forgotten the mysterious secret organisation that seems to be behind all their troubles. Going after it again leads to a sudden gut-wrenching twist and betrayal the kind that’s familiar from the author’s Thousand Autumns novel. The end is a huge cliffhanger that leaves Cui Buqu in mortal peril. It’ll be an agony to wait for the next volume.

This was maybe the best volume so far. A lot happened and the men really became their own characters. Cui Buqu especially had a chance to shine. There wasn’t much in the way of romance, only brief teasing moments, and after this volume, the road to a happy ending will be long. The secret organisation and its motives remain a bit over the top, but as an adversary, it’s interesting. Side characters from previous volumes didn’t really show up and new ones didn’t take their place. All in all, an entertaining read.

The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton

The Fourth Consort is a sci-fi novel set in a universe where the earth is still very much like present, but part of the space-faring Unity, after aliens showed up to make sure humans don’t destroy the planet. But the Unity isn’t quite that altruistic and they always get something in return. From the earth, they get people.

Dalton Greaves is an engineer, a former soldier, and an all-around accomplished person who has lost the grip of his life after his father died. No other family is mentioned. When even his girlfriend dumps him, he’s more than willing to accept an offer to work for the Unity and leave the earth.

Three years later, somewhere deep in the universe, he’s starting to question the wisdom of the decision. For years, he’s travelled from one potential planet to another in a three-person grew captained by Boreau who is a giant slug representing the Unity, and Neera, a fellow human who recruited him. He hasn’t really had a chance to do what he was hired to do, diplomacy to win over the inhabitants of whichever planet they want won over. Mostly, he and Neera are very bored.

When they finally find a promising planet with intelligent civilisations, it turns out they’re not the first ones there. The Assembly, a rivalling alien organisation on the same mission as the Unity is there as well. Dalton, Neera, and the representative of the Assembly have barely landed on the planet, when both their motherships are destroyed, stranding them.

For Neera, the proper way to handle things is immediately to kill the person from the Assembly, an insectoid species derogatorily called stickman, though we never learn what they call themselves. Dalton refuses. As a former soldier who has done his fair share of shady missions in Bolivian jungles, there are things that shouldn’t be done, and unprovoked killing of an unarmed person is one. Miffed, Neera decides to stay in their landing craft while Dalton and the stickman go to negotiate with the natives of the planet, giant ant-like people called minarchs who live in underground hives.

The negotiation takes a bizarre turn though, when the queen of minarchs (First Among Equals) decides to make Dalton his fourth consort. Consorts two and three (Bob and Randall) are still around, but the first consort has met an unfortunate end. Consorts don’t have any power—males are powerless in the female led society—and Dalton finds himself confined to a harem and sidelined from the negotiations.

For minarchs, exchanging consorts is a way to deal and consolidate power with neighbouring hives. But choosing Dalton, who they see as a prey species, is an odd choice that triggers a coup to remove the queen. And the easiest way to do that is to kill Dalton.

That’s only the beginning of his troubles. He’s constantly juggling between trying to stay alive, the pressure from Neera to kill Breaker, the stickman he’s sort of befriending, and making sure the Unity wins the negotiations. But it seems that the only thing he has any influence on is choosing how to die, honourably—according to the codes both minarchs and Breaker subscribe to—or dishonourably. Someone will be disappointed, no matter how he chooses. But increasingly, he’s starting to lean towards disappointing Neera and the Unity.

This was a really good and entertaining novel. It’s deceptively small; it takes place in one hive, and nothing major happens, even if a coup is going on in the background. Dalton sort of drifts from one event to another, with no real agency over anything but his own reactions to them. But he’s not helpless, and in the end, he pulls through on his own terms.

Dalton is a great character with a good moral code, even if Breaker and the minarchs don’t understand or respect it. Neera, for her part, is a corporate drone and her actions are dictated by her fear of the Unity leaders. Breaker is the aloof knight type of a character, a teacher or sensei, who is more atop of things thanks to his clearer understanding of what kind of people minarchs are. He has the teacher’s hope of elevating Dalton to his and the Assembly’s level, and in the end, the two come to understand each other as friends. (The description mentions a bizarre love triangle, but that’s misleading in every way, as there is no third or even a romance.)

The ending is good, and while it concludes the story, it does have a seed for a new beginning. I’d definitely read more stories of Dalton travelling the universe.

Bob and Randall forever.

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

Case File Compendium Vol. 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Case File Compendium vol 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Volume four did something I thought could never happen: reduced the hostilities between He Yu and Xie Qingcheng. Not easily and completely, but it’s a step in the right direction if one wants a happy ending for the men.

The volume continues from where the previous left, with the men about to drown inside an airtight chamber. Since they think this is their last moment, Xie Qingcheng tells the younger man his greatest secret. It’s nothing I had imagined. And then they’re saved at the last moment. Now that they’re alive, the truth completely changes how He Yu sees him. The same isn’t true for Xie Qingcheng.

They agree to stay apart. Easy for Xie Qingcheng, but impossible for He Yu. Even when Xie Xue falls ill, clearly because of the illegal drug He Yu’s been affected with, Xie Qingcheng doesn’t contact He Yu. But He Yu finds about it anyway and decides to investigate. Eventually, he has Xie Qingcheng roped into it too.

But the shady organisation is constantly one step ahead of them. Every time He Yu thinks he’s about to have a breakthrough, the clue is removed, usually with violence. Until he stumbles onto one that even the masterminds haven’t come to think of. It sends the men to a remote village, which turns out to be the home village of many players they’ve come across so far. It can’t be a coincidence.

As they investigate, they find a crime that has nothing to do with them or the case, but which the perp wants to keep secret anyway. It puts the men in mortal peril once again. The volume ends with a cliffhanger, with Xie Qingcheng on his last breath.

This was the best volume so far. Focus was on the men and their relationship, with only brief glimpses of other players, which weren’t terribly important. He Yu is mostly sane, and while he still wants to force Xie Qingcheng to have sex with him, he manages to stop himself. He’s found a new truth about his relationship with Xie Qingcheng and he has no idea what to do with it. For his part, Xie Qingcheng is starting to see He Yu in new light. Not enough to forgive him yet, but maybe he doesn’t hate him as much anymore. I’m eagerly waiting to find out how that turns out.

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

In the third Emily Wilde book, it has come time for Emily and Wendell to claim back his kingdom in the faerie. The book picks up right where the previous ended, with the same journal entry, as the pair go through the door to faerie. They prepare for the worst, but everything goes well.

Too well, it turns out. Because the former queen has put a curse on the land which kills the nature, and it’s spreading. Emily must head back to the human realm and search for suitable fairytales to find out what kind of curse it is and how it’s broken. She even has surprise help from Professor Rose and her niece Ariadne.

And they find the solution. Problem is, someone has to die for it. Back to research it is. And it turns out, you can cheat death and change the story. But the fairytales don’t like it. At all. To stop things from becoming even worse, Emily has to get help from someone who might want her dead to rescue someone who definitely does.

This was another great story. Stakes were high and academic research was on point. Emily had less trouble in faerie than she feared, but she was happy for a chance to stay in the human realm too. Wendell was as attentive of her as ever, even more so now that his magic is properly back. (Endless journals for Emily.) The ending was good, if this was the last book, but as it sent the pair on yet another research expedition, there’s room for more books of their adventures too. I’d definitely read them.

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

The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Orb of Cairado by Katherine Addison

The Orb of Cairado wasn’t on my reading list for this month, solely because I didn’t know it existed. It came out at the end of January and I’d completely managed to miss all mentions of it beforehand whilst waiting for The Tomb of Dragons to be published in March. It’s book 1.1 in The Chronicles of Osreth series, aka The Goblin Emperor world, a novella that takes place at the same time as the first book.

The explosion of airship Wisdom of Choharo that kills the emperor at the beginning of The Goblin Emperor also kills its captain Mara Lilana, the best friend since their childhood of Ulcetha Zhorvena. His widow finds a random map in an envelope addressed to Ulcetha, who after a brief bemusement realises it’s the first clue of a mystery.

Ulcetha is a former historian second class at the University of Cairado, but he was accused of stealing a priceless artefact and was thrown out of academia. Mara’s clues lead him to where the artefact had been hiding all these years, which only leads to another puzzle: how did Mara know it’s there when he’s not an academic nor knows anyone in academia.

Ulcetha also faces the dilemma of returning the artefact so that he’s not accused of stealing it again. The historian first class he contacts is very helpful though. The artefact is a map to The Orb of Cairado, a relic of great importance, and together they travel to unearth it and a treasure buried with it. As a reward, Ulcetha gets his academic position back.

But the original mystery won’t leave him alone. Who stole the artefact in the first place? Because it could only have been one of his fellow historians. Finding the answer changes his life forever.

This was an amazing novella in a sense that events that could’ve easily filled a full-length book took place during nine chapters and about a hundred pages, effortlessly and without rushing. It has a satisfying three act structure, and nothing was lacking, information or descriptions. The mystery was perhaps easily solved, once Ulcetha put his mind to it, and key witnesses didn’t waste anyone’s time by denying knowledge, but even that came across as the way it should be. And while the thief was easy to guess, I for one didn’t foresee the answer to how Mara had known about it.

Ulcetha was like all the main characters in this series, an underdog trodden by life, but kind, resilient, and just (even if he worked as a forger). In a world of elves and goblins, it would’ve been nice to know which one he was (or I missed the clues), but in the end it was more important to know that he wasn’t an aristocrat like the other historians, the reason they so willingly believed he was the thief. The ending sets him on a new path. Maybe we encounter him later again. I would like that.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Emily Wilde's Map of th Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands is the second book in Fawcett’s delightful alt-history series set in 1910s academia. Emily Wilde is a researcher in dryadology that studies fairies and other mythological beings that aren’t mere folktales in this universe. She’s a resourceful, no-nonsense woman in her early thirties, and the books are narrated as her journal entries.

In the first book, she conducted field studies in Norway with her colleague and academic rival Wendell Bambleby, but it turned out he’s not a human but an exiled king of a fairyland. He’s joined academia because he’s searching for the door to his dominion. The two became romantically involved and he even asked for her to marry him. She didn’t give him an answer.

In this second book, the pair sets out to search for the door. Emily has become convinced that a researcher who disappeared in the Austrian Alps fifty years earlier had found a nexus that is a door to several places simultaneously, Wendell’s kingdom included. All they have to do is trace her footsteps.

Joining them is their head of department, Professor Rose, who doesn’t trust her research methods, and Emily’s niece and assistant, Ariadne, who is a bit afraid of her and a lot afraid of Wendell, after learning who he truly is.

They find themselves in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere surrounded by borderlands to fairy and with people who are at least partially fay themselves. Finding the door isn’t easy though, even if the villagers can pinpoint the exact place where the researcher disappeared, and have seen her wandering around for decades, lost in the fairylands. Making things even more difficult are the hostile or mischievous fairies attacking or hindering them, and the assassins sent by Wendell’s step-mother who has usurped his throne.

The biggest problem is, however, that Wendell has been poisoned by the assassins. They try everything to cure him, but in the end the only solution is for Emily to travel to his kingdom for a special cure. It’s never wise for a human to go to fairy, and less so when the place is ruled by the person who wants them both dead.

This was another great book. I like Emily’s dry academic tone with which she records everything, with footnotes, and her unwavering belief in herself. Wendell is funny with his fastidious ways, and his devotion to Emily is heartwarming. Professor Rose was a good addition, if annoying at times, and Ariadne was nice, even if she didn’t really rise from the background.

The story flowed smoothly, helped by Emily’s habit of recording only the pertinent. That lowered the tension during the action scenes though, as she left a lot unsaid, but it made the overall feel of the book cozier. And she finally gave her answer to Wendell’s proposal too. Onwards to the next book.

January reading recap

As a new thing this year, I decided to start summarising what I’ve read each month. I read a lot of manga that I only review on Goodreads, some of them review copies, and I’d like to give them a wider audience.

In January, I read and reviewed 24 books, 22 of which were mangas/manhwas. Well, Dawn of the Dragon vols. 1-2 I’d read as a webtoon on Lezhin last year, but they have entries on Goodreads now, so I added them there.

Eight of my reads were review copies for NetGalley and Edelweiss, plus I started but didn’t finish one review copy that I didn’t like. Only one review copy was a novel, Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao, an interesting but not entirely satisfying read. 

The rest were mangas/manhwas. My favourite was I'm Here, Beside You, Vol. 1 by Tea Natsuno, a second chance high school romance where the main character finds himself back in his high school body. Hell Is Dark with No Flowers, Vol. 1 by Ruka Todo was also interesting, a paranormal manga of a young man who can see criminals as monsters, so he ends up working for an envoy from hell who punishes the monsters. Men of the Harem, Vol. 1 by Yeongbin is, despite its name, a court intrigue fantasy.

Of the reads that weren’t review copies, my favourite novel was, unexpectedly, Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture, Vol. 5 by Mikage Sawamura. It’s a comfort read series that hasn’t failed me yet. I also started, but didn’t finish yet Remnants of Filth vol 5 and Ballad of Sword and Wine vol 3. Those I will read and review here eventually.

A favourite manhua was Sanctify by Godstation about an exorcist trying to solve two massacres that have happened decades apart. It was advertised as a romance, but it’s definitely not that. You can read my Goodreads reviews here: vol. 1, 2, and 3. 

On the lighter end of manga spectrum were My Kitten is a Picky Eater Vol. 2 by Migiri Miki, and Otaku Vampire’s Love Bite, Vol. 2 by Julietta Suzuki. Both fun and cute. Mobsters in Love by Chiyoko Origami finished with vol. 3. It was a good ending. And vol. 2 manhua of Dinghai Fusheng Records by Fei Tian Ye Xiang came out last month too.

Mostly though, I’ve been binge reading Solo Leveling by Chugong & Dubu, of which I read vols. 4-8. I’ve been reading it on Tappytoon, but reviewing volume at the time on Goodreads. You can read my reviews at: 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.  I’ve also started other similar manhuas there, but those haven’t progressed to reviewing state yet, on top of which I’ve continued reading Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint by singNsong and all the ongoing series on Lezhin.

All in all, a fun reading month, even if I didn’t read or finish all the review copies of novels I was supposed to. I have three novels and several mangas waiting to be reviewed in February. Hopefully I’ll do better this month.

 

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture Vol. 5 (Light Novel) by Mikage Sawamura: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture vol. 5 by Mikage Sawamura

In this volume, we finally get to what we’ve been waiting for: Naoya returns to the village where he accidentally entered the festival of the dead and gained (or was cursed with) the ability to hear lies. It doesn’t go well.

It’s the summer break of Naoya’s second year at the Tokyo university. He has no plans, as he’s estranged from his family and doesn’t really have any friends that he’s aware of having. When Professor Takatsuki invites him to participate in the night of one hundred horrors arranged at the university premises, he agrees, even if he’s not particularly interested.

The event is held at night in candle light. Every participant tells a ghost story until a hundred of them has been told. At the end, something supernatural is supposed to happen—and it does. But to Naoya’s surprise, Professor Takatsuki isn’t showing his typical enthusiasm for the event, which has to mean it’s fake. The mystery part of the first story is about finding out who and why, which is easily solved and isn’t terribly exciting.

Then it’s time for Naoya, Takatsuki, and KenKen to travel to Nagano and the small village there where Naoya’s grandmother used to live. He is warned against going by his new acquaintance who has also attended the same festival and gained the ability to hear lies, and by Miss Sae, the mystery woman who may be a mermaid. But Naoya needs to find out the truth.

The villagers try to keep them away too, but no one tells them why. No one wants to talk about the festival either. But Professor Takatsuki is determined to learn everything. They join a similar festival at a village nearby, and on their way back at night, they finally find what they’re looking for. Everything seems mundane at first, until Naoya stumbles into the real festival of the dead, held in the realm of the dead, and accidentally pulls Takatsuki with him.

There they finally learn why everyone wants to keep them away. The mountain god collects the people who return to the festival and keeps them forever. And this time, the price for being let out is steeper than it was when Naoya was a child.

This was a good volume. The first part wasn’t terribly spooky, despite the topic, as the ghost stories weren’t recited to the reader, and it’s mostly about Naoya observing people. The second part was great. We meet Naoya’s cousin who tells stories about his childhood, and in the realm of the dead, Naoya goes over his life in flashes, and we learn that he was very unhappy and lonely as a child. It almost makes him give up, but he also remembers the good things and friends he’s made at the university, which gives him strength to fight free.

But he’s not the only one remembering his past. Takatsuki does too. He finally remembers parts of what happened to him when he was abducted. But in a cruel twist and an annoying cliffhanger, before he can tell what it was, the entity inside him makes him forget everything—including the adventure in the realm of the dead they just had. I hope he’ll get his memory back in the next volume. It would be too upsetting if he forgets the first real supernatural event he’s witnessed. I’ll definitely read on.

In the extra story, one of Takatsuki’s graduate students reflects on the professor and why she’s not in love with him even though all her girlfriends assume she must be. It’s a nice addition to the character profiles so far.

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Water Moon falls between fantasy and magical realism. It’s partially set in modern Tokyo, but it could happen anywhere, as Japanese mythology doesn’t really play a part in the story. Hana and her father run a pawn shop that exists in a world separate from ours. Only a door to a ramen restaurant in Tokyo connects the two worlds. When a person really needs the pawn shop, they’ll end up there instead of the restaurant.

They pawn regrets, and no one ever returns to claim theirs back. Instead, the regrets have an important purpose in Hana’s world (it plays a great role in the story, so I won’t reveal what it is.) The regrets can never be let go. But Hana’s mother had stolen one when Hana was a baby, and has been sentenced to death for it, a trauma Hana and her father have never recovered from.

Now it has come time for Hana to inherit the shop. But on her first morning as the caretaker, she finds the place ransacked and her father missing along with the last regret he’d pawned before retirement. She doesn’t want her mother’s fate for either of them, so she sets out to find her father and the regret.

She has unexpected company. A man walks in the pawn shop, but not to pawn anything. He doesn’t really have any regrets to pawn. Instead, he wants to help. Keishin is a scientist with an interesting story of his own, which is revealed in small snippets. He’s stunned to discover a different world, but he keeps an open mind, eager to learn everything.

It’s quite an adventure through Hana’s world. It seems rather random at first, but bit by bit, they follow the footsteps Hana’s father has taken. But when they reach their goal and learn what has happened, the truth is something neither of them had expected.

This was an interesting, lovely and wistful story of grief, trauma, and self-discovery. Hana is a person with a purpose she can’t deviate from, literally tattooed in her skin. Keishin has an imaginative, flexible mind, and a big heart. Both were likeable, but while I expected a romance between the two, I wasn’t entirely convinced by it.

The narrative was interesting. Chapters were short, sometimes only a page long, and they only told exactly what the reader needed to know. The narrative jumped between past and present. I liked it at first, as the story advanced fast. But eventually I found it unsatisfying. Interesting concepts and imaginative ideas were briefly introduced in every chapter, only to be left behind and never properly explored. Action began and ended, without any aftermath, jumping to the next thing on the list.

Characters suffered from this most. There was no time for their emotions, the romance included, and no insight into how they felt at any given moment. There was no room for foreshadowing either. This really backfired with the revelations at the end, as they were pulled out like rabbits from a hat: they were interesting but with no emotional impact. The ending fell completely flat.

All in all, this was a four-star book at the beginning, but as I grew dissatisfied with it, I had to lower my rating. Still, it’s well-written and imaginative, so if you read for ideas, not emotions, give it a try.

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

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.