The Restorer's Home Omnibus Vol 2 by Kim Sang-Yeop: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Restorer's Home Omnibus vol 2. by Kim Sang-Yeop

The second omnibus of this Korean comic series contains volumes 3 and 4, requests 14 to 27 to restore items; a hefty reading of 400 pages. Sungwoo Yoo, the high school student with a supernatural ability to see spirits in items and restore them, can’t catch a break. He’s still permanently broke trying to maintain the huge traditional Korean mansion after his father disappeared, and feed the horde of ghosts of an ancient king who needs Sungwoo to restore special items to gain back his powers.

This is a fun mix of Koran history, restoration details, high school life, and manga antics. Sungwoo makes a couple of new (reluctant) friends, helps people in their troubles, saves an ancient site from destruction, and restores a few items. He even manages to restore enough of the king’s items for him to briefly return to his true form, and he’s not at all what I—or Sungwoo—expected him to be. But more needs to be done.

His father is still a no-show, but he sends Sungwoo the king’s artefacts regularly, so he’s alive. And the mother who hasn’t even been mentioned before, features briefly in Sungwoo’s memories. The cliffhanger ending seems to hint of her return. And it might not be a good thing.

I liked this as much as the first volume. The black and white illustrations are good, stories were interesting, the pace wasn’t quite as hectic as in the first, Sungwoo’s fate didn’t jump up and down as badly, and the king and his horde were even helpful occasionally. I’m definitely interested in reading more.

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

The Restorer’s Home Omnibus vol 1 by Kim Sang-yeop: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Restorer's Home by Kim Sang-Yeop

The Restorer’s Home is Korean manhwa that really spoke to my historian’s soul.  Sixteen-year-old Sungwoo Yoo has inherited a traditional Korean mansion from his grandfather and since both his parents are absent, he has to take care of it by himself, with no funds. That’s the smallest of his problems.

As an archeologist, his father was responsible of destroying an ancient tomb and now the spirit of the king buried in there—currently looking like a ten-year-old—with his retinue that includes a female bodyguard and a concubine, have moved into his house, wreaking havoc. They need Sungwoo to repair the original tomb, but since that’s not possible, they’re here to stay.

Sungwoo is special. He has an ability to see the spirits of artifacts and determine how he can repair the items to original condition. The story consists of requests of repairing things, each more unique than the other. Some involve his school friends; some are random encounters, and all are delightful, with Korean history added to the mix. The book ends at a cliff-hanger and I’m interested in reading more.

This was a wonderful mix of high-school drama, cartoon antics, and Korean traditions. It doesn’t seem like a combination that should work, but it does, very well. Sungwoo was a great character, caring and self-conscious, and determined to do the right thing. He suffers from being abandoned by his parents, which shows occasionally, but he doesn’t let that make him bitter. His house is filled with ghosts from 1500 years ago, which he takes in a stride, befriending them and all sorts of interesting people along the way.

Illustrations were black and white and good, with great attention paid to the details of the artifacts that were being restored. At times though, the characters looked a bit too much alike, which was slightly annoying.

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