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| 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.
