I'm finally back in the office after my summer vacation! I spent a week exploring the lovely historic city of St. Louis, Missouri, with a close friend of mine, a fellow librarian. Now that I'm back at work I have a lot to get caught up on, including book reviews. And can you believe it, this is the tenth collection of my reviews? As always, we have a lot of manga, as well as some historic themes, so let's get started.
Title: Snegurochka of the Spring Breeze
Author/Illustrator: Hiroaki Samura
Rating: 3/5
Published by Kodansha and available June 24, 2015, Snegurochka of the Spring Breeze combines my love of manga with my fascination with Russian history (though my name is Russian I'm not actually Russian myself, but I've long been something of a slavophile). This standalone volume by the creator of Blade of the Immortal follows two mysterious Russians who go by Bielka (squirrel) and Shchenok (puppy). Bielka is in a wheelchair, having lost both legs, and Schenok has an eyepatch and is in constant need of medicine. Both have even more mysterious connections to the major players of the Bolshevik Revolution, which occurred nearly twenty years before. The art is gorgeous and almost makes you forget you're reading a manga. My main issue with Snegurochka is that some of it is hard to follow. Scenes sometimes change from page to page, and there's nothing that clearly delineates the passage of time. The result is a beautifully drawn but disjointedly written and paced story. Another issue is with some of the content-- it depicts sexual assault of a disabled person, and the person who commits it becomes a sympathetic character later on without anyone addressing what he did. This will probably not sit right with a lot of readers. Overall, I did enjoy this manga, especially towards the end when the writing and pacing comes together better. I'd recommend it to fans of Russian literature, especially works like Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, and fans of the mangaka's series Blade of the Immortal.
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Title: Issak Omnibus 1 (Vol. 1-2)
Author: Shinji Makari
Illustrator: Double-S
Rating: 5/5
Published by Kodansha and available June 10, 2025, Issak is a series I wasn't previously aware of but was definitely interested in once I began reading -- not many works take place in the Thirty Years War* (a 17th century conflict between Catholic and Protestant forces in what is now Germany that was actually one of the worst wars in European history). To make it stand out even more, it follows a Japanese mercenary -- basically the opposite of Clavell's Shōgun. I was instantly hooked -- I loved the historic and linguistic detail (German is my second language) and the art is fantastic. And who doesn't love a strong, silent type on a personal mission who nevertheless shows concern for others? This is an awesome start to a series I'm going to follow. I especially love that the author includes an afterword about the inspiration for the story, and there's a section of historical notes that give more context to the story. I'm definitely going to look into getting this series for the library.
* At least in English and definitely not in Japanese
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Title: I Wanna Be Your Girl, Vol. 1
Author/Illustrator: Umi Takase
Rating: 5/5
Published by Random House Children's Books and available July 1, 2025, I Wanna Be Your Girl is a little late for Pride Month, but it's never too late for trans stories. Hime's best friend Akira is beginning her social transition as they start high school. As a queer person I was immediately drawn in and repeatedly punched in the gut, but in a good way. The art is adorable and I love the characters, especially Hime and Akira (Anzu is a little annoying so far so I'm not a big fan of her). Aside from the issues that arise from Akira being a trans girl, the kids experience the usual high school drama -- crushes, jealousy, defensiveness, and anger. It has a good message of letting people figure things out on their own time, and not making people's identities about your own feelings (too often the loved ones of trans people are concerned with how they feel about the trans person in their life, rather than how the actual trans person feels). This is going to be an amazing series for younger readers, both LGBTQ+ kids and young allies.
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Title: Brain Damage
Author/Illustrator: Shintaro Kago
Rating: 2/5
Published by Fantagraphics Books and available July 15, 2025, Brain Damage is an anthology of ero guro (erotic grotesque, an art movement combining horror and eroticism) stories. I've reviewed horror manga before and I keep having the same problem -- it's just hard to make a drawing scary. This book falls into that issue. The first story, "Labyrinth Quartet" starts out reminding me of the internet urban legend Saki Sanobashi but quickly becomes a slasher movie. I liked the second story, "Curse Room," which had a unique take on zombies. "Family Portrait" is mostly scary for its focus on sexual perversion/assault. The final story, "Blood Harvest," is about mangled corpses found in undamaged cars that turn out to be vampiristic -- mostly it's an excuse for Kago to show off his admittedly impressive gore skills. I'm giving the book two stars, for the unique story of zombie caretakers, but other than that I was bored.
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Title: The Architect's Epiphany
Author: Chi-Ho Kwong
Illustrator: Chi-kit Kwong
Rating: 4/5
Published by Mad Cave Studios and available August 19, 2025, The Architect's Epiphany is a manhua (Chinese-language comic) by a team of brothers. I don't have a lot of experience with manhua so I'm working on expanding my horizons. This has gorgeous art, especially in its designs for ancient monuments and the guardian beast, and I was immediately entranced. I have to admit that reading-wise I was really confused and thought maybe the translation was poor, until about a hundred pages in I realized that I was reading the speech bubbles backwards. I had forgotten that Traditional Chinese, used in Hong Kong, is read right-to-left, rather than left-to-right like Simplified Chinese, used in mainland China. Whoops. Once I went back and started reading in the correct direction, I was impressed with the story. A shaman from a destroyed city sets out to find the City Builder, who can reclaim their lost home. This story will appeal to fans of Chinese fantasy, like The Untamed/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and the Western animation Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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Title: Evil-ish
Author/Illustrator: Kennedy Tarrell
Rating: 4/5
Published by Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and available July 22, 2025, Evil-ish follows Hawthorne, a wannabe villain, as they first audition for and then accidentally become the leader of the local legendary group of evil-doers, the Brigade of Shade. This book fits nicely in with other recent fantasy graphic novels for young readers, like Off Menu by Oliver Gerlach, and The Baker and the Bard, by Fern Haught, though it's not as purely cozy-- the stakes are higher. Hawthorne is a likable and relatable protagonist, ending up being too nice to be evil, and their rival, Maple, becomes an interesting foil. It's nice to see a nonbinary main character, as I'd like to see gender variance be more integrated into fantasy society, and it's sweet seeing Hawthorne's mom being supportive. I do think the main resolution is achieved a little quickly, the story could have stood to have been a little longer. That aside, this is a solid graphic novel for younger readers and will appeal to anyone who loves villains and feels frustrated with their life and has a feeling of stagnation. The art is really nice, the character designs are all unique, and Tarrell does some amazing things with backgrounds and set pieces. I'm definitely looking forward to more from this artist.
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Title: The Age of Video Games
Author: Jean Zeid
Illustrator: Émilie Rouge
Rating: 2/5
Published by Andrews McMeel and available July 22, 2025, The Age of Video Games caught my attention for being about my favorite pastime. Even though I've read and listened to so much about the history of gaming, I'll always enjoy hearing about it again. Maybe it's all the experience talking, but I wasn't as impressed with this book as I'd hoped. It has very little chronological organization, such as jumping from Pac-Man in 1980 to Out Run in 1986, which doesn't make much sense. The dialog is frequently awkward, thanks to being translated from French-- while I'm not great at French myself I don't think it was translated well enough to flow in English. A lot of information is left out-- there's nothing about the Xbox and its impact on the industry, for example; and it repeats a disproved urban legend that Space Invaders led to a shortage of 100 yen coins. That's not a huge issue, just one that I should think should be fact checked. I did appreciate the insight into some French developments, which I'm not as familiar with as the American and Japanese industries (interesting now that I think of it that they don't mention that Ubisoft is French). The art is nice and has some good details that reflect the (mostly) visual nature of video games, and I'm very happy to see an appearance by Jerry Lawson, developer of the Fairchild Channel F. Overall, I'd say this isn't much more than a serviceable introduction to video game history. It's too unfocused and sometimes baffling to read.
