Tag: graphical fiction

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Reading: In Progress

Books I’m reading now:

  • The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (audiobook): a futuristic tale of how cities become their own life forms, but must be defended against ancient eldritch creatures who prey upon young cities. Humans act as the City champions. There is a sequel, which I already have on paper.
  • Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil: non-fiction about how algorithms are both poorly designed, intentionally opaque, and then misused to deny people good things, like jobs and healthcare.

I have some promising sci-fi recommendations, but some of those are also a series, and I’m considering waiting until that is complete before I start.

Also: I’m very eagerly waiting for the third book in William Gibson’s Jackpot Trilogy. The line between eager and impatient is written in smearing graphite for me: I’ll be so excited when it is released! (Also: more of The Summer Hikaru Died, which you are getting the blow-by-blow of here because I can’t contain myself.)

I’m also still reading entirely too many manhwa, including new seasons of those I endorsed earlier, plus many that I’ve started (described below) but may not finish. The two most likely to keep my attention are in bold.

  • A Savage Proposal (Webtoon), in which the young princess of a defeated kingdom agrees to marry the infamous warlord who defeated her armies, sacrificing her happiness to prevent the wholesale slaughter of her subjects, only to discover that he is… young, really hot, and more respectful to her than the creepy men of her own kingdom.
  • I Will Become the Villain’s Poison Taster (Tappytoon), an isekai story in which a modern girl winds up in the body of a villain, decides the villains might be her only safe allies if she wants to survive, and begins to suspect that the heroes are up to no-good. (Silly dialogue, naive heroine.)
  • Frost will Always Fall (Tappytoon – age restricted), in which a directionless modern girl with a shamanic family has flashbacks to her past lives, where she is torn between two men, at least one of whom she has hot sex with in both the past and present. One of the men has killed her (past) and/or will kill her again (future), though she isn’t sure which.
  • The Villainess Empress’ Attendant (Tappytoon), in which a knight runs away from her kingdom and royal boss, and winds up a servant to the empress of her adoptive homeland – and swears to use her powers to protect the lovely-but-gaslit empress against some unexpectedly close and evil foes with terrifying powers. (The crown prince is pretty. This always helps.) This is wholesome.
  • The Young Emperor Is Obsessed With Me (Tappytoon), in which a mage who prevented the destruction of the world by sealing an interdimensional gate used by evil invaders is adored by a sociopathic boy, who grows up to be a sociopathic emperor; he burns down her house & enchanted forest to force her to live with him (oh-oh); she may be the key to defeating a returning threat to the world, if she can overcome the traumas of all she lost.
  • To My Husband’s Mistress (Tappytoon), in which an innocent young woman falls for a love scammer who kills her father and then has his girlfriend kill her; she takes on a new identity for a multi-year plan to bring her killers and their accomplices to ruin while drinking too heavily, loathing herself, and being bankrolled by a frequently shirtless prince with his own revenge plans.
  • You Can’t Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf (Webtoon), a woman abused by a powerful husband in the afterlife dies (?) there horribly, but relives her earth death and has a new chance at her underworld afterlife (?) by marrying a different, random underworld nobleman; her new husband is patient about her PTSD, but doesn’t know her true situation, nor that he is interacting with her past-afterlife-abuser.

The overarching theme is: women in unusually bad situations having a do-over in some form. Let’s not wonder why I am drawn to these stories, or if we must, emphasize that most of them will likely have a happy-ish ending.

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Book: The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren, Chapter 31 (so far)

This horror story has become so harrowing that the publisher is releasing chapter 31 in multiple parts, each one slightly more intense than the last!

Covers of The Summer Hikaru Died Chapter 31.1, 31.2, and 31.3

The Summer Hikaru Died, Chapter 31 (so far)
by Mokumokuren
published by Yen Press
2024

I don’t know how many parts there will be to this chapter. Is releasing them in parts supposed to ease the shock? Do doctors not recommend that we read all three at once? I don’t know what to think…

But: yikes yikes yikes yikes yikes. The Houka Festival is creepy. The effigies are creepy.

The line, “So, what did they use before dolls?” is met with a creepy, too-long silence.

The idea that everyone traditionally knew there were holes in the fabric of reality and that it was up to children to go through to the other side to patch them is creeeeeeeeepyyyyyyy….

And yes, I’m eager for more!

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Book (Manga): The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren, Chapters 27 – 30

The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren, covers of serial Chapters 27 - 30

The Summer Hikaru Died
by Mokumokuren
published by Yen Press (ongoing, this is about Chapters 27 – 30)
2024 – present

My favorite horror series about body-part-collecting-beings from ‘the other side’ continues! The story is well-paced, and builds upon earlier revelations. As noted earlier, do not read these out of order! And don’t read further if you haven’t started the series.

Chapter 27: Yoshiki and new Hikaru hear a novel explanation of what’s happening in their town from the stranger in sunglasses, who asks new Hikaru to try to fix the rift between worlds. Yoshiki wrestles with his feelings for new Hikaru. The sky has weird lines in it. Also: there is a very attractive drawing of pancakes.

Chapter 28: Kurebayashi rejoins the boys. This chapter contains the creepiest social media post EVAH, posted by a kid who is OVER IT. (I respect his impatience with ghosts!)

Chapter 29: New Hikaru shows off some of his cleansing powers at a classmate’s house in Ashidori, a village where they may have something to fix. That classmate’s occult-obsessed brother recommends an upcoming festival.

Chapter 30: The Houku Festival is cheerful, aside from the creepy little dolls people make as an offering. Asako feels like she isn’t helping to protect the village, so she goes off on her own (!) to a forlorn, abandoned house (!!) that has sounds coming out of it (!!!). (GIRL – nooo!)

There is something that moves the story forward in every chapter – this tight pacing is fantastic. (You’ve read me complaining about the many manhwa stories that veer off onto tangents about agriculture… This has the most agricultural setting of any story I’ve read, yet Mokumokuren STAYS. ON. THEME.) The way Yoshiki wrestles with his attachment to new Hikaru feels authentic. The increasing creepiness and limited timeline for preventing something awful from happening build tension well. I continue to love this series!

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Book (Manhwa) Update: I Tamed My Ex-husband’s Mad Dog By: CMJM, Jagae, Jkyum – now Complete

This story is 92 chapters of revenge, self-denying-relationship-dynamics, and a fear that a loving couple has no future because of flaws within each of their characters.

I endorsed this comic at chapter 71, and I endorse it still. It is suspenseful all the way through!

Book (Manhwa): I Tamed My Ex-husband’s Mad Dog by CMJM, Jagae, Jkyum – Books and Coffee
I Tamed My Ex-husband’s Mad Dog by CMJM, Jagae, Jkyumpublished by Tappytoon (71 chapters, in season 3, ongoing)2022 (?) – present

I’ve already described it, but can add that devoting one’s second-chance at life solely to revenge is not sensible. Also, self-loathing about the decisions one makes to have revenge can sabotage a relationship even more than stealing and mutilating a body together does. (Does this sound like a lesson that applies to you? If so, let’s NOT hang out!)

Beyond avoiding self-loathing, the story suggests that honesty, open communication, avoiding saddling your love with army-borrowing-related-debt, and perhaps even admitting to bearing your loved one’s children rather than hiding in another territory could all improve your love life. This… feels like solid general relationship advice. Fringe, yet accurate. While this story is marked with the “romance” tag of Tappytoon, such stories are usually more upbeat and don’t involve as many years of not speaking to each other or even being in the same region as this story does. (There is some realism in this, however.)

It is suspenseful – a character coming close to using magic to erase their life, inconveniently located cliffs, inconveniently deadly monsters, attempted assassinations, children running away with armies, a man bullying a younger man who may seek to avenge himself later, and the very real risk of a murder breaking a fragile, restored trust continue through the penultimate chapter. (Penultimate: a good name for a fountain pen shop, especially if it is second-to-last on a block.)

I truly enjoyed this violent, suspenseful, revenge-centric fantasy. This is a riveting adventure story of good people doing gory / bad things and suffering for it for many years before admitting their faults and choosing love. I continue to recommend it.

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Book (Manga): The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren, Chapters 22-26 (Volume 5-ish)

Covers for chapters 22 through 26 of The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren.

The Summer Hikaru Died
by Mokumokuren
published by Yen Press (ongoing, this is about Chapters 22-26)
2024 – present

I learned yesterday that the TSHD Volume 5 tankōbon won’t come out until March 2025. But the chapters published in Japan and translated into English already go up to Chapter 30! I am not willing to wait, so I’m buying the available digital chapters individually (from the Apple Books app). I’ll reread the entire series once it is complete.

This horror series is one continuous story (NOT an episodic collection of standalone adventures!). You should start with Chapter 1. I highly recommend this series – it is an impressive, creepy, humid, summer night story of things that go bump in the forest above a cursed village with a debt to repay.

I’m trying not to post spoilers, but rather a map of the series, so I can find parts I want to emphasize to others when I talk them into reading this. :). But you should skip this review if you haven’t started reading.

Chapter 22 begins seconds after Chapter 21’s last slash. Yoshiki tries to save his dearest friend, and then… wakes in the hospital, with his worried mother telling him that the events at the house were all hushed up. Kurebayashi visits and assures Yoshiki of his friend’s… durability. The out of town ‘scholar’ (who resembles Hikaru) reveals to a local that his centuries-old employer has an interest in specific <beings> from the other side of the rift, but won’t disclose his personal agenda.

Chapter 23 continues in the hospital with an astute observation by concerned Kurebayashi. A classmate tells the boys local mines supplied abortifacients to get the village through times of scarcity, which led to the worship of the local mountain god, which also led a decrease in local epidemics?

There is a pencil sketch of Hikaru destabilizing in Chapter 23 that is SUPERB.

Chapter 24 continues that the destabilizing theme, and Yoshiki realizes that he isn’t purely human anymore… A visit to the Indou family shrine reveals what the village’s dire offerings to the mountain god were, and how they have been memorialized by Hikaru’s family. New Hikaru feels pangs of guilt about how original Hikaru’s friends miss him.

Chapter 25 introduces Yoshiki’s father, who was dear friends with Hikaru’s father. He tells Yoshiki exactly how the Indous brought calamity to their village and the curse upon themselves. New Hikaru goes to Kurebayashi while trying to figure out how to save his friend – from himself. And Yoshiki finds a sketch of the thing new Hikaru really is – from Europe in 1519. (Aren’t art books great?!)

Chapter 26 is summer vacation. No, really. The boys get to go to the beach! I love this cover – there is a nice panorama in the issue. It ends with a revelation or trick, it’s too early to say which.

Cover for Chapter 26 of The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren.
A lovely, non-spooky cover!

I continue to love love love this series. So creepy. Action-packed, but with steady progress as the boys uncover so much dark local history. Their friendship and love for each other – indifferent to the fact that one of them isn’t human – is deep and sweet. The village landscapes, the details in the houses, the chirping of cicadas – it is all so atmospheric. This is a compelling, well executed story!

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Book (Manhwa): The Tyrant Wants to Be Good by Ramguel, KAKON

Cover art for The Tyrant Wants to Be Good by Ramguel, KAKON

The Tyrant Wants to Be Good
by Ramguel, KAKON
published by Webtoon (80 chapters so far, ongoing)
2023 – present

Dorothea Millanaire had a rough life, but once she murdered her sweet-but-hapless brother to become the empress, she was certain things would go her way.

Consistent with the rest of her sad life to that point, however, things did not go her way at all. When her most loyal supporter offered to save her at her execution, she turned him down – she was too heartbroken to continue living.

Dorothea doesn’t take it well when she wakes up AS A BABY VERSION OF HERSELF. A pissed off, world-weary baby. Oh, the indignity of being snuggled by the toddler version of her doting older brother (whom she had murdered in adulthood in her prior life!)!!

Yes, this is yet another second chance novel, but the first one I’ve read in which the protagonist TRULY has to start life over – all the way over – IN INFANCY. With the full guilt of her misdeeds weighing upon her memory-filled mind, there is a poignant mix of humor (a frustrated toddler isn’t strong enough to kill people whom she believes deserve it), frustration (she is a neglected and unloved daughter again), frivolity (classic younger sister chafing at her clingy older brother feelings), and sadness (six-year-old Dorothea looking at the child-version of her past-life-dead-husband with such profound, age-inappropriate despair that he is haunted by it).

Unlike other second-chance stories, Dorothea isn’t especially determined to survive this life. She feels she must make amends, but expects no rewards, and still doesn’t feel she belongs. Her father still treats her with contempt, she is still mocked in society for not having <the superficial sign of power that her family uses to justify its authority>, and she chooses to hold her prior-life’s love at a mournful, adult-arm’s-length distance, even though this version of him appears sincerely fond of her. The same society that punished Empress Dorothea for trying to end dangerous child labor is going to punish this younger, non-empress version of her for the same efforts, proving it is hard to be good in a society that is so bad.

The difference in this go-round is that she has a handful of people who love her. Including one who loves her so much, he would support her in violently taking the throne AGAIN.

I started reading on a lark to see a vengeful baby with adult memories, but am now 80 chapters in, and the characters have aged into legal adults. This is another tale of a neglected child attempting to break a cycle of violence in a cruel, feudal world of extreme poverty and lavish palaces, in which the power of chosen-family love might not be enough to save anyone.

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Reading: What I’m Reading Now

  • N.K. Jemison has a collection of short stories, and while many of them are from earlier in her career, they don’t feel like early, learning-the-craft stories – they are absolutely superb. The collection also opens with an essay about what it is like to write science fiction stories with people who are like us ethnically, and how great it feels to envision futures that include us!
  • I Tamed My Ex-Husband’s Mad Dog (graphical fiction) is in chapter 89, and either everyone is going to die, or the main characters will live happily together, or maybe they’ll be happy for a VERY BRIEF TIME before they all die? IT IS SO TENSE! I could barely make it through chapters 87-88, which involved a lot of blood – blood that had belonged to one of the main characters, so they couldn’t make the joke I like so much about it being someone else’s.
  • The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway (graphical fiction) is at chapter 82, and there is some tension building as the main characters are apart, as one of them figures out who the assassination target was during their vacation, and tries to get information on… something that they shouldn’t be able to remember.
  • Men of the Harem (graphical fiction) has resumed at full speed, and it isn’t completely clear that Empress Latil is the vampire lord that two of her most handsome fans hope she will be. It also isn’t clear why she can punch vampires and send them flying across a room. Also, magic tools allow some characters to wear the faces of other people, a complication I didn’t need!
  • The Remarried Empress (graphical fiction) has also come out of hiatus, and I’m still pleased by how much the art style tightened up over the course of its 187 chapters (so far). While the empress’ remarriage was supposed to be primarily political, her new spouse is so much more fun than her old one! And, because paternity testing science exists, there is a lot of drama in her former palace…
  • US Political and World News. There is SO MUCH OF IT right now. And it is a roller coaster.
  • Letters. Which my hands have hurt too much to respond to prettily. (I think I understand why there were so many searches combining COVID and arthritis….)
  • My Japanese lessons. Oh, the torment of half-remembering a language!

I hope your own reading provides you as much pleasure as mine gives me.

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Book (Manga): The Summer Hikaru Died, Volume 4 by Mokumokuren

Paperback cover of the English version of The Summer Hikaru Died, Volume 4 by Mokumokuren

The Summer Hikaru Died, Volume 4
(Japanese title: Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu)
by Mokumokuren
published by Yen Press
2024

The story of rural schoolboy Yoshiki and the eerie, replacement version of his dear friend, Hikaru, resumes with a sink full of bloody clothes, plus a newfound determination to figure out what Hikaru is.

The boys’ research uncovers darkness. A name written by original Hiraku triggers a rant from Hikaru’s unfocused grandfather about a man asking <a being> for something inappropriate in the distant past, which created the current misfortunes… Hikaru uncovers creepy place names of surrounding towns… A local back to bury her mother shares that her sister went up the mountain and never came back…

The only positive-seeming news is that Kurebayashi-san, the ordinary-looking lady whose dead husband’s unworkable-but-wanted return informs her views with deep empathy, intervenes when the boys are in danger. She has an ability to push <things> back to where they belong, and a theory about why there are so many <things> in the village now.

Her theory involves Hikaru.

This volume ends in violent suspense at the end of chapter 21. (Chapter 29 will be released this week in digital format, so my impatience while awaiting the tankōbon to be printed is catching up with me!)

This is my first real horror manga, and it is SUPERB. I am eager for more.

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Book (Manhwa): The Dark Lord’s Confession by Topseoung

Screenshot

The Dark Lord’s Confession
by Topseoung
published by Webtoon (100+ chapters, ongoing)
2022 – present

Lapis is a girl living in a world divided between people naturally marked with a symbol of good / holy magical power, ordinary people, and unfortunate people naturally marked with the symbol of an incurable curse and magical powers. Those with the mark of the curse are automatically deemed evil as a result of their potentially contagious illness, and must live in hiding or risk being murdered at any age upon discovery. Their murderers blame their victims for being inhuman, so that they can feel better about slaughtering their own friends and neighbors who bear the mark. Those who survive by hiding their mark will inevitably turn into literal monsters if they don’t kill themselves first.

Lapis has the curse. Optimistically, after living with two sweet girls who have their own sad backstories, Lapis is determined to go to a holy school to become a holy knight – surely, if she can master holy powers, she can find a cure!

After failing the entrance exam for knight school countless times, Lapis is attacked by monsters while practicing magical symbols, and accidentally summons the Dark Lord, the being who is supposedly responsible for the curse. When holy soldiers turn up to see what all the ruckus is, Lapis… somehow barely passes the holy power test, and can study to be a Holy Knight!

If anything goes wrong, Lapis will be murdered in cold blood by her classmates and teachers. If things go right, Lapis will be forced to murder innocent people who bear the curse, something she is far too kind and ethical to do.

Illustration of Lapis and Calla dressed up in a scene from The Dark Lord's Confession by Topseoung
Lapis and Calla dressed up in a scene from The Dark Lord’s Confession by Topseoung. Topseoung’s style is fun – the characters are so bold, Calla’s hair goes on in curls for many panels, and women warriors are giants!

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord, to the extent she can be trusted, is telling Lapis that holy and magical powers are the same, and that the curse CAN be undone – but the holy knights and will try to prevent that from happening. Lapis has a role to play in fixing the world, saving those with the mark, and exposing the thousand year old plot that made the world this way – if she can survive in the heart of a holy place founded by the Dark Lord’s rival.

This is a story of religious corruption, a goddess from outer space, cults with their own agendas, lasting traumas over murdered loved ones, the persecution of minorities, land poisoned with curses/diseases/magic based on Roman mythology, health crises, girls swooning over handsome women, secret basements, broken swords, unique powers, dancing with romantic interests who would kill you without a moment’s hesitation if they knew which mark you had, violent sibling rivalries, betrayals, arena duels, the unconditional love of friendship, and falling stars.

I didn’t want to put it down (see me recharging my phone after hours of reading), and read through 100+ chapters in three sessions – and I’m eager for more! I like high stakes fantasy tales, and look forward to this story continuing.

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Book (Manhwa): Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord by V_An, Yepbee, zuisha

Cover art for Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord by V_An, Yepbee, zuisha

Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord
by V_An, Yepbee, zuisha
published by Tappytoon (28 chapters, ongoing)
2024 – present

This is another comedy that makes me laugh out loud (so I read it when I’m alone, as I don’t want people to fear me on BART), and one I eagerly await new episodes for.

Diarin is a priestess who always gets the worst assignments. Her new project is to take a magically-brainwashed, berserker veteran soldier from a notoriously murderous military unit, and spruce him up so he can be a regional noble.

It’s… an impossible task, and one that puts her own life at risk – she is dealing with a man who can hear a heart beating from a great distance away, and then seek that heart out to kill – but Diarin will try with a smile! Especially since she gets to live in a mansion with her charge who, despite is formidable size and strength, she protectively comes to think of as an unruly puppy.

As with other manhwa, I want to point out the effort that went into the background art:

Attractive architectural backgrounds in Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord
It’s not just the details of the building, but also the reflection of the sun, the dappled shadows, the elements in shade, the different shadows on the sculptures of peacocks and shadows from the stairs… Goodness. (Yes, I can’t unsee the size of the guards, but the landing is really deep so they are in perspective, okay?)

Diarin is extremely expressive, and I laugh at her reactions to being blinded by someone attractive (illustration below), her eyes bulging at her first sight of Ceres’ attempts to write, or her mental process after attractively-built Ceres stands naked in front of her (pieces of fruit on a table have never been funnier). The use of exaggeration is well executed.

Left: being exposed to an especially attractive person; right, an argument about taking on additional work.
Before reading manhwa, I hadn’t realized how I also want cartoon letters to float around me for emphasis, though I admit they would create problems for me professionally.

This is a light, fun, well-executed comedy about an ambitious, optimistic clergy member trying to re-train a dangerous man-puppy whose head has been magically reprogrammed in what might be some kind of trap. It’s fun! I recommend it.

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