Ribbon
A romance between a pathetic woman and a cold man. Miyo is the only non-magical person in her family and was thus abused and neglected. Kudo is a high ranking military officer in a magic-focused unit.
This volume is pure misery. The perspective alternates between Miyo and Kudo, so we get her non-existent self esteem and his struggle to figure her out. Zero joy, humor, or even cuteness to be found.
Rishe has the standard “otome villainess” backstory but the real catch is she's stuck in a time loop. Every life, she's pursued a different vocation and acquired different expertise but she always dies young. This time she bumps into a hot broody guy and he's the future evil emperor responsible, more or less, for every previous death.
It's fun seeing Rishe surprise others with her wide skill set and she doesn't come off as overpowered. Even her future knowledge doesn't include details of the political landscape leading up to the evil emperor's rise to power.
The art is gorgeous and in every flashback to previous lives Rishe has different outfits to drive home how different her paths were. Backgrounds feel alive and architecture is very pretty and realistic.
Maomao tries to keep her head down as a servant in the inner court (the emperor's booty call compound) but her education level soon becomes apparent. Her knowledge is medicine and poison is the solution to some situations but superior reasoning skills are the solution annoyingly often. I would rather the focus stay on her specialized skill set.
A hot feminine guy (assumed eunuch but suspiciously not confirmed) acts as puppet master of the inner court. He keeps flirting with Maomao and she has no interest.
Art is pretty but the concubines are pretty interchangeable. The only characters with distinct appearances are Maomao, hot fem guy, and grumpy soldier guy. Maybe the next volume will reveal why this was deemed worthy of an anime adaptation.
We've reached the modern criminal investigations stage of Maomao's absurd detective journey. She doesn't have the tech of an episode of CSI but her scientific deductions are over the top and she even shows the actual professionals how to dust for finger prints.
It feels weird to say, but I think this would be more believable as an isekai story. A modern day truecrimes fangirl sent to an ancient China-like world.
Maomao's skills as an apothecary really shine in this volume. She's assigned to cure an ailing concubine, then forced to attend a party with all the concubines, their maids, the emperor, every other high ranking official around. The politics of the inner court really gets fleshed out. Maomao also gets to express a “tough girl from the bad side of town” persona, which is great.
The first volume was underwhelming but the second volume turned things around.
Royal magic school seems like a good place to insert some conflict into this story, but nope it's very calm. Claire observes another girl being bullied but it's resolved without incident. Her governess job is perfectly pleasant as well.
A big magic tornado threatens the city and we get to see Claire use her newly upgraded magic to help. Backstory for the kingdoms is explored and there are hints that political machinations may be afoot but nothing materializes.
Relaxing manga continues to be relaxing, but even I find myself hoping something will actually happen.
Claire is a rival character in an otome game and she's already getting her bad ending. Sometimes she dreams of being a college girl whose roommate is playing that otome game, but which world is real - or maybe both - is unclear.
This is a very pretty addition to the “otome game is real” shoujo manga trend. All the major characters have distinct appearances and Claire's clothing changes with her status in life. There's some really nice scenery too.
The magic system isn't fleshed out in the first volume other than how people receive their magic and power levels. There's a ritual with the water of a sacred fountain and the color the water shines reflects how strong they are. Silver and white are best but Claire gets light pink, which is very low tier and unheard of for her family.
After a rough start, everything coincidentally goes very well for Claire. This is a relaxing read, not dramatic or stressful at all. Some readers will be bored to tears, others will love it.
I appreciate the traditional depiction of the fae and the tales referenced throughout the journal. Unfortunately the rest didn't work for me. Emily goes to a northern island village just before winter and everything is terrible. The cottage, the food, the locals, the sheep, the pre-winter snows. I set the book aside for two weeks because the sheep were such jerks! Her coworker Bambleby showing up fixes some of those things and she can dedicate her energy toward complaining about him.
Emily ends up in peril and requiring rescue a lot. Her knowledge of fae stories helps resolve many conflicts but her overconfidence lands her in even more peril.
Rachel escaped the extremist sect for less than a day as a child but the wise woman and the orchard she encountered gave her the strength to escape again years later, the abused and pregnant wife of a preacher. Most of the book is told first person past tense from her perspective. She dreams of Siobhan, an Irish immigrant trapped in similar circumstances who planted that very orchard. Siobhan's chapters, and those of other characters, are third person and their name given at the start of each section.
Each character allied with the wildwood has some kind of craft or activity by which they work magic as well as having an animal companion. A lot of the magic is subtle, generally easy to explain away as coincidence or insight. Rachel embroiders. Others knit, sculpt, carve wood. Rachel's animal companion is anything but subtle. She lives by an orchard and has a green snake named Eve. I think Wildwood Magic will appeal to ex-Evangelicals but the biblical imagery is pretty obvious.
The story starts out cautiously, with Rachel finally becoming part of the community after hiding away for years. Then the sect comes along and stress levels ratchet up. The first chapter from the preacher's point of view gave me heartburn from the vitriol expressed. The audiobook switches to a male reader for the few male perspective chapters and this was the first one, so it threw me even further off balance. I'm going to need a cozy book palate cleanser next.
Content warnings: Domestic abuse, Vietnam war PTSD, bees, fire
Pretty typical historical romance, with etiquette and wealth and lineage concerns. The setting makes it interesting. Jim Crow laws blanket the south and threaten to move into Chicago. The parents generation and older includes former slaves. Two characters are half white. It all adds weight to a story that would be middling if set in Regency or Victorian times.
This book needed a few more rounds of editing. There's repetitive phrasing and repetitive information throughout. The worst offender is an early scene involving Sylph and Wisp, whose names are similar enough the author uses the wrong one several times.
After unofficially teaming up for the solo tournament, Damian and Sylph are now joined at the hip 90% of the time. Every student gets one more class, which they have separately, but those scenes are brief. The other dorm mates fall into the background beyond a few sparring sessions.
Action scenes are cool, developing spells is cool, finally seeing some quests is cool. I'm just disappointed by the execution.
Remember when kids books were about being the missing child of the good king and queen of a magic world? Swapping the parents for a Dark Lord changes surprisingly little. According to Tradition, Kayla should execute rivals and raid nearby villages for funds and supplies. She refuses and instead introduces pizza and hip-hop music to the world.
This is a very safe book. It's fine but won't have any long-term impact on anyone.
The cooking magic is very pretty but little time is spared for explaining how it works, which is disappointing. The diverse cast is great, though early on it feels like the author had a checklist of what to include. The romance is very cute and the only bullying is wealth/class related, which is a relief with all the diversity afoot.
Take an epic Norse poem and make it about candy, soda, and staying up late watching cartoons way too loud. The art is gorgeous and I laughed aloud at several parts. This would be great to read aloud in a group, competing to be the most dramatic.
The art is black and white only, which may be a deal breaker for some kids. Otherwise this can be enjoyed by all ages.
This book feels a lot more frantic than the first, as Arnold is juggling so many projects. Even delegating, he has tons of meetings to get updates and make decisions. Most of the characters we met in the first book return, so I recommend reading them back to back. It's really satisfying seeing Arnold work to resolve his farm projects and figure out what he might want to do next.
I don't know if more books are planned, but this book has a good ending if it is indeed the end.
Better than the cover art, less farming than the series name.
Zoey plays the MMO for story and roleplaying with NPCs and gets a unique quest as the only person who qualifies. She has a very healthy relationship with her professor dad, who also plays and tries to support her in her low-reward questing.
Aspen has some mysterious past stuff going on, where his levels got dropped to that of a baby and his animal buddies have to keep him alive. Animal buddies include goat dad Khal, spider mom Sumi, and little sister Silus. That's not their family structure but it's their roles in the group. The names Sumi and Silus are way too close visually, making it hard to remember which is which.
We see a good chunk of Zoey's real world life, not just time spent in a pod.
The grammar is rough in some places and the tone isn't terribly consistent. Sometimes it's slice of country life, sometimes goofy, and other times it drifts toward horror.
The ideas that Farrington Farms explore are great. What if you were trapped in a Harvest Moon world? But even more restricted because you can't even go into town? And actually it might be a Rune Factory world because you've just gained access to a dungeon.
I love the main series but this is a very unnecessary spinoff. We hear Alex's side of events second hand in DCO, so the only things this book adds are a little detail about his family setting up the Dicken Shack and how crafting and gathering skills work in DCO. If the story was from the perspective of Alex's parents or even his little brother I'd be a lot more interested.