Manga Review: Dimension W, Volume 2, by Yuji Iwahara

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: 2016

Volumes: 15+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

True to his warning, Loser--the infamous phantom thief-makes an explosive entrance at the art museum to steal the Angels of Black and White Wings statue! "Collector" Kyouma Mabuchi, now teamed up with the android Mira to recover illegal Coils, faces off with the masked thief in the midst of the museum's heavy security. But it just so happens that Loser recognizes Kyouma--and what's more, he seems to know all about the Collector's dark past...What other secrets may lie hidden within the statue he seeks?

Review:

After the first volume, I wasn't really interested at all. But after this volume, I think I've changed my mind.

I thought this was going in the direction of episodic cases where they find coils and steal, maybe save some stuff. But instead, the art thief turns out to have a potentially deeper connection to Mabuchi, though that's left open-ended for the moment. It turns out good for Mira, though, who helps out and finds some coils.

After that, we meet the kids who show up to bother Mabuchi, though he's never done anything but complain at them. This leads to an explanation of the point system, which is something that people start with at birth and lose when they do bad things—it appears that they're unable to earn points back, and if they get down to a certain point, they'll be forced to go to lowers schools, it could ruin their reputation, it affects them as adults. It's an awful system, honestly; reading about it made me uneasy.

I'm not sure where the cliffhanger is going, though I'm intrigued. I didn't much care for the first volume, but this one has me much more interested. I liked Mabuchi more in this volume, and I liked getting to know Mira a lot more. I'm intrigued by the world this is set in, as well. I might actually pick up the next volume when I get the chance.

Manga Review: Dimension W, Volume 1, by Yuji Iwahara

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: 2016.

Volumes: 15+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

2072 AD. With the invention of cross-dimensional electromagnetic inductors known as "coils," the world's energy crisis has long been solved. Kyouma Mabuchi is a "Collector" who makes his living by recovering illegal coils for the powers that be. When his latest gig brings him upon a mysterious girl named Mira, little does he know that their meeting will bring them both closer to the secrets behind "Dimension W"-the fourth dimension, beyond X, Y, and Z, that powers the world...So begins this progressive sci-fi tale where the future of science and humanity itself may very well hang in the balance!

Review:

I was intrigued by the cover of this series. When there's a robot girl, I'm always a little curious. I didn't expect this to be so technical of a series, though.

In this world, coils are all that really matter. Just about everything is run by them, so of course the government has a lot of rules governing them. There's legal ones, and illegal ones, and scientists constantly working on them. Kyouma appears to hate technology, but he's a collector, who gets paid for collecting illegal coils. He stumbles into Mira, a robot girl created by a brilliant scientist family, who've been missing for years. Only a few people know what happened to them, and she's one of them.

As is expected, they end up teaming up together. Kyouma is reluctant, and Mira is excited to finally be out in the world and seeing things with her eyes for the first time.

This volume was a bit more in-depth with the science/fantasy than I expected, and probably more than I would prefer in general. They're on their first mission as the volume ends, and I am a little curious what will happen with it.

Novel Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Sci-fi Fairy-tale Retelling

Publisher: Square Fish/Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)

Release Date: January, 2012

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

The Cover:

I love the cover of this book, and the covers on the books in the rest of this series. They're beautiful, the colors give the right feel, the font is so pretty, plus they represent the books perfectly. I love the dark background and the emphasis on the red, and how, especially the font, helps it feel like a fairy-tale. I just love it.

Review:

This is a cyborg, sci-fi, fairy-tale retelling series, starting with Cinderella. The concept is fantastic, the covers are awesome, and the insides definitely match up.

This book really shouldn’t have taken me so long to read. I started it once before, and only now several months later actually finished it. It’s a pretty easy read, and it’s very interesting, too. The writing is pretty, if a bit simple, but very easy to get caught up in. (Although it’s possible that I only think it’s simple because I read it right after Unravel Me, and the writing is particularly gorgeous in that series.)

I knew this was a series to start with, but at first I didn’t know that there were going to be different main characters for each book (at least I think that’s how it’s going to go). But then when I knew that, I didn’t know that the, at least temporarily, happy endings weren’t going to happen until the actual last book. Which is to say, that I didn’t know Cinder’s ending with her prince was going to be put off till the last book. And I was majorly disappointed, because I wanted her happy ending with Prince Kai now. But that only makes me more excited to read the next books.

I really like Cinder. I understand her predicament and her thoughts on it, and I really liked her voice and following her through all this. She doesn’t think a lot of herself, which is understandable, and I’m looking forward to her growing into her place, getting stronger both emotionally and physically.

I liked her with Kai a lot, and just liked Kai as a character a whole lot. He’s sweet and struggling and trying to make the right decision given the bad plot he’s been put in. I don’t think his relationship with Cinder was as strong, the chemistry was as apparent, as it could be, but I think it’s more that they’re just starting to get to know each other, and that it’ll grow. And I really look forward to seeing that happen.

Cinder’s family was very well done, and I really liked her sister, Peony, and Iko, their robot. They were really good for her, and it’s sad what happened, although I guess it kind of make sense, maybe. I wasn’t expecting it, though. Then there was the Snow White part thrown in that has me rather confused and really curious…

I love the world of this series so far. I’m really intrigued by the Lunars and what they can do, and I like what I’ve seen so far of Earth and how people get along (or don’t). It’s just a really neat concept, a really neat picture portrayed, and I look forward to getting to find out more about it. 

Now I really want to read the next one. I’ve heard some good things about Scarlet and Wolf that have me really wanting to read it, and I’m really excited. I want to meet the other main characters that’ll pop up in the next and third book (and I believe we actually met Cress in this one), and I’m really excited about getting to them.

Novel Review: My Man Michael (SBC Fighters, #4) by Lori Foster

Genre: Adult Romance Fantasy (with SEX)

Rating (Out of 5): 4 (maybe 3.5)

Publisher: Penguin (Berkley)

Spoilers?: Minor (main element is spoiled, with hints of other things)

Buy it here: Amazon.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Knocked out in one world, he?ll take on another.

On the verge of a title shot match, fighter Michael ?Mallet? Manchester is injured in a car accident. And just as quickly as his career was taking off, it?s over. Then Kaylie Raine appears, offering him a second chance at becoming whole. Even though Mallet thinks it?s the pain medication talking, he accepts her challenge. And on an extraordinary journey with Kaylie, he?ll get a chance to fight again?to save the woman who has saved him.

Review:

This was my first Lori Foster book in a while (aside from some short stories) (also, this one was the one I read before the one reviewed last week), and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

This one takes a very, very different turn from the others in the series, which is why a lot of people don’t seem to like it as much. I didn’t have a problem with that, which is probably because I’d only read the first book in the series, and I read it a couple years ago, so it was very fuzzy in my brain. I can understand why some people would be upset, if they really liked the other books because of the fighter element and because they liked seeing the other fighters from the other books, but I didn’t mind.

The book starts with Michael, or “Mallet”, being in the hospital. He’s gotten very hurt, and has very likely lost the use of his legs. He’s grumpy and upset about this, generally not very good company. And then a girl shows up, who gets his attention but keeps disappearing. The girl, Kayli, wants his help with something. In the future.

(One thing that I [kind of] liked about the synopsis, is that it keeps this part of the book hidden. But I want to talk about that part, and apparently some forewarning wouldn’t be a bad idea, so I’m going to spoil that for you.)

This is the part of the book that I think most people didn’t like. Kayli is from the future, and she takes Michael back to the future with her. I did, at first, have a problem with the added futuristic/time-traveling element to a series that was otherwise contemporary, but it grew on me. And I really enjoyed this book, so I’m happy to overlook that.

I really enjoyed the world that Foster built in this book. This future has its problems, but is mostly just really cool. I liked it.

I also really liked Kayli and Michael. Michael seems to have changed a lot from the previous books (at least, from when we first saw him in SimonSays—I haven’t read the third book yet), and I really liked him. He didn’t seem to jump on the love-train too quickly, but once he decided that he wanted Kayli, there was no other choice for him. He wanted her, and so he was determined to have her. And he wasn’t too pushy, either. I really liked that part. I liked Kayli, too. She was sweet, and tough, and very shy, which was just really nice. Her naïve shyness was done in a very sweet, honest way, and I liked that.

And the sexy part of the romance was very nice, as well. Their whole chemistry, the way they interacted, was just really well done. I really liked it. Foster really knows how to make a good romance, which is something I'd forgotten.

There was a subplot romance in this book, which at first I didn’t like and really didn’t want to happen, but ended up turning out really well. I was a little surprised at how easily I opened up to it, but I did. I liked it. And I thought it worked rather well for the ending.

One part that I did not like about this book was the sexist part. Foster seems to be putting in little bits in her books about how women are just women and thus not as strong or capable as men, while at the same time having the women fight to prove how strong they are, and that was a very big element in this book. And it was really pissing me off a couple of times. It seemed like, at the end of this book, that the guys were coming around, but not that they really believed it, and that they still thought that women shouldn’t be fighting against men because they weren’t as strong or capable. And I just wasn’t as content with that part of the ending as I would have liked to be.

Also, with the fact that, throughout the entire book, Kayli was fighting for her spot as head of the defense team, and yet at the end of the book, she decided that she would give it up for Michael. I don’t like that she was going to do that, and I don’t think she should have been even thinking that way, at all.

That part of the book just really got on my nerves. As I said, it was a little bit better at the end, and the rest of the book is enough to make me say that I did really enjoy it, but that part still bothers me.

To sum up, I really enjoyed this book. A lot. And I’m really looking forward to reading the third and fifth books in this series, as well as Foster’s other books.