From the back cover:
Mokuren yearns for friendship, but she keeps overhearing the members of the KK research team bad-mouthing her. Handsome Gyokuran treats her with kindness, yet Mokuren is instead drawn to bad-tempered Shion, since he’s the only one who can see her as a fellow mortal. When the team learns that their star system has been destroyed, Gyokuran turns to Mokuren for a miracle, not understanding that she is just as emotionally devastated and powerless as everyone else.

Meanwhile, in the present world, Jinpachi and Issei learn how to see Alice’s dreams, but she’s reluctant to visit the painful events of her past…

Review:
Volume 17 is almost entirely Mokuren memories, but contains more of the present day than the previous volume. The repetition (four times) of Mokuren overhearing a conversation about her got a little annoying, but I really liked how much more is learned about Enju, Shusuran, and Gyokuran here. Not only more about their personalities, but also their interactions with other members of the team. Shusuran’s development particularly stood out. I wouldn’t say that I like her personality, but I like her as a character, and especially seeing her and Enju together.

I caught something here that I didn’t previously—that the team seems to think Shion wants their passwords to use the base to act as God over KK. Perhaps we were supposed to think that was possibly Rin’s true ambition all along, and I am coming to the realization late.

The volume ends before Alice can dream about the rest of what happened when Shion was in confinement or any of the events afterwards. The concluding chapter takes place in the present day and really worked to build suspense for what will happen when she has seen everything. As if I weren’t impatient enough to see some progress in the present day story!

From the back cover:
An ice-cold killer is on the loose, and brilliant Dr. Kenzo Tenma is the only one who can stop him! Conspiracies, serial murders, and a scathing indictment of hospital politics are all masterfully woven together in this compelling manga thriller. Tenma risks his promising medical career to save the life of a critically wounded young boy. Unbeknownst to him, this child is destined for a terrible fate. Who could have known that Tenma would create a monster!

Review:
Wow, this is good. I knew the essential plot of this first volume going into it, but the storytelling and pacing are so engrossing that even expecting certain things, I was never bored. Storywise, my only complaint would be that the instigators of the hospital politics are rather over the top and a little two-dimensional. Presumably, said politics won’t be a big concern of Tenma’s after this volume, however.

Urasawa has reportedly requested that Viz finish releasing Monster before releasing another of his series, contending that his art has improved and he wants the titles to be released chronologically. I can see what he’s talking about. In this volume, I’d sum up the style as “Crazy Noses and Eyebrows!” Nearly everyone has ‘em. Tenma himself has a variety of expressions, but some of the other characters seem to just get one, which is then used multiple times. There are also a couple of panels early on where close-ups of Tenma’s extremely high-maintenance girlfriend look nearly identical.

Despite the distracting art and small element of cheese, there’s enough really good stuff here that I can state that I will definitely be continuing with this series until its conclusion.

From the back cover:
In her brilliant but argumentative family, Hero is different, because she chooses not to speak. Instead, she prefers to escape real life at home for her true life—climbing in the thick trees far above the stately old Credence mansion and letting her imagination fly. But the real and the true intertwine when Hero starts to do odd jobs for Miss Credence, an eccentric woman who weaves strange fairy tales around Hero as she works, and who is hiding a shocking secret high up in the tower of her house…

Review:
I’ve only read one other book by Mahy, Changeover, but I liked it, so when I saw this one languishing near the Marsden in the library, I picked it up, not knowing anything about it. I find it interesting that it’s the second YA book about someone who doesn’t speak much that I’ve read recently, and both in the first person.

The Other Side of Silence is pretty short at 170 pages, but Mahy does an excellent job capturing the current state of Hero’s family, and most of its members are well-developed, particularly her mother and two oldest siblings. Hero’s younger sister, a hip-wiggling sex-mentioning pre-teen, reminds me of a character from Alere Flammas. The treatment of Miss Credence is also well-done. At first she comes off as merely somewhat batty, but as time progresses, she starts to become downright creepy.

The best element, however, is Hero’s growth as she deals with the balance between real life and true/fantasy life, making discoveries about others, some not so pleasant, some merely unexpected, and incorporating them into her perception of the world around her.

The way the plot line wraps itself up is satisfactory, but I did not like the epilogue (of sorts) very much. Some actions were taken without sufficient motivation, and it was irksome. Still enjoyable overall, however.

From the back cover:
Miaka Yuuki is an ordinary junior high school student who is suddenly transported into the world of a book, The Universe of the Four Gods. Surrounded by enemies with mystic power, she can only rely on her Celestial Warriors and a mysterious monk, a disciple of the oracle, to help her fulfill her quest! Miaka’s best friend, Yui, also enters the book, but suffers a fate much crueler than Miaka’s.

Review:
Miaka is only a little stupid in this volume, running away like an idiot just once, and for at least a reason, if not the best one ever. Chichiri is introduced, and immediately brings value to the team and also helps impart some lessons of responsibility and strength to Miaka.

One thing I particularly noticed is that the little dramatic moments, scenes of angst and stuff, really don’t last very long. There are a few pages where Miaka tries to squash her feelings for Tamahome so she can focus on her task, and then… gone. It makes the overall mood a bit flighty, I suppose, but it’s better than wallowing overlong.

Things are starting to get very interesting, now that we are on the “collecting constellations” arc rather than the “I wanna go home, now back, now home again” phase of the story. I hope Tasuki shows up soon. Then all my favorites will be accounted for.

From the back cover:
Always be polite to dragons! That’s what Daystar’s mother taught him… and it’s a very wise lesson—one that might just help him after his mom hands him a magic sword and kicks him out of the house. Especially because his house sits on the edge of the Enchanted Forest and his mother is Queen Cimorene.

But the tricky part is figuring out what he’s supposed to do with the magic sword. Where is he supposed to go? And why does everyone he meets seem to know who he is?

It’s going to take a particularly hotheaded fire-witch, a very verbose lizard, and a badly behaved baby dragon to help him figure it all out. And those good manners certainly won’t hurt!

Review:
Back to audio for this concluding volume. Although I recently praised Random House Listening Library for their production of Feed, I’ve overall been disappointed with their work in this series. The biggest irritant, aside from Telemain’s voice, is that emphasis is often placed on the wrong words. This happens all the time, and none of the dialogue sounds truly natural as a result. Here’s an example: Morwen comments on Daystar’s sword, “Parti…cularly since you still haven’t learned to use it properly.” It sounds like she’s calling him a slacker, when he’d only been given the thing the day before.

Regarding the actual content of the book, I wasn’t particularly annoyed by anything, aside from the continued incompetence of the villains. Neither was I particularly interested by anything. Talking to Dragons is boring. Daystar spends the entire book trying to discover what most, if not all, of the readers already know, and when he finally succeeds in getting some answers, the plots of the previous books are explained again. I wonder how likely it is that someone will just pick up book four of a series and start from there. Not very, I’d think.

Maybe for new readers, it would be some big reveal moment, but for everyone who started from the beginning, it’s a total yawn banquet. We know exactly what’s happened and exactly what Daystar is supposed to do, and what he’ll learn when he does it. Earlier books in the series had their share of obvious plot elements, but at least they led to new developments in the story rather than retreads of what’s gone before.

From the back cover:
Handsome Mark Callender did not die the way a well-brought-up young gentleman should. He was found hanging by his neck, a lipstick stain on his mouth and a picture of a nude girl nearby. The official verdict was suicide, but his aristocratic father suspected murder, and hired fledgling detective Cordelia Gray to investigate. As this determined young lady followed a twisting trail of guilty secrets and shameful sins, she soon reached the conclusion that the nicest people do the nastiest things—in a case that proved at every shocking turn to be An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

Review:
One of the most enjoyable things about P. D. James’ books is that she’s amazing at character snapshots, evocative yet economical, and able to reveal personality even when only discussing their physical attributes. The technique is used more with minor characters—a temporary typist, a curious neighbor—while the history of the detective herself is meted out more gradually.

Cordelia herself is a great character: sensible, resourceful, and focused while still retaining some youthful vulnerability. She cares very much about fulfilling her obligations to her client while also doing right by the victim, for whom she feels strong empathy. Various people remark throughout the book that her occupation is an unsuitable job for a woman, though there is never a moment where Cordelia herself considers this to be so. The last sentence of the blurb above, therefore, is misleading.

There were moments in the story where I thought the investigation was proceeding a little too neatly, that those questioned were persuaded to divulge their information a little too easily. The moments of suspense did not always foster the proper level of concern for the character’s fate, but that may be due in some part to Cordelia’s level-headedness. The actual facts of the case, however, were suitably clever and original, and I enjoyed the book very much over all. It’s a pity that James has only written one other novel featuring Cordelia.

From the back cover:
The Christmas dance party begins, and Mizuki looks for a chance to give Sano a present. Later, Mizuki flies home for New Year’s and an unexpected reunion with Gilbert, her first love. Though time has passed and her romantic hopes are now focused on Sano, Mizuki discovers that this old flame hasn’t been completely snuffed out in her heart!

Review:
The bane of my existence—repetitiveness—is currently plaguing Hana-Kimi . I am getting really tired of seeing Nakatsu spaz out over something and get injured. Of seeing Nanba surrounded by girls, only to have Nakao come up and chase them off.

Things were a little better in the second half of the book, with a change of venue to California. I didn’t even mind the randomness of Sano and Nakatsu showing up in America. Mizuki spazzing was predictable, but I liked seeing Sano in that environment. Really, the best parts of this entire volume are when Sano and Mizuki are getting closer in some way. If Nakajo dispensed with the rest of the gimmicks, I’d probably enjoy it more.

I don’t think I’ll be buying Hana-Kimi anymore, but will probably find a comfy chair in Borders to read the rest of the series for the sake of curiosity.

From the back cover:
Princess Cimorene is now Queen Cimorene… and she’s faced with her first queenly crisis—the Enchanted Forest is threatened with complete destruction!

Those wizards are back—and they’ve become very smart. (Sort of.) They’ve figured out a way to take over the forest once and for all… and what they have planned isn’t pretty.

With a little help from Kazul the dragon, Morwen the witch, Telemain the magician, two cats, and a blue, flying donkey-rabbit named—what else?—Killer, Cimorene might just be able to stop them.

And some people think that being a queen is easy.

Review:
The library didn’t have an unabridged audio version of this one, so I’m reading my own paperback copy. Telemain is far less irksome in this format, I have to report. However, there were many other things that annoyed me. Let’s make a list!

1. Killer. I don’t know what redeeming value this insanely annoying, stupid creature is supposed to add.

2. The endless running gag about how Cimorene finds Telemain impossible to understand when he gets going about magic. Most of the time what he’s saying is completely comprehensible, and she’s an intelligent adult. She should be able to understand it!

3. Kazul seems OOC. When did she get so bloodthirsty and prone to breathing fire? Wasn’t she the most level-headed of the dragons back in book one?

4. Incompetent villains.

5. Plot holes. Cimorene and friends do something to try to locate the missing sword, and then later don’t remember the villains could do the same thing.

There were a few things I did like. Since it’s largely from Morwen’s perspective, her cats’ dialogue is translated. They all have distinct personalities, and Fiddlesticks is particularly cute. Also, the overall tone is darker and less concerned with playing up fairy tales than previous books in the series, and I quite liked the ending. It went a long way in redeeming my overall opinion of the book.

From the back cover:
“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.”

So says Titus, whose ability to read, write, and even think for himself has been almost completely obliterated by his “feed,” a transmitter implanted directly into his brain. Feeds are a crucial part of life for Titus and his friends. After all, how else would they know where to party on the moon, how to get bargains at Weatherbee & Crotch, or how to accessorize the mysterious lesions everyone’s been getting? But then Titus meets Violet, a girl who cares about what’s happening to the world and challenges everything Titus and his friends hold dear. A girl who decides to fight the feed.

Review:
I almost gave up on this within the first five minutes of listening to it. Not only was there the initially baffling futuristic slang and rampant profanity, but also the fact that the main characters are all idiot teens. One soon finds, however, that it isn’t only the teenagers who talk and act like this, but all of society. It was pretty jarring to hear the protagonist’s dad say, “She’s, like, woah” to describe his wife’s reaction to something, but in this environment, people never learn to speak or think for themselves in a coherent fashion. Some can’t even read or write. It’s as if their minds have atrophied.

Feed is a cautionary tale of what might eventually happen when there’s no need to work for anything. You can look up any information you need rather than think about it, spyware in your head knows what you’ll want and need before you do and shows you myriad ways to go about getting it, and access to continual feedcast entertainment is easy, though it has been so completely dumbed down that the most popular program is simply called “Oh. Wow. Thing.”

The world and society of the novel is well and thoroughly developed, and one need not fully subscribe to the “pop culture is evil” belief in order to appreciate skillful satire. The best part of the novel is Titus’ struggle with trying to fathom something big and deep about his world. He has limited experience with thinking for himself, and his realization that he may actually be kind of dumb was compelling. He behaved pretty realistically for a teenage boy, including a large passage near the end where he’s in need of much smacking. A couple of things I particularly disliked were how message-y the story was and the idiocy of most of the characters. Even if it’s a plot point, it is still idiocy and it annoys.

Lastly, a note on format. The Random House Listening Library production of Feed is excellent. The narrator did a stellar job and the adaptations of the banner ads with which everyone’s continually assailed are great, with zippy music and cheesy announcers. If you have the chance to go the unabridged audio route, I’d recommend it.

From the back cover:
It’s summer break, and the Host Club crew head to the beach, dragging our reluctant heroine with them. When Haruhi stands up to some local bullies and gets tossed into the ocean, Tamaki, the Host Club King, rescues her. But afterward, he’s so mad that he won’t speak to her until she apologizes. Trouble is, Haruhi can’t figure out what she should be sorry for!

Review:
Haruhi is such a great leading character. She’s not excitable, clumsy, weepy, flighty, or any other negative trait I’ve seen in a shoujo heroine that was supposed to make them cute. She’s level-headed, sensible, independent, and not at all annoying. If Haruhi were an actual person, I’d probably be a little in awe of her.

I am happy to say that not only was volume 3 better than 2, it was also better than the anime versions of some of these stories. Nekozawa is completely cut out of the anime’s version of the visit to the beach, and the Robelia/Lobelia Gakuen chapter has several differences. Since I thought this one of the weaker of the anime episodes, these differences went a long way in redeeming this story for me.

Coolest of cools, there’s a Halloween chapter that hasn’t been animated! Probably because it hasn’t got a lot of story, but it does feature Tamaki in a completely adorable vampire costume. He’s also in a few other nice outfits throughout the volume. Rarely do I have such a fangirly crush on a bishounen, but I must admit that I really do like looking at him.