With a bold, unique premise, excellent artwork, and a great mixture of action and ecchi humor, Chained Soldier is off to a roaring start with its debut volume. Nuanced gender dynamics mesh with a controversial plot mechanic that requires some critical thinking to appreciate. Join me today as I review Chained Soldier Vol 1 by Takahiro and Yohei Takemura!
Tag: review
Review: Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Vol 1
Bittersweet yuri are pretty common these days, but Kodansha’s new series, Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, offers an interesting and unexpected twist in the yuri genre. Join me today as I review the first volume of this new shoujo ai series!
Mini-Review: Love & Lies Vol 1
What if the government arranged your marriage the moment you turned 16? What if you had already fallen in love and wanted to rebel against your fate? In a premise like a YA dystopian novel, Love & Lies is an ecchi romantic drama about a young boy who wants to pursue his own high-school crush,…
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten Review, Vol 1 Review
Anyone who knows me or reads my reviews can confidently say I’m a sucker for squishy, fuzzy, adorable romance. The sappier and funnier the setup, the better! This light novel achieves all of that and more…
No Guns Life: Vol 1 Review
No Guns Life is a perfect cyberpunk hellscape and a unique standout of a manga.
Review – Empire of Storms
This is a *spoiler-free* review for Empire of Storms. This review contains spoilers for previous books in the series. The fifth book in Sarah J. Maas’ epic fantasy series was always going to be highly-anticipated and under pressure to deliver. As we reach the pointy end of Aelin’s journey to defeat the evil tyrant, the Dark…
Review – Poison City
Poison City has a very prominent hook – essentially, it asks the question, What would Harry Potter look like several years (and drinks) down the road? Reading this gritty South African fantasy though, it offers far more than a potential Potter fan-fic. Instead, Poison City offers up a twisted, gripping ride that feels a Neill Blomkamp-directed version of Men-in-Black.
Review – Desolation
Bring a strong stomach to Derek Landy’s latest demonic fantasy, Desolation, sequel to the surprisingly good Demon Road from last year. Blood drenches the pages (figuratively) from the very beginning, and the action doesn’t relent for the next five hundred pages – but there’s a rather human story being told beneath that devilish skin.
Review: The Glittering Court
For a plot that’s basically about selling beautiful women, The Glittering Court as a novel doesn’t seem to know what it’s selling me. It alternates between so many agendas that I’m not sure if it’s a gritty allusion to human trafficking, or a social stance against 1800’s era sexism, or a criticism of the British/American…
Series Review – Death Note
On my blog, I typically highlight and review novels, but every once in a while, I can be tempted into the incredibly rich and detailed complexities of Japanese manga. Over the last few months, I’ve read my way through Death Note, a twelve-volume (108-chapter) manga about a young student who discovers a notebook with the power to kill…
Brett Michael Orr 