Short & Simple (2)

Title: The Ghost in the Shell
Mangaka: Shirow Masamune
Age Group: Adults
Series is: Completed with 3 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 1
My Rating: 2/5

Sentence Summary: In a fictional twenty-first century, Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg agent whose job is to catch big-time cybercriminals and terrorists.

Speaking Straightly: This manga was a torture to go through. I think I was reading it for maybe five months. Maybe even more. There was simply too much going on. I had no idea what I was reading from start to finish. The content was extremely heavy as the mangaka incorporated a lot of politics and science into it, including some of his own things. I wasn't a big fan of the art either because it was too retro for my liking.

However, I can understand why this series is popular. Being one of the very few manga series out at its time, it was something different. If I took my time to read it and digest it, I may have liked it too. But, it is too overwhelming for me at the moment.

Review copy provided by Del Rey.

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Title: Tantalize
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Age Group: Teens
# of Pages: 336
My Rating: 3.5/5

Sentence Summary: Quincie's family's restaurant is about to open when someone viciously murders the head chef and she must find out who the culprit is.

Speaking Straightly: A pleasant read. I love the Italian restaurant that is themed with vampire idea. Tantalize is one of those stories where the whole world knows about the existence of vampires and werepeople. I guess that is a nice change of pace instead of having the main girl discovers vampires or something. Also, I liked how she liked Kieren, a werewolf, from the start where they were friends in the beginning instead of going into those cliche plots.

What bothered me though was going towards the end. It seemed like there were a bunch of things missing from the story. It did not feel like there was an ending nor a cliffhanger. More like, it seemed the author forgot to write the conclusion and sent the novel off to be published.

Recommend to fans of the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn and Dead is the New Black b Marlene Perez.

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Title: Reborn!
Mangaka: Akira Amano
Age Group: Teens
Series is: Ongoing with 24 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing: 1
My Rating: 3/5

Sentence Summary: Tsunayoshi Sawada discovers he is the next in line to be the head of a mafia group and an infamous hitman toddler by the name of Reborn is going to tutor him to be a proper boss.

Speaking Straightly: This is one heck of a strange manga. This series is quite popular among many manga fans but after reading the first volume, I am baffled on why it is so. I doubt I will continue on reading this series because it does not hold my interest at all. However, guys are likely to like this series much more than girls because of the weirdness and action. So shonen fans, give it a shot.

Bookmooched from Genevieve.