Notice for Review Requests

I receive review requests weekly. However, my personal schedule is hectic and I no longer review actively. (I also manage another blog called The Toronto Cafe and Food Blog). I do read every request sent but I apologize in advance that I do not reply to them all.

If I do take on a request, I will forewarn that it may take some time before I can review it. I am now looking to review adult fiction and self-help books instead of young adult fiction because I have grown out of it. If you are to request a review for either adult fiction or self-help, I will more likely to give it a shot.

In the meantime, Stop, Drop, and Read! serves as an archive book review blog. When I have the time, I may post a review. Thank you for understanding.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Crown by Shinji Wada & You Higuri

Title: Crown
Mangaka:
Shinji Wada (Story) & You Higuri (Art)
Age Group:
Older Teens
Series is:
Ongoing with 6 volumes
Volume(s) Reviewing:
1
My Rating:
3.5/5

Being an orphan is tough, but Mahiro doesn't let that get to her. She is working hard to make money and tries her best to ignore the cruel family that she is stuck with from her mother's side. But her life abruptly takes a 180 degree turn when her long-lost (and handsome!) older brother, Ren, comes back for her! Apparently, they are both royalty and now the evil queen who married their father is trying to get them killed!


Under the protection of her brother and his best friend, Jake, Mahiro is now living life under the covers as she must be careful with whatever she is doing. But, will the queen get her in the end?


This is honestly the first manga I bought based on a review from
MangaBlog. In this series, you get the fine-line and dashing art of the popular mangaka, You Higuri, with a one-of-the-kind-story by Shinji Wada.

Mahiro is a girl who thinks the best of everyone, which was something that bothered me. If several people were hired to chase you down and kill you, you should be more careful. But Mahiro didn't seem to have that mentality, which the reader could be easily irked by. Ren is a cool brother, after all these years he came back to protect his little sister. For some reason though, it seems their relationship may go beyond sibling love. So far, nothing in the plot within volume one has indicated so but it does give off that vibe. Now I wonder if they may not be blood-related at all...


Higuri is notorious for her boys' love series and although I have never read any of them, I know because she's famous for it. So when it came to Ren's relationship with his foreign friend, Jake, it was a peculiar one. They are not on the romantic side of things but whenever Jake got mad, Ren would always seem like he was ready to pronounce his undying love for him. I was not too fond about this because Crown is definitely not a shonen-ai/yaoi manga, which makes all this extra stuff between Ren and Jake unnecessary.

I think the storyline is pretty awesome but for some reason, pairing up with Higuri did not work out so well. It is not terrible at all because her art style is lovely, but she doesn't know how to make the manga stand out because she is very used to her own area of expertise (boys' love). Although there is a lot of killing and blood, I find Crown to be on the lighter side of things. If a mangaka who is based on intense action (but comedy also) came into the project, Crown would have been much better.

Overall, Crown is a good series but something I would not run out to buy all the volumes of. But if you have it in your library, go borrow it.

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