Gord’s Comments (group member since Apr 06, 2017)

Gord’s comments from the Vampires, Weres and Fae! group.

Well this is a weird feeling. This is probably the most caught up on library books I have been in a very long time. I entered my time off with three stacks of books, divided by due date at the library, and I was hesitant to request more as I figured this would last a good long while. By Tuesday I was nearly done my largest stack of books. By last night I had completed the biggest stack and the second stack. I'm down to three physical books and three audiobooks. This required a midweek panicked session of request more books from the library. Today I'm going for my last supply run before Christmas which includes a massive haul from the library. Hopefully that will last me a little bit.

I can relate to #5 so much. We had a potluck thing at work recently and I figured I'd make an appearance and actually eat with everyone else in the lunchroom. I barely lasted until the food was ready and I was scurrying off to my desk. It was just so loud with all these different conversations trying to happen over top of each other.

It has been chilly here the last few days. About -18c or 0f and off and on snow all week. It hasn't really bothered me much as I've been in full on hermit mode with a giant stack of books.

I know it has only been a couple of days since my last update but I've been kind of reading up a storm as of late.

Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense. Light Novels, Vol. 3 -4 Stars
Not a lot to really say about this one. I'm continuing on with my reread of this series and this is the book where Maple kind of gets a little more broken then she already was. This was the perfect light read that I needed after Tanya and Tales from the Cafe.

The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent (Light Novel) Vol. 8 -4 Stars
This is essentially the end of the anime and there was definitely a lot of material that was cut from this book as there was with the last one. They were basically getting caught up on the material that was out and they were trying to cram it into the show. That and what they cut wasn't horribly important. I mean, it is, in a story telling sense and a world building sense, but for romance aspect not so much. I've got one more book in this series right now and then I am back to "patiently" waiting but it's going to a be a long wait as volume 10 isn't even out in Japan.

Murder on the Christmas Express -2 Stars
Oh man, this book, this book, this thing actually killed my interest in reading today. There will be spoiler warnings in this one and that is hiding some trigger warning stuff for SA.

I was looking for a Christmas book for a December challenge and I didn't want yet another sappy Hallmark style romance, just not my cup of tea. I was poking around figuring I could either take the horror route or the mystery route which lead me to this book. As you can guess by the title this is a Christmas mystery that is in the style of Murder on the Orient Express and you can see why this might interest me. Now, to be fair to the book, there are elements of this classical style of mystery in this book. The MC is a retired cop trying to get back home on Christmas Eve as her daughter is giving birth. She is taking a sleeper train to Scotland and of course it gets snowed in. There is a large cast of characters and a murder. That part of it was the good part. Then there was everything else. This was a modern take on the mystery so everyone had cell phones, social media, etc. While not a horrible thing it kind of took away from things when our MC can simply pick up her phone and ask a buddy at the police department to do a background check for her. There are some tonal issues and this is where the book kind of goes of the rails for me. In one scene you can have this cozy Christmas like scene where things are nice and people are making train puns. Then we are suddenly in the hospital talking about the complications with the daughters birth. Then we are getting flashbacks to the MC's past where she is (view spoiler)[raped at 20 while pregnant (hide spoiler)]. This created this really weird shift in tone from scene to scene. Then we get to the ending. The ending is basically 1.5 hours of (view spoiler)[ rape stories (hide spoiler)] from various people on the train. It just got so heavy in the end and it just never ended. The trauma just kept piling up and it just got to be to much. I was here for a Christmas classical style mystery and I just got flashbacks and trauma.

Uhh manga/comics

Swing -3 Stars
A middle grade comic about finding out what makes you happy and standing up to bullies. It's not a bad comic but I think I've just outgrown this kind of message.

The Moon on a Rainy Night, Vol. 3 -4 Stars
The Moon on a Rainy Night 4 -4 Stars
More in this series and we are starting to get some more backstory into at least one of the MC's and hints at the backstory for the other. I'm liking how this is handling the drama so far. It is there but it feels kind of grounded. Especially with the one backstory that we got. The breakdown in that friendship feels like something that could easily happen and it wasn't just "keeping secrets" or some other common trope. I really can't wait for some more in this series.

SAKAMOTO DAYS 14 -4 Stars
More Sakamoto days and more great action. Not a lot to really say about this one.

What is next?

For audiobooks I'm not really sure. I don't have anything downloaded currently but I'm probably going to have to find one for another December challenge. If anyone knows of a shorter book published in December let me know.

Outside of that I have a bunch more comics and manga. I also have a cozy mystery called Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop from the library I need to deal with.

Alright, I might have made a slight miscalculation. I've had this problem in years past when I request to many books for my time off and then I suddenly find myself in this bind. Knowing I had a giant stack of books that was due this weekend I was hesitant to request more as I figured this would last me a while. It's now Tuesday evening and I have one book left from that giant stack. Don't get me wrong, I have a couple smaller stacks, but I don't think they are going to last me all that long.

No real plans on my end. I've turned into hermit that is filling his days with books, video games, and movies.

I think I want to circle back and give Sweat and Soap a chance. I think I tried to read it before but could only find the first volume.

I suppose I should do an update now that I am kind of caught up on everything.

The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 2: Plus Ultra -3 Stars
I have such mixed feelings about this book and this series so far. The anime left so much of this book on the cutting room floor and then made up things that weren't even in the book. As annoyed as I am by this fact I can kind of understand. While the anime was much more interested in the action side of this story the book is much more interested in all the stuff surrounding the action. That means that a lot of this book is just people talking but it's not all bad. We will get a big event that happens involving the MC. Leading up to that event we get to see the MC's point of view, the point of view of her command structure, the point of view of the enemy, and the point of view of the enemies allies. This allows for a lot of detail to be included in the story. For instance there is one point where our MC is saddled with new recruits to train while on the front lines. You get to see how our MC feels about this, partially how some of her men feel about this, and, most importantly, how the new recruits see our MC. At this point in the story our MC, and her unit, have a bit of a reputation. To see how this small child is so utterly terrifying for full grown men is hilarious but also a bit terrifying. The down side to all this detail though, is that there are times where the books feels like an absolute slog to get through. Where the book is merely talking to hear its own voice. It feels like the author just hasn't quite hit that perfect balance between action and talking.

Tales from the Café -5 Stars
This book is much like the first. You have some short stories, four in this one I believe, that are all about someone time traveling to meet someone while being interconnected with various stories. This story picks up about 6-7 seven years after the first book and continues to expand the lore of the cafe and the folks that run it. The other big thing that this book is good at is the emotional damage. This book made me cry throughout and that is not a surprise considering the type of stories that the book is telling. It's a simple book with some simple stories but they are just done so well.

Now for the manga

Trigun Deluxe Edition -5 Stars
I was so excited to see my library getting a copy of this book. Back, way back, in the day when I knew next to nothing about anime this was one of the ones that really hooked me in. This story of this goofy character called Vash who was hiding a lot about himself from others. All of it set on this dusty desert planet deep in space. I've wanted to read the manga over the years but for the longest time it was really hard to find them. That and there were two series, Trigun and Trigun Maximum. Since I could never really find them I never really dug all that deep. This book was the perfect excuse to jump in, read them, and figure things out. For those that might be curious, Trigun is the original series and it ends mid fight. That happened because the magazine it was originally published in was shut down. Trigun Maximum is the same series but it was published under a new magazine. The author got picked up by another magazine and was allowed to continue his series.

As for the story itself, it was just a blast to read. From what I remember of the anime it followed the manga pretty close. There were moments in the manga though that were a bit more adult. Instead of someone just disappearing from the story they choose a much permanent exit from the story shall we say. There were some panels what were more more violent or explicit then the anime but overall it was pretty minor. If I had to nit pick something I would have to say that some of the action scenes were a little hard to follow. There was just a lot of things going on in a single panel and it can sometimes become a bit confusing. This was a fun read that took me on a nostalgic trip and now I am ready to start on Maximum.

Home Office Romance -5 Stars
This was one of those things that started popping up on my radar lately and since it was a standalone manga it didn't take much to twist my arm and make me read this. This was a romance set against the Covid pandemic. Our MC is forced to start working from home and that is where he meets his neighbor who is a grad student. I'll be honest, in the beginning I wasn't exactly feeling this. The main male lead was just weird and awkward. The art made him look like he was either a zombie or well on his way to being one. At some point in the story something shifted and I started to understand the male lead. Sure he was a bit awkward and weird but his brain is just wired differently. He is a programmer and he has a this weird, precise and detailed way of looking at things. After this shift I was just swept up in the romance of this series and was cheering these two on. With this being a standalone book it also didn't engage in a lot of the more annoying tropes of romance manga. It had a definite end and there wasn't time to be playing around. If you were on the fence about this one I strongly encourage you to pick it up.

Now, what is next now that I am on vacation.

Murder on the Christmas Express
This is my "Christmas" read. The synopsis has this old school murder vibe that just intrigues me.

Outside of that I have a stack of manga that I need to get done this week. Library due dates and all that.

Never mind, I found it. It was A Tower Full of Cats and it is part of the Games' Full of Cats by Devcats. Each of the games are on sale on Steam right now and are only a couple bucks each.

I'll have to get you a name when I get home but they are super cheap games.

Final day of work work this year. I was totally not up late playing a hidden cat game last night either.

This has happened so many times. There are times when reading a book that putting it down is not an option. You just have to know what happens next and everything else can get bent.

Today is the start of my last week of work this year. My vacation starts on Friday at 5 PM and lasts until the 6th of January. I do have to go in on the 30th/31st but that is more to be a body just in case then any actual work. I'll probably just read for that day and a half that I am there.

A bit of a shorter update for this week.

The Teller of Small Fortunes -3 Stars
Don't let the three star rating fool you, I thought this was a good book, just not a great book. This book started popping up on my radar a month or so ago and I'm always intrigued by a cozy fantasy. My copy from the library showed up a whole lot sooner then I ever expected so it got slotted in. This was an entertaining read but there was something just a little bit off about this one. This book is tagged as cozy fantasy and it definitely has some elements of it in the book but I feel like there is something missing from the book. I spent a while pondering this over and from my experience with the genre, both in the west and the various light novels I've read, that thing is community. When I think of some of the bigger cozy fantasies I've read there is sense of growing and integrating into a community. This sense of bonding with new people and creating a home for yourself. This book was close but it was more of a found family kind of situation and I think that the traveling cart element was the big factor for that. Instead of settling into one location and building those community bonds you were constantly traveling from one location to another. This gave you a sense of things more on a larger country level then in a smaller community sense. You never got to build that familiarity with any one place and it's community before you were rattling off to the next location. Now, just to be clear, this is far from a bad thing, but it does change the feeling of the novel.

The story also has a weird setup that I'm not sure I've fully seen before. We never really had a start to this novel where the big events of the book started. As the reader, we just kind of dropped into the middle of the story. Our MC had been plying her trade for several years at this point. As for the two gents looking for the lost child, again, we are just kind of dropped into the middle part of their story line. Then we wander about doing things for a while before things kind of escalate into the conclusion. It's this weird vibe where things kind of feel like a normal fantasy novel but with the low stakes cozy fantasy approach. You would have situations that would normally be a lot more tense, or are set up with higher stakes, that would just kind of quickly resolve themselves with little muss of fuss. Some of them would even be resolved off page. Again, this is not necessarily a bad thing but it changed the vibes of the novel. It felt like this book was trying to have a foot in two different worlds and I'm not sure how well those two worlds mixed.

Overall I found this be an entertaining read and I don't really have a lot of negative to say about the book. This book just had a bit of a weird feeling to it as it was trying to do two different things. I can easily see a world where this book leaned either direction and you would still have a great novel that would be fun to read. If you are curious about this book I'd say give it a chance. At least you will have an entertaining read.

The Book of Three -3 Stars
This series popped up on my radar again and I realized I've never really made it past the first couple books. Considering how short the audiobooks are I figured I'd slot this into my rotation and finally finish this series. After listening to this first book again my biggest take away was just how annoying Taran was. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's all part of his journey to being a better person but holy smokes was he insufferable in this book. There really isn't a lot to say about this novel though. It's got that older fantasy vibes where the heroes journey template is pretty clear. The assistant pig keeper in the middle of no where is suddenly thrust into this grand adventure that he always dreamed about. Along the way he starts to understand that this adventure is not all the glitz and glam that you hear about in the stories as he steps up to do what is right. It's a classic set up for a reason. A couple quick notes about the audiobook, before I move on. There is an introduction by the author that is also supposedly narrated by the author. I could listen to this author speak for a long time. He has that warm grandfatherly feel to his narration that was just so fun to listen to. The regular narrator was good and he did various voices for the various characters. I'd say the only voice that just kind of landed off for me was the voice of Gurgi. This is a classic situation where the voice in my ear does not match the voice in my head. I've always pictured Gurgi with this more childlike voice which made it really weird when the narrator choice this very deep mans voice for Gurgi. It felt like someone else playing the role of Gurgi instead of it being actually Gurgi. It just felt weird every time I heard the voice.

Now for the manga section.

Cthulhu Cat -3 Stars
This was one of those silly little premises that I knew I had to check out as soon as I saw it pop up. The title really tells you all you need to know. This is a book about cute cats but all the cats are the old gods from the Cthulhu mythos. It's this silly, stupid, premise that I just love. It's got that webcomic kind of feel to it where there isn't really a story to the book. It's more like a series of strange events from this world. It was a quick read that was, well, silly.

Magic Artisan Dahlia Wilts No More (Manga) Vol. 6 -3 Stars
I think this was more on me but man I just wasn't vibing with this volume much. There were some elements of invention, food, and adventure but a good chunk of this book was people jockeying for power. Either political or business power and that kind of stuff is just something I normally feel invested in. It also probably doesn't help that a good chunk of time has passed since I read the last volume. So I'm trying to remember what was happening in this series while slogging through all this power struggle double speak. It just wasn't clicking with me. To the point where I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with this series.

Now, what is coming up next.

Tales from the Café
Time for me to sob uncontrollably while listening to this. I started this one yesterday and I can tell the first story is already setting itself up to hurt me. One interesting thing I noticed is that this is not an immediate sequel to the first one. This one is set a good sixish years after the first one.

Trigun Deluxe Edition
I'm reading this today and I might just be a wee bit excited for this one. I have been waiting for this for over a year at this point and I can't wait to crack the cover on this one. Outside of that I have the usual never ending stack of things from the library.

I am "patiently" waiting for my physical copy to come in. I'm only 10th in line.

Cee wrote: "🎉🎉🎉
I have 2 books due back to the library in 3 days, but I can't stop reading Carl hahaha. I'm trying to sneak pages at work. If you listen to the audio, let me know what you think! At this point,..."

I don't see a lot of LITRPG stuff in general through the library. There is a bunch as Kindle exclusive material but that is about it. I feel that the genre just hasn't had its Legends and Lattes moment yet to push it into the main stream. I'm also not sure if it ever will either. It's a pretty niche genre.

I've heard good things about the series and have been meaning to check it out myself.

Time for that weekly wrap up and yes it is on a Monday morning. Honestly, until January, my schedule will be a bit wonky. I'm on that holiday grind of trying to burn off vacation before the end of the year.

Monstrous Regiment -4 Stars
I recently joined a Discworld challenge and of course one of the first challenges was to read a Discworld book. I've tried to get into this behemoth of a series a few times over the years to various degrees of success and it continues to be one of those series that intrigue me. My biggest problem was this broad sense of not knowing what the heck was going on. So many of these books are interconnected and if you don't read things in the right way then you are lost. This was one of those books that was recommended as a stand alone read. The story was self contained and the references to other parts of the series was minimal and not essential knowledge. I rather enjoyed this one. I'm not saying that this is a perfect book or anything but this was a fun read that got a few chuckles out of me. The basic premise of the book is that a young woman joins the army to find her missing brother. The hitch in this entire thing is that she is in a country that worships an insane god who decrees that anything he doesn't like is an abomination. Things such as chocolate, women doing basically anything, the color blue, etc. As a result that country is a bit insane itself and a bit of a bully that has been picking fights with literally everyone around it. So our MC being in the army, wearing pants, being able to read and write, all abominations. The unit that she ends up joining is a rag tag band of new recruits who happen to be the last unit standing in the country. From here it's the usual shenanigans you would expect and not expect from this kind of novel. Probably my favorite thing in this novel was the vampire suffering Vietnam flashbacks, sorry hallucinations, while going through coffee withdrawals. I did not expect this in this novel at all and for some reason this just tickled my funny bone hard. Now there were some issues with this novel. For instance, the running reveal (view spoiler)[ that basically everyone we meet in the army was a women (hide spoiler)] kind of got a bit tiring by the end. I get why it was but it kind of took some of the punch out of everything. I will also say that I can clearly see the authors connections to real world happenings in this one. I've heard that the author likes to put a lot of real world connections or parallels with real world happenings and I've not always seen them. In this one though the connection was very obvious. Both to things that were happening at the time it was written and even to things that are happening now.

Treasure of Lima -3 Stars
After several longer audiobooks as of late I was looking for something lighter. Especially as several of my turn to audiobooks had a wait list and I needed something now. The fact that this helped with not only a stalled challenge but several other ones was just the cherry on top. As for the book, I don't really have a lot to say. This is the 46th novel in this series and it's what you would expect. Action, adventure, pseudoarchelogy, and something turn your brain off and have fun with. This one has Annja in Costa Rica looking for a missing scientist and some long lost treasure. It was what I expected and it was a fun read.

Now for the manga/comic stuff

-4 Stars
More fun and shenanigans in this world. What I really liked with this one was the flashback/back story to Loid and he became a spy in the first place. That was a nice touch and something I didn't realize that I needed.

The God of High School, Vol. Two -4 Stars
More of the tournament happened in this one but it also got into what was happening outside of the tournament. The stuff happening in the background and in a much larger picture kind of sense. We also get a glimpse that there is a lot more to these martial arts then simple martial arts as well. I'm so glad that this series got physical print and that I can read through it again. Now all I need is a physical print of Girls of the Wild but I doubt that will happen.

A Cat from Our World and the Forgotten Witch Vol. 3 -3 Stars
I think I'm done with this series. I remember loving the simple story in the first book where a lonely cat from our world found itself in a fantasy world with a lonely old women. They filled that missing niche in each others world and it was sweet. Then in the second volume we got this tonal shift to a more darker fantasy world full of betrayal and what not as we started to get some back story on the old woman and the world in general. This continued into this volume and I had a really hard time getting into this one. I'd pick it up to read it and almost immediately I'd find myself putting it back down. Either of these stories as separate things would have been fine. The slice of life about a giant cat and an old lady living together out in the woods or the darker fantasy story full of betrayal. I'm just not feeling them jammed together though. I wanted those sweet vibes from the first volume. I don't know, I'm just not clicking with this one anymore.

A Witch's Printing Office, Vol. 5 -4 Stars
A Witch's Printing Office, Vol. 6 -4 Stars
Reading this was a bit of a sucker punch to the guts this weekend. Normally I follow the series length by looking at it on Goodreads but for this one I was just requesting the next volume from the library figuring I had a bunch more books to come. It wasn't until the end of volume six when I found out that the sixth volume was the end of the series. It was just that unexpected end to something I had been enjoying that hit me a bit hard. Don't get me wrong I knew this was a series that couldn't go on for decades like One Piece or something. It was a gag manga with a niche idea but man was it a fun read. Reading the author's notes at the end made sense why things ended as well. The series had run it's course and the magazine it was being published in had switched from a physical to a digital medium. These last couple volumes were fun though and the ending worked well with the series. It was crammed full of references as the others have been and the jokes were good. I'm going to miss this series.

Don't Call it Mystery (Omnibus) Vol. 7-8 -4 Stars
What I've already said about this series still stands. The writing is great but the art is not as good. This volume had the usual mysteries that were "not" mysteries. Sprinkled in was some social commentaries that I wasn't expecting. Commentary on the roles of men and women in society. Commentary on SA victims and the problems with SA, allegations, and in particular the impact of false allegations on other victims. It also had a twist that I did not see coming that left me teary eyed. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone else but it just came out of left field and it hurt. I'm still kind of processing it honestly.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 3—Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 9 -4 Stars
Not a lot to really say for this one either. I'm coming up on the end with only one more volume to go and I'm kind of looking forward to moving past this one.

Tomb Raider King, Vol. 8 -4 Stars
More of our MC being a morally grey jerk in general and that is fun. I feel like we are on the verge of a big power up for our MC and the story in general. The last part of this book was basically the MC getting beat down which hasn't really happened so far. No one really won that fight and events happened that led to a whole bunch of new strong characters. That is why I feel like we are on the verge of a big power up for everyone. This series is just a fun ride in an action movie kind of way and I'm here for it.

Now, what is next.

The Book of Three
I ended up starting this audiobook next for a couple reasons. First, the other audiobook I had lined up to read next I just wasn't in the mood for. It's Tales from the Café and if it's anything like the first one there will be a whole lot of tears. Second, I was seeing something about this series and realized that I have never finished it. I've started it a few times but I have never finished it. I plan to remedy that this time.

The Teller of Small Fortunes
This was a cozy fantasy I've seen floating around recently. I requested a copy from the library not expecting to see it for several months. It showed up a little earlier then expected so I'm going to jump in now. Outside of that I have another giant stack of manga that I just got from the library that I need to address.

My holiday time off has been locked in. I'm working four day work weeks for the next three weeks. I'm then off from the 16th of December to the 6th of January. I have to go in and work a full day on the 30th and a half day on the 31st to cover for my coworker which is minor. Those days will basically be me reading at work instead of at home because there will be no work getting done.

Time for that weekly wrap up and I have a few things to talk about this week. Honestly the next few weeks are going to be busy as I move into more of a holiday schedule where I'm frantically trying to burn off left over vacation days.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban -4 Stars
The next book in my reread of this series and it was fun. I've written something for this book a few times and have ended up deleting it. I think a lot of my enjoyment with this book and this series comes down to nostalgia and just having a good time while reading the book. I can see some of the criticisms and I just don't care. I also know that there is a ton of criticisms of the author that spill over to books. I'm not touching any of that but I will say that this is one of those books where I have a firm line separating the artist and their works. As for the book itself, like I said, it was fun. I like the expanding lore, the raising stakes, and it left me feeling satisfied at the end.

The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent (Light Novel) Vol. 7 -4 Stars
This is the first novel in this series where I really noticed a departure from the anime. Not that anything was changed but there was a lot of stuff that was chopped out. Some of it I can see leaving out of the anime but there are elements that would have been nice to leave in. I'd say about a good two thirds of this book got chopped out. One of things that I wish had been kept was Prince Ten'yuu's story line. In the anime, if memory serves me correct, basically he got the panacea and returned to his home country. That was the end of it and we never heard more. In the book we get into what he was doing before coming to the palace, the deal that was brokered between him and the king, and, most importantly for me, the follow up that the panacea actually worked. Sure we could imply that it worked but to see it actually worked was a very satisfying feeling. After that we get a bunch of fluff where Sei attends a tea party and is convinced to host her own social gathering. She ends up putting together a food festival where people are able to gather to sample various foods she has made. This was pure fluff and I can see why this was cut but it was a fun part to read. Then the end of the book was her visiting the Hawke domain. I like this part but this part also felt super rushed especially in comparison to the fluffy and slower paced start to the book. The story didn't even end in a good part either. It ends right as the big bad thing is defeated with zero follow up. I'm really loving this series and this book continues that good vibe but the pacing was a bit wonky in this one.

Now for the comics/manga

Dwellings -5 Stars
This was a random pick from the library and I am so glad that I did. This is a horror anthology and it's one that I actually liked. All the stories take place in this small town in Ontario, Canada that has a dark and tragic past. All the stories are connected in some way or another but it's not always overt which makes finding the connections fun. The book is also very adult meaning the stories don't suffer from that problem I have with most YA/MG stuff where it feels like the author is playing it safe. These stories are gory and horrifying and just satisfying to read. Of course, like most anthologies, some stories are better then others but the overall experience was great. The icing on the cake with this collection though is the art. This art style gave me such a blast of nostalgia. The entire comic was done in the Harvey Comics art style. Younger folks might know what that means but Harvey comics was the company who put out Casper the Friendly Ghost, Richie Rich, Hot Stuff, Little Dot, etc. These were one of the many comics I grew up on and I would find them routinely at garage sales growing up. What was the cherry on top of the icing though was the advertisements in the comics. Hear me out, hear me out. I am tired of the constant deluge of ads in everything now a days and if it was more of that I'd be disappointed but it's not. Just like the art style is a homage to something older so are the ads. The ads in this comic are all done like the older comics. The big white page full of little ads for junk like x-ray glasses, hand buzzers, decoder rings, spy glasses, binoculars, robots, etc. Then there was the full page ads for toys or movies connected to the events of the books. Honestly, I think the only thing missing was the ads for Hostess fruit pies. That is probably due to copyright issues but I was seriously expecting to turn the page and find one while reading this. This book was just a blast to read with such a blast of nostalgia that it took me straight back to my childhood.

His Majesty the Demon King's Housekeeper Vol. 7 -3 Stars
Not a lot to really say about this fluffy little read. It was more of the budding romance, more cleaning, and more fantasy stuff.

Monster Crush -3 Stars
This was another random snag from the library and honestly it wasn't bad but I will be hard pressed to remember this by this time next week. It was a simple sapphic romance but with monsters, well one person in the couple was a monster. Everything about his comic was alright but it wasn't mind blowing either. The story was pretty basic and there was a lot of things I felt were explored or fully explored. Everything was just kind of surface level.

The Savior's Book Café Story in Another World, Vol. 2 -4 Stories
Alright, this story kind of surprised me a bit. I think the author originally meant for this to be only a two book series. After reading the first book I was getting the vibes that this would be slow paced shojo style romance and I was all on board for that. The second book continued that vibe as well, until it kicked it into high gear. The big tension was resolved, there was confessions of feelings, hands were held, dating started, official couple status was confirmed. It felt like this was supposed to be a two book deal that did better then expected and the editor suddenly wanted more. This felt like everything was neatly wrapped up in this book and then we suddenly got a splash page at the end, not even art either, just some words promoting new characters and adventures in the next volume. I'm very curious to see what happens next.

As for what I am reading next

Monstrous Regiment
This is my current audiobook and so far I'm enjoying the story but hating the audio quality.

Outside of that I still have a giant stack of manga to work on so I can get them back to the library.