Milkyway Hitchhiking (manhwa, vol. 2) by Sirial, translated by HyeYoung Im

Milkyway Hitchhiking is an episodic manhwa (Korean graphic novel) that's hard to assign to any one genre, since it changes a bit from one story to the next.

Review:

I can't believe it's been over 10 years since I read volume 1. Anyway, like the first volume, this is a collection of short stories (episodic chapters?) loosely tied together by the presence of Milkway the cat, who seems to exist in multiple times and worlds.

In the first three stories, a trio of older ladies who are friends have their annual get-together and tell each other cat-related stories from their pasts. The next story is about a boy who misses his frequently traveling artist older brother. After a "convenience store" interlude that features cameo appearances of characters from earlier stories, there's the story of a tribe that has a marriage tradition of sending its young men out into the forest with a special cloth tied around their waists. The first person who finds them and removes the cloth becomes that young man's bride. The next couple chapters are about a cursed brother and sister. Next is the oddly sweet story of a fox being raising a chick...so that he'll eventually have chickens and therefore a steady supply of food. The volume wraps up with the story of a young prince raised to be little more than a weapon and the girl he saves from his father's cruelty.

REVIEW: How Not to Get Eaten by Owlbears: A Survival Guide for the Forgotten Realms (book) by Anne Toole

How Not to Get Eaten by Owlbears is a fictional guide. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I've played D&D a grand total of once. It was fun, although I never fully got the hang of how things worked.

I picked this up because the title sounded fun and I loved the owlbear artwork on the cover. Judging by a wiki I just looked up, the book's contents barely scratch the surface of what a fictional guide for the Forgotten Realms might cover, but hey, a general overview with a few specific tidbits here and there is fine when you're a newbie like me. 

This is written from the POV of Falgriss, a dragonborn ranger who traveled with Volo (who I was also previously unfamiliar with). It includes occasional advice about places to visit (or avoid), local monsters and other things to be aware of, etc. - viewing it as a travel guide of sorts, it's too broad in its content and skimpy on details to be of much use, like buying, say, a brief guidebook to all of Europe. Still, it was an easy read and I enjoyed the humor. I only wish the book's physical size had been larger - the artwork (and some of the text) was smaller than I'd have liked. A larger page-size would have showed off some of the details better. 

REVIEW: The Butcher's Masquerade (book) by Matt Dinniman

The Butcher's Masquerade is the fifth book in Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl LitRPG series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The surviving crawlers have made it to the sixth floor, "The Hunting Grounds," where they get a 30 hour grace period before hunters who will be trying to kill them are released. After the way the fifth floor wrapped up, a lot of those hunters will specifically want to kill Carl (although one group in particular has brought along some truly horrifying arrows just for Louis). Also, it's time for Carl to fulfill his side of the desperate bargain he made with the producers of Vengeance of the Daughter way back on the third floor.

Another floor means more nonstop action and the introduction of a bunch of new complications to Carl and Donut's already very complicated existence.

REVIEW: Shiver: Selected Stories (manga) by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen, "Painter" translated by Naomi Kokubo

Shiver is a collection of 10 short horror manga stories (9, if you consider that one is technically a bonus continuation of another one of the stories in the collection). I bought my copy new.

Review:

As I usually do with anthologies, I'll write about each of the stories in this volume separately. The volume includes an afterword by Junji Ito and author commentary for all of the primary stories.

"Used Record" - Scat music from the afterlife - an old record everyone would kill to have. This was ok but would have been better if we could actually hear the music.

"Shiver" - What's the fear of holes called? Trypophobia? Well, this definitely checks that box. Cursed jade that infects people with holes that let in the wind and give an intense fear of insects. I found this to be one of the stronger stories in the collection, mostly because of the artwork.

"Fashion Model" - Some amateur filmmakers hire a couple models, one of whom is conventionally pretty and one of whom is maybe not even human. I was hoping this one would have more unexpected elements to it, but it was decent enough.

"Hanging Blimp" - People all over Tokyo are being hanged by blimps that look like their own faces. This was kind of creepy, but oddly funny as well. I laughed when the dad was all "Huh, that's horrible. Welp, I've got to go to work now!" Like, dude. Really?

"Marionette Mansion" - A whole family that's being controlled like puppets. This was weird and freaky, especially since I already find dolls to be fairly creepy.

"Painter" - A beautiful woman bewitches a painter. Meh, I wasn't really a fan of this one. It reminded me of Parasite Eve, for some reason. 

"The Long Dream" - Doctors are treating two patients, one a girl who fears death and one a young man who is having longer and longer dreams, to the point that he's becoming something inhuman. The body changes were a bit much, but is it really a Junji Ito story without body horror?

"Honored Ancestors" - There's a girl with amnesia, a boy with a dying father, and a huge monster that turns out to be [redacted]. This was some weird wtfery, which I know is a description that can apply to a lot of Ito's works, but still.

"Greased" - This focuses on a family living over their yakiniku place. Everything is oily and gross, and you can practically feel it oozing out of the pages. This one made my skin crawl. 

Bonus "Fashion Model: Cursed Frame" - A girl with a phobia of anything but full-body photos being taken of her becomes a model and has the bad luck to meet the model from the earlier "Fashion Model" story. Ok, so it's horrible of me, but I found this one to be a little funny. Don't mock the large and intimidatingly toothy model, folks.

REVIEW: The Anxiety Club: How to Survive Modern Life (nonfiction graphic novel) by Dr. Frederic Fanget and Catherine Meyer, illustrated by Pauline Aubry, translated by Edward Gauvin

The Anxiety Club is a nonfiction graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Dr. Fanget looks at anxiety through the lens of three patients, Ismail, Mona, and Francois, each with different types of anxiety. There's some information about the history of the study of anxiety and what we know about the physiological and psychological aspects of anxiety. Then Dr. Fanget goes over the methods he used to treat the three patients introduced at the beginning of the volume, including information that readers might be able to use to help themselves. There's also a short section near the end about pharmaceuticals, although, from the sounds of things, Dr. Fanget preferred other methods of treatment.

The artwork didn't really appeal to me, but there were a few things mentioned in the treatment section that were new to me, or presented in ways I wasn't familiar with. All in all, this was a short, good, and potentially useful read. 

REVIEW: Manga for Success: Business Problem-Solving and Strategy (nonfiction book) by Takayuki Kito and Keisuke Yamabe, artwork by Enmo Takenawa

Business Problem-Solving and Strategy is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

One more volume after this one, and I'll have finished the entire Manga for Success series! This entry was exhausting, but also one I might potentially have to consult again, if my Dean of Libraries was serious about having librarians put together a SWOT analysis of our library. Although one thing I got out of this book is that, with the way we'll be doing it, we're highly unlikely to create a good and/or useful one.

This volume, like the other entries in the Manga for Success series, alternates between textbookish sections and manga sections that illustrate the concepts using a story/example. In the manga sections, Kazumi Matsui is Head of Business Planning for Matsui-ya, a Japanese sweets company, and the daughter of the company's founder. Matsui-ya is in trouble, and Kazumi has been tasked with putting together a business strategy that can save the company and carry it into the future. However, her first attempt at a business strategy was rejected as useless, and now she's enlisting the advice of Takeda, the Business Planning Deputy Manager of Kikutani, a food-making company. Kazumi only spent three months at Kikutani, but she came to deeply respect Takeda's abilities during that time.

The first section of the text, "Analyze the Situation," goes over how to do a SWOT analysis and emphasizes the importance of treating it as more than some blanks you're filling out on a form. The next section, "Forming Strategic Options," goes over how to use the SWOT analysis to lay out strategic options for both a preestablished company (like Matsui-ya) and newly established businesses. After that, it's time to review and select options, and finally translate options into plans and actions.

I have to admit, I got lost more than once while reading this, and, despite the authors' efforts to lay things out in an easy-to-understand way, it was still an overwhelmingly large amount of information. It was still interesting, however, to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that likely went into, say, my university's Strategic Plan. It also helped me see some potential issues in the plan's creation and execution.

REVIEW: Prom House (book) by Chelsea Mueller

Prom House is a YA horror/thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Kylie and her friends have rented a gorgeous beach house so they can party as much and as loudly as they'd like after prom. Unfortunately, not long after they start their partying, Kylie and her friend Aubrey discover Cam, Aubrey's boyfriend, dead. Kylie is convinced that he was murdered and that his murderer could still be somewhere nearby. When the cops arrive, however, Cam's body is gone, and Kylie and the others can't convince them that it isn't a prank.

Now the cops are gone, and everybody's stuck in the house as a violent storm hits and takes down a nearby power line. When yet another person in their group winds up dead, it seems more and more likely that whoever killed Cam is still among them. Can they find the killer before whoever it is claims more victims?

REVIEW: The Gate of the Feral Gods (book) by Matt Dinniman

The Gate of the Feral Gods is LitRPG, the fourth book in Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Everybody's on the fifth floor now, "The Bubbles." The remaining crawlers have been divided into groups of about 150 per bubble, with each bubble containing four zones, or quadrants, into which the 150ish crawlers are further divided. Some effort has been made to divvy up crawlers in such a way that all the powerful ones aren't grouped in the same bubble. Crawlers in one quadrant can't enter another quadrant until they've taken the castle located in their quadrant. Also, a bubble won't pop, and its stairs to the sixth floor won't be accessible, until all four castles in the bubble have been taken.

Carl, Donut, and Katia quickly discover that they're likely the most competent and certainly the highest level crawlers in their quadrant, "Air." They're in a relatively small desert location and will somehow have to work with the few other crawlers around them (some of whom are drunk and determined to stay that way) to capture their quadrant's castle, which is held up by balloons way, way high up in the air. If they're lucky, the crawlers in the other three quadrants in their bubble will figure out how to take their own castles. If they're not, Carl, Donut, and Katia will have more work ahead of them after the Air quadrant. They only have 15 days to pop their bubble and get to their stairwells.

This series continues to be lots of fun. In this volume in particular, the story expands beyond "what's the gimmick on this level?" and allows readers more glimpses of the machinations outside the World Dungeon.

REVIEW: Razzle Dazzle Unicorn: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson

Razzle Dazzle Unicorn is humorous fantasy. It's the fourth volume in the Phoebe and Her Unicorn series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

It's Winter, which means Christmas. We get some tree ornament stuff, Phoebe worries about wasted time and starts journaling on her laptop to keep track of the things she does, Marigold gets "sparkle fever," and Phoebe has to take the bus again for a bit. We learn that unicorns have ad-blocking power. Marigold and Phoebe read the same book together (and enjoy it more that way). Marigold helps Phoebe clean her room. Then it's Summer and back to music camp.

This series is still great, still cute.

Extras:

A few pages on Dana Simpson's creative process, and a glossary. 

REVIEW: Fourth Wing (book) by Rebecca Yarros

Fourth Wing is a blend of fantasy and romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Violet Sorrengail had intended to enter the Scribe Quadrant. Instead, her mother, a general, forces her to enter the Riders Quadrant where, if she survives, she'll become a dragon rider. For Violet, who's always been physically fragile, this is pretty much a death sentence. Honestly, for many people this is a death sentence - there are lots of opportunities for cadets to die before they even get a chance to bond with a dragon, and the dragons themselves aren't exactly safe to be around.

All Violet has on her side is her wits and advice from her sister Mira, a talented rider. She'll need everything at her disposal in order to survive, especially when she learns Xaden Riorson is one of the wingleaders in the Riders Quadrant. Violet's mother killed Xaden's father, and now Xaden has the power to make Violet's life miserable and set her up for an early death.

REVIEW: Over My Dead Body (graphic novel) by Sweeney Boo

Over My Dead Body is a blend of fantasy and mystery. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This takes place at the Younwity Hidden Institute of Witchcraft. Years ago, a foundling student named Karla disappeared into the woods near the school and was never found. Now, the same appears to have happened to Noreen, another foundling. Noreen's mentor, Abby, can't stop obsessing over her disappearance and becomes determined to find her, even if it results in her own expulsion. 

The world-building here is light at best. Where do all these foundlings come from? It's never explained. What's the world outside the school like? Also not explained.

Still, the mystery was interesting, and I liked the animal familiars. Also, the artwork was beautiful. 

REVIEW: Love 4 a Walk (graphic novel, vol. 1) by Nuria Sanguino

Love 4 a Walk is romance. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Pam's previous boyfriend was annoyed at their Doberman Bob's behavior and told Pam "It's me or that thing!" She chose Bob. Now she's trying to figure out how to deal with Bob's separation anxiety and other issues.

Enter Tyler, Pam's next door neighbor, who agrees to spend time with Bob during the day (he works nights as a bartender) and help Pam train him. He'd heard Pam and her ex's fights and could relate to and respect her decision to choose her dog over her ex. He himself seems to have had some past relationship issues, and he now has a spoiled Shih Tzu who hates it anytime a woman is close to him.

Tyler and Pam start to feel drawn to one another, but they both have issues they'll need to deal with - Tyler and whatever happened with his ex, and Pam and her bad habit of easily falling in love.

REVIEW: Ava's Demon, Book 2: Aftermath (graphic novel) by Michelle Fus

Ava's Demon is science fiction. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

At the end of the previous volume Ava (or at least the being inhabiting her) massacred a bunch of Titan followers. In this volume, Ava freaks out when she realizes it wasn't all just a dream and really happened. But the biggest thing that seems to bug her isn't so much all the death, but rather the fact that it makes other people dislike/fear her. 

Gil, a devoted Titan follower, is now a wanted criminal. Readers finally learn more about where Odin comes from, more character relationship info is unveiled, etc.

REVIEW: Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball (nonfiction graphic novel) by Jon Chad

Pinball is a nonfiction graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This graphic novel follows the history of pinball, from Bagatelle to early pinball that had no flippers (1920s and 1930s) and beyond. There was a "think of the children" reaction in the 1940s, and another legal challenge in 1976 (people didn't like pinball's possible links to gambling and delinquency). Eventually, people chilled out, and the rest of the book is about pinball technological innovations, storytelling and design innovations, coexistence with arcade video games, and the near death of pinball in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

I did not realize there was so much to the history of pinball. Honestly, a bit more than I was ready for.

Anyway, the one thing I noticed was never mentioned: pinball video games. I imagine the author doesn't view those as real pinball because there's no true physicality to it.

The author's love for pinball shines through. There's so much here, including a glossary, pinball machine anatomy, tips, sources, and a website designed to help you find the nearest place to play pinball (pinballmap.com). This ends in a way that makes pinball's future sound assured - that said, reading this left me with the realization that it's been literal decades since I've seen a pinball machine in person. 

REVIEW: Why I Adopted My Husband (manga memoir) by Yuta Yagi, translated by Katie Kimura

Why I Adopted My Husband is a manga memoir. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Yuta Yagi and Kyota are a gay couple in Japan. Because gay marriage isn't legal nationwide in Japan, in order to get legal protections similar to a married couple, the two of them utilized a loophole by having Kyota adopt Yuta. In addition, this allowed them a way to not actually come out to most family - Yagi came out to his mom, but otherwise both men just presented this adoption as a convenient way to protect themselves in the future while technically still leaving them both with the option to marry women. (I had to wonder how dense some of their family members were if they all really believed the "we're just close friends" explanation, but I guess willful blindness is a thing.)