Scan barcode
brambresseleers's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
crookedtreehouse's review
3.0
The first 3/4s or more of this book were on par with the last volume. I enjoyed the direction of the plot, and felt like this finally maturing version of Rin was fantastic. I still don't care about Doa and Isaku but I didn't find them overly distracting for much of the story.
The problem for me, happened during the climax. After a very easy-to-follow, well choreographed fight with one villain, it suddenly starts raining villains and returning characters, and it's unclear who is doing to what to whom and how that will affect the other people's fights. It's not just poorly choreographed, it's narratively dull. It seems like every character has their I'm Here moment, and then they're shuffled into the action in a thoroughly unsatisfying way. A Manji/Rin vs a couple of villains sequence, then followed by an escape through more characters would have been much more satisfying than seeing too many people crammed in too small a conflict. It plays into all of Samura's weaknesses as an artist (his action sequences, beautiful when focused, are a confusing mess when there are more than three or four characters involved...this can be used to great effect during a crowd fight scene, but here, where you're supposed to be able to keep track of some major characters, it creates a bad scene).
I'm hoping part two of this sequence (the "Demon Lair" storyline is split between two books) has more focused art and story.
The problem for me, happened during the climax. After a very easy-to-follow, well choreographed fight with one villain, it suddenly starts raining villains and returning characters, and it's unclear who is doing to what to whom and how that will affect the other people's fights. It's not just poorly choreographed, it's narratively dull. It seems like every character has their I'm Here moment, and then they're shuffled into the action in a thoroughly unsatisfying way. A Manji/Rin vs a couple of villains sequence, then followed by an escape through more characters would have been much more satisfying than seeing too many people crammed in too small a conflict. It plays into all of Samura's weaknesses as an artist (his action sequences, beautiful when focused, are a confusing mess when there are more than three or four characters involved...this can be used to great effect during a crowd fight scene, but here, where you're supposed to be able to keep track of some major characters, it creates a bad scene).
I'm hoping part two of this sequence (the "Demon Lair" storyline is split between two books) has more focused art and story.
kaylynn's review
4.0
If you can ignore the gore, this is a really interesting series. I definitely would not recommend it to everyone, though.
More...