A Voice in the Distance

Title: A Voice in the Distance

Author: Tabitha Suzuma

Genre: Psychology, slice-of-life

Rating: A-

Summary:In his final year at the Royal College of Music, star pianist Flynn Laukonen has the world at his feet. He has moved in with his girlfriend Jennah and is already getting concert bookings for what promises to be a glittering career. Yet he knows he is skating on thin ice - only two small pills a day keep him from plunging back into the whirlpool of manic depression that once threatened to destroy him. Unexpectedly his friends seem to be getting annoyed with him for no apparent reason, he needs less and less sleep, he is filled with unbridled energy. Events begin to spiral out of control and Flynn suddenly finds himself in hospital, heavily sedated, carnage left behind him. The medication isn't working any more, the dose needs to be increased, and depression strikes again, this time with horrific consequences. His freedom is snatched away and the medicine's side-effects threaten to jeopardize his chances in one of the biggest piano competitions of his life. It seems like he has to make a choice between the medication and his career. But in all this he has forgotten the one person he would give his life for, and Flynn suddenly finds himself facing the biggest sacrifice of all. Told in alternating chapters from both Flynn and Jennah's points of view, this is the breathtaking, poignant sequel to A Note of Madness. - Tabitha Suzuma's website

Opinion: I would've given it an A if not for the fact that the novel was written in two POVs this time - alternating between Flynn's POV and Jennah, his girlfriend's, POV. I already have a bit of dislike towards novels written using 'I' or in first POV - and seeing the sequel written back and forth made me frown. Sure, it gave depth to Jennah who was always 'Flynn's girlfriend' but since I thought that the novel was fine with just Flynn narrating it, I didn't appreciate that. :)

Still, that's not to say that it isn't an excellent book. It's a good sequel to 'A Note of Madness' and still a pleasure to read. I bawled my eyes out with this one - something I didn't do with the first book - especially at the ending (which I shall not reveal now XD). It touched me deeply and I can fully sympathize with Flynn - that's how real a character he is. He'll stay with you, hopefully. I can never see the word Flynn now and not think of Flynn Laukonen the piano genius who suffers from bipolar.

I love him. ^_^

A Note of Madness

Title: A note of madness

Author: Tabitha Suzuma

Genre: Psychology, slice-of-life

Rating: A

Summary: Life as a student is good for Flynn. As one of the top pianists at the Royal College of Music, he is put forward for a big concert, the opportunity of a lifetime. But beneath the surface, things are changing. On a good day he feels full of energy and life, but on a bad day being alive is worse than being dead. Sometimes he wants to compose and practise all night, at other times he can't even get out of bed. His flatmate Harry tries to understand but is increasingly confused by Flynn's erratic mood swings. His friend Jennah tries to help, but Flynn finds it difficult to be around her - she evokes in him feelings that he can't accept. With the pressure of the forthcoming concert and the growing concern of his family and friends, emotions come to a head. Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. - Tabitha Suzuma's website

Opinion: Excellent. Something you -have- to read in one sitting, because it's that captivating. Flynn - the protagonist - is a very real person, and will turn out to be someone you will want to hug and cheer him up. You see, Flynn has bipolar disease - one minute, he's high and full of energy, and another, he's down in the slumps and thinks that life isn't worth living. The emotional edge to this novel is simply sizzling, and you'll be drawn into Flynn's up-and-down world in no time.

Even though I usually focus on novels with magical/fantasy themes, something drew me to this novel, and I now confess that it was the fact about him being a pianist. XD Not an entirely good reason for picking up a book, but I haven't regretted it in the least.

One drawback for me is that the novel is, in my opinion, too short. -.-' Still, that's not exactly a bad thing because some authors, if they draw out the plot too long, turns an excellent idea into something terrible.

Please read this. I'm begging you. *A* I simply loved it. You should at least give this a try.

Little Queen

Title: Little Queen

Author: Yeon-Joo Kim

Genre: Manhwa, fantasy, magic

Summary: June is a candidate in the running for the selection of becoming the Queen of Light, the most revered position in the land. The Queen of Light’s duty is to keep the King of Darkness at bay as well and reign over the kingdom.

June has a rival, however. Lucia is widely considered by many to be the perfect candidate for the position – cool, poised and calm, Lucia is the epitome of grace and elegance while June is wild, brash and rough when compared to her. It seems clear that Lucia, and not June, is much more suitable for the position.

But as with every heroine in manga/manhwa titles, the protagonist must triumph over the enemies, so to speak. June appears to be a master at acting (even if she isn’t much good at anything else) and is able to charm her way through the judging panel, at least, and puts herself in the lead for the position of Queen of Light. Why she wants the position when all she can do in economics is to blow things up, but murky reasons lie deep beneath her scary exterior. June is determined – that much can be said for her – and for reasons of her own, she is dead set on protecting her childhood friend, Sejuru, who is said to be, in reality, a demon. And when June wants something, June will get it, no matter the means.

This manhwa is also a little of a love triangle as June finds Lucia liking Sejuru, but the problem is: Sejuru follows no other than June…for the time being, at least.

The manhwa sports plenty of action as well as demons crash into the Academy in the second volume, and if you enjoy pretty boys + action + a reasonably good plot, then try Little Queen. June, Sejuru and Lucia are characters not to be missed…not if you want June’s boot in your face. ^^

Opinion: Well, haven’t I said enough in the summary? Shojo manhwa with lovely characters. Is it just me, or are all manhwa so prettily drawn? Most of the ones I’ve read, anyway. It’s not as diverse as manga where I can find a million and one different styles of drawing. Korean manhwa seems to adhere to a basic rule of drawing – and I’m not complaining much yet because it’s really quite pretty and pleasing to the eyes.

I find Sejuru to be the typical ‘pretty boy’ although I would prefer it if he did away with that headband thing that he wears…he would look much nicer without it, methinks.

All characters have that bit of angst within them, and Sejuru is no different. By the end of the volumes, you might want to squeal and huggle him a little. ^_^

Oh dear, this isn’t supposed to be entirely about Sejuru. Pretty boy-ness has taken over me~!

I think that Little Queen’s plot is confusing in the first volume (it abruptly jumps back in time without much of a warning) but then it evens out and gets better in the next three volumes. You might be confused a little at some points, but generally you’ll understand everything perfectly. June is a refreshing character who does things her way and manages to bulldoze through everything and everyone except Sejuru, who seems to obey her every whim. It’s rather heartening to see these two stick through everything together (although Lucia does get jealous!).

Yuki, another character who is on the judging board for the Queen of Light, is determined to prevent June from holding the revered position. He instead chooses Lucia as the ideal candidate, but as the judging board is made up of many other people other than him, will he succeed…?

(It helps that Yuki’s a sweet ass too, doesn’t it? All cute and lovely boys. Priests who smoke. Hmm.) ~rage-chan

Rating: 4 out of 5 for the whole series, and 3.5 out of 5 for the first volume.

A Dog's Life

Title: A Dog's Life

Author: GreyLiliy

Genre: Fanfiction, Humour, General

Summary: Sanzo has kicked the bucket, but that just won't do! A certain Merciful Goddess has given Sanzo a second chance at life, but what's the catch? ~quoted verbatim

Opinion: Well, well, the ever venerable Genjyo Sanzo has been turned into a dog! Although he really should be grateful to the Merciful Goddess for giving him a second chance at life, don't you think? ^_^

The basic gist of it is this: Sanzo was killed while fighting youkais. The Merciful Goddess decided to be, well, merciful, and grant Sanzo a second shot at life. The catch is this: he's getting turned into a dog, unable to speak and unequipped with his ever-familiar gun and fan, and he has a limited time in which he has to get Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo to recognize him as 'Sanzo' even when he looks and behaves like an ordinary dog.

This fanfiction is extremely hilarious and a different twist on all Saiyuki fiction out there. It spans only sixteen chapters and is quirky and different, having been written mostly from doggie!Sanzo's point of view.

You can also read how Sanzo's death affects the other members of the Saiyuki team. GreyLiliy does a fine job indeed weaving everything together to make it reasonably plausible for the reader. There's only a minimal amount of angst in this fic (and you know how much I love angst) but the good plot and interestingly written characters get you hooked anyway. Over time of reading this fic, you will find doggy!Sanzo to be extremely adorable indeed, such is the cleverly written characters.

There is a bare amount of swearing interspersed within the fic, so watch out for that as well. ~rage-chan

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Have an interesting fanfic for us to read? Drop a link or comment and we'll read it if it's within our anime-watching sphere. ^_^ Thank you!

Love Is For Humans, Not For Things

Title: Love Is For Humans, Not For Things

Author: Aeternus-Spes

Genre: Fanfiction (Samurai Deeper Kyo), Angst, Romance, mild Shounen-ai

Summary: 'YukimuraxSasuke. Major angst fic... 'As the last of Sasuke's consciousness fades, he manages to whisper, “What would you want with a useless failed experiment like me, Yukimura? Love is something given to other humans. Not things…” '

Aeternus-Spes spins a sad and torturous tale around Sasuke and Yukimura as the former, blinded and wounded in a fight, thinks of himself as nothing more but a tool for Yukimura to manipulate.

Does Yukimura have a different opinion, though?

Opinion: This is one of the fanfiction where the writer has immense potential and vast imagination, but it is sadly hampered by a poor grasp of English. Remember reading fanfiction where you wished that the author would improve the English, but you hung on reading because it kept you hooked? Well, this is one of them. Despite that, the fanfiction is thrilling, grasping, and overall, sad.

With Sasuke as the main character, you can be sure to expect a lot of self-inflicted torture and angst, seeing as Sasuke is the type to have to do everything until it is perfect. He blames himself for not protecting Yukimura; in short, he blames himself for almost everything. Typical of many plots, he wishes to get stronger in order to better protect Yukimura.

However, his dreams are foiled as, in a fight against Tokugawa soldiers, he is rendered blind and close to death. Thinking of himself as useless baggage for Yukimura, he leaves with Akira and Hotaru, training with Akira every day in order to get accustomed to fighting blind. Later in the story, Sasuke begins to regain his sight, although the author leaves the story a little open-ended in case he/she gets another plot bunny.

If you think Sarutobi Sasuke is the awesomest, cute little ninja in Samurai Deeper Kyo, and you whole-heartedly support him with Yukimura, why don't you go and read this? However, steer clear if you absolutely dislike angst/torture...because this fic has lots of them. Sasuke-related, of course. (Did I mention he got all his fingers broken?)

This fic is written in the present tense. It might read a bit weirdly at first, but as you get on, the fic flows more smoothly than expected. Overall, it is a really good read if you're into SasukexYukimura angst.

Rating: 4 out of 5. Expect some really jerky grammar.

Loveless volume 1

Title: Loveless volume 1

Author: Kouga Yun

Genre: Shounen ai, slight fantasy

Summary: While most manga artists choose to depict girls or females as having cat ears and tails, Kouga Yun draws ears and tails to show a sign of 'immaturity' or as a way of showing that one is not yet an adult (ie. one has not has sex before. -.-''). When one becomes an 'adult', he or she loses their ears and tail. This is a very interesting and a rather new concept on the old method of using cat ears and tail to emphasize sexiness.

The story starts off with Aoyagi Ritsuka, the main character of Loveless. His older brother has recently died in an 'accident' – burnt to death while sitting in Ritsuka's very own seat in school. Seimei was a very polite and clever person – or so everyone else says during the funeral. What had really happened to cause his death? Was it an accident?

Or was it murder?

Ritsuka first starts unraveling the mysteries when he meets Soubi, who claims to be Seimei's Fighter unit. As explained in the manga, Fighter units fight and protect their Sacrifies – in Soubi's case, he is the Fighter, and Seimei was the Sacrifice. However, Ritsuka soon finds Seimei's last will – he hints at a murder conspiracy and tells Ritsuka (via the will) that Soubi, who once 'belonged' to Seimei, would now be passed on to his little brother, Ritsuka.

Opinion: I know, my summary sucked. I bet I got you all confused, didn't I? ^_^'' I'm not very good at explaining (which is why whenever someone asks me, “What's that book about?” I just shove the blurb under their noses. XD).

Yes, Loveless is a shounen ai themed manga, and although it might not be as explicit as Gravitation, I still believe this is much much better than Gravitation is. The art is neat and messy at the same time – it looks slightly messy, but it's a coordinated mess, if you get what I mean!

Ritsuka is adorable with his flattened ears and tail that sticks out. Apparently, there is some issue within Ritsuka – he has little to no memories of himself beyond the two years he has with Seimei (hence making Seimei a very important person in his life) and is slightly obsessed with taking pictures in order to retain those 'precious memories' that he has.

Another character that appears frequently in the manga include his friend, Yuiko. Yuiko is tall for her age, and likes Ritsuka very much, despite her once telling a would-be boyfriend that she would never date someone shorter than her. ^^ (Ritsuka is shorter than her!) Yuiko had a habit of referring to herself in third point of view, until Ritsuka made it a condition that she had to refer to herself as 'I' if she really wanted to be Ritsuka's friend.

Loveless also has an element of fantasy that includes spell battles. This is where the Fighter/Sacrifice pairs come in. They initiate and fight a battle using words. The more complex and well-strung words the sentences are, the more effective the spells. This is a very unique sort of battle indeed, and extremely interesting. See? You need more intellect than brawn to fight properly in Loveless!

Sacrifices take the damage for the team while the Fighter tries his or her best to protect their Sacrifices while using word spells to restrain the other team's Sacrifice. For every damage the Sacrifices receives, he or she is dealt a 'restrain' (read, in other words, kinky bondage! ^^) and once the Sacrifice is fully bound, the battle is lost. A team can only consist of two people who share the same 'name' (ie in the beginning of the manga, you will be meeting teams named Breathless, Sleepless and Fearless). Seimei Aoyagi and Soubi's 'name' was Beloved, but after Seimei died, Soubi joined Ritsuka (whose 'name' is, apparently, Loveless, the complete opposite). It is unheard of for a Fighter whose Sacrifice has died to join up with another Sacrifice. Their two 'names' clash with each other, thus effectively halving their power, but since Soubi seems to have almost unlimited power, they win most of their battles. =) ~rage-chan

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Ptolemy's Gate

Title: Ptolemy's Gate

Author: Jonathan Stroud

Genre: Children's novels, fantasy, magic

Blurb: Two thousand years have passed since Bartimaeus was at the height of his powers - invincible in battle and befriended by the great magician Ptolemy.

Now, trapped on Earth and treated with disdain by his master, Nathaniel, Bartimaeus finds his energies are fading fast. With Nathaniel preoccupied by the problem of a failing empire, and more rigid and insensitive than ever, the long-suffering djinni's patience is finally at an end.

Meanwhile, undercover in London, the fugitive Kitty Jones has been stealthily completing her research on magic and demons. She has a plan that she hopes will break the endless cycle of conflict between djinn and humans - but first she must uncover the secrets of Bartimaeus's past.

This extraordinary conclusion to the Bartimaeus Trilogy moves across the centuries and into unknown worlds. With disaster threatening everyone in London, the destinies of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel and Kitty are entwined for a final time. Together, they must defeat treacherous magicians, uncover a chilling conspiracy and face the most dangerous threat in the history of magic.

Worst of all, they must contend with each other...

Opinion: Ptolemy's Gate is the third and final book in the series Bartimaeus Trilogy. Although quite some time had passed since I'd read the second book and the third book, I still managed to enjoy the story completely. The Bartimaeus Trilogy is unique in the way that the author puts little notes at the bottom of the pages if he feels the need to note something. For some, this might prove to be intensely annoying, because although you don't want to be distracted by random little notes slightly irrelevant to the story, but being a true reader, your eyes can't help but to skim them.

Usually, I would have hated these notes. But oddly enough, I found them quite interesting and mildly humourous. Stroud writes with deft cleverness and light wit, and although the book is in first POV (I dislike first POVs) I enjoyed it tremendously.

The ending saddened me a little, though, with character death....

XDD No more spoilers! Go and read, and make sure you grab the first two copies too - The Amulet of Samarkand (book one) and The Golem's Eye (book two).

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.