Friday, January 31, 2020

Fairy Tail: Volume 6 by Hiro Mashima


In the story, we would already know at this point Natsu and Gray are natural enemies thanks to the powers they both have of fire and ice. Now they must work together to fight Gray’s disciples, Lyon and Zalty who also have magical ice powers. More of these weird, ironic events occur in this story as well such as having Natsu and Erza trying to destroy all of the moon because it gives off a bad influence to the community but let’s see if that will be a success.

This story of Fairy Tail is something I find very unique and uncommon but ironic at the same time. I like how the author came up with the most odd idea of two celestial wizards trying to destroy an evil moon in the guy because I think a typical author wouldn’t have came up with that. This story was pretty sad too. The beginning of the manga was a bit scary because there was a lot of bloody violence and I wasn’t able to tell what was happening in the book despite how many graphics there were. What I would recommend to the author is maybe try to not make the images either too dark or too light. This should be read by people who are thirteen or fourteen years of age because not every scene in this manga is age-appropriate for everyone.


Reviewed by Hannah Rachel, Grade 10
Glendale Central Library

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh


Picking up where 'The Wrath and The Dawn' left off, Shahrzad's story continues. She is now far from her beloved, in camp surrounded by men who would like to see him dead. This camp is led by her childhood love, Tarik. Shazi and her sister look after their father, who, even in a coma, refuses to let go of a book, which is kept hugged to his chest. Shazi wants to help her husband in anyway she can, leading her to escaping at night and returning by morning. She uses the magic carpet that was gifted to her by the same man she seeks out for help. The Mage of the Fire Temple leads her to a boy no older than she to help train her in magic. The reader also gets to follow Khalid dealing with Shazi’s absence and rebuilding his city. In addition, the author includes more based on the perspectives of Shazi’s sister, Tarik, and other characters.

This book sent me through an emotional roller coaster. There were moments when I was so happy because events turned out as I predicted and it worked well. There were also moments when I was gasping out of surprise or fear, because I have felt the pain of books ending on a bad note before. What got me the most emotional was the ending. I was crying in my room for a good while and actually had to take a short break to calm myself down before continuing. There were so many plot twists that were so perfectly timed and fit like a puzzle piece. Something I also enjoyed very much is that the author included an epilogue that answered all of the questions that bothered me once I finished the book. I would definitely recommend this to any of my friends that enjoy a good drama, especially if they read the previous novel.


Reviewed by anonymous, Grade 10
Glendale Central Library

Monday, January 27, 2020

Fairy Tail: Volume 5 by Hiro Mashima


According to the previous volume of Fairy Tail, Natsu and his friends went on about the deadly S-Class mission without getting consent from the guild master Erza. Clearly, Natsu and especially Gray almost got killed from doing this and everyone eventually got caught by Erza who went completely raged for them going behind her back. Erza also mentions Ur who is one of the guild members but most people believed she died from getting killed in one of her missions while Gray on the other hand thinks she is still alive. Who is right in this situation? Erza or Gray?

While reading through the beginning of the manga, I thought this is going to be one of those volumes that I was going to dislike very much but when I was reaching close to the end or the middle at least, I felt like I was about to cry my eyes out. This is a very emotional volume to Fairy Tail. It involved quite some passing of some characters. But sometimes, there are also humorous content too such as Lucy and Happy's little catfights once in a while. Something I didn't like much about the book is since the graphics are mainly black and white, some of the content is way too dark or too light for me to notice what is happening with the characters so all I assumed was it's another combat between another guild. Only for this particular volume, I would recommend this to a person who is fifteen or sixteen years of age because the emotional scenes are pretty sensitive. Same thing for the oozing blood with the cause of the violence occurring.

Reviewed by Hannah Rachel, Grade 10
Glendale Central Library