Tag: Manga Review

December 2025 Wrap Up

On By AllieS.In Book Review, Books, Manga, Manga Review, Wrap UpLeave a comment

In December I read four books, most of them fairly short. December is one of the busiest months for me as I work in retail and the holidays are the biggest sales season.

Books:

The first books I finished was Saiyuki Reload volumes nine and ten. These volumes finish off this portion of the Saiyuki story and I plan to post a full review in the future. Also to note volume ten was never officially published in English therefore to finish the story I had to find online fan translations. These volumes have the first but probably not the last confrontation with Ukoku Sanzo and brings our main group back together. Hazel’s story is also brought to a close thou I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows back up in the future. I love Saiyuki but it is a series I’m not sure is the best to recommend.

The next book I read was Pocket Potters: Harry Potter. These are children’s picture books that introduce characters from the Harry Potter series. I liked this and found it cute but I think fans will like it more than those just getting into the series.

The final book I read by The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang and I already have a full review posted. This is a young adult Chinese inspired fantasy with vampires. We follow Fei who is believed to be the prophesized Empress of All Empresses. However, she wants control of her life and her decisions. While I enjoyed the story I do think it is slightly miss marketed (which I go more into in my full review) but I do think young adult audiences would also enjoy it.

Book Review: Manga Classics Dracula by Bram Stoker

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Manga Classics: Dracula is a manga retelling of Dracula by Bram Stoker. While it is a retelling due to changing the medium of the story it is using the original text of Dracula, though some has been left out to help condense the story, and is accurate to the novel.

I would recommend this as a way of getting in to Dracula if you have tried the novel and didn’t enjoy the experience. Much like other ways of reading Dracula, such as Dracula Daily, you get to understand the horror of Dracula and how different adaptations have changed the story over time.

For instance, in the original novel Mina is not Dracula’s reincarnated wife and Dracula while probably inspired by Vlad the Impaler he is not that historical figure. Unlike movies and other adaptations Dracula is a horror story and is not a love story at least not for Dracula.

In this manga adaptation the visuals are amazing and they take the time to give each character a slightly different writing style to help tell the story. I love Dracula and I love different adaptations so I figured I would enjoy this manga.

Manga Review: Saiyuki Resurrected Editons Vol. 1-4

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Saiyuki is a manga series by Kazuya Minekura which very loosely on the Chinese novel Journey to the West. The Resurrected Editions are the new hardback editions from Kodansha that also have an updated translation.

The story follows Sanzo, Gojyo, Goku, and Hakkai as they travel to the west to stop the resurrection the evil god/demon Gyumao. These four volumes follows the group as they attempt to travel west but are side tracked my many other enemies and we also find out about each characters back story. I feel if you like the premise you should try the series out. However, this series while does have a complete story is not the end of the journey and the other parts of the series haven’t been finished due to the authors health issues.

Personally, I love this series but I’ve been a fan for years and I’m not sure if my love of the series comes more from that then the story itself. There have also been several different anime adaptations which are a fun time but also include some anime only stories.