The Book Wyrms Hoard

I am doing a large manga/manhwa post again! I think I have five or six total this time, most were excellent one didn't really hit for me but given it's popularity on Reddit. With that said on with the reviews! Shavonne is a struggling ghost writer, barely making ends meet, living in a poor neighborhood that has recently been stalked by a serial killer. To make matters worse, he has an actual stalker who keeps leaving cryptic messages on his door and somehow things actually get worse, he has a strange new neighbor who spends all of his time in front of Shavonne's door peeling onions of all things. As Shavonne struggles to find a job to help him move as away from his weirdo neighbor, he discovers a dark secret about him, one that leaves him trapped and indebted to a murderer.  This definitely has some promise. It's interesting how Shavonne just kinda does whatever Llewellyn says even before he finds out he's a murderer. He really seems like such a pushover...

I only have three words: Poor Gu Mang!  Okay, maybe I have a few more.  First of all I'm still finding it really hard to trust the Emperor, I mean he's just going to have to do way better than he did to get me to believe that he's actually trying to enact change for the better. I think Mo Xi *finally* maybe understands Gu Mang fully; how could he not after the Time Mirror and the Jade Scrolls? But omg Gu Mang, everything he endures is just too much, and to have no one else know about it? Even without all of the just straight-up torture, it's, as the book says, a testament to his dedication to his dream that he has not fully lost his mind. Yet.  And ugh, that ending. I have so many questions. Where the hell is Jiang Fuli going is a huge one. He was just a side character at best up until this point. I mean, even with him healing Gu Mang, he's still only got a couple of lines, but with that ending, he's clearly got a bigger role to play. I dont believe ...

On the way to the store from a certain mansion, Seiji is attacked by a young woman attempting to find the mansion and it's master. This is bad enough but then he is attacked again by a young man who drops a bombshell on both Seiji and Shiroshi; his name is Aka and he's not only Shiroshi's youngest brother he's angling for Seiji's job and if Seiji has to die for him to get it, well, that's even better. To make matters worse, Shiroshi receives a summons to a mystery island requesting he join the occupants to witness a dismemberment... This volume delves a bit more into Shiroshi's background and how he ends up becoming Gorouzaemon's heir. It's not pretty and is almost identical to Odoro's story, which is extremely sad, especially since I can't imagine Shiroshi would have wanted to become heir in that manner. I feel bad for him, and honestly, after this volume, I'm more than positive that Seiji is the brother he needed all along, ...

Seiji Tohno is a down and out NEET, living out of Net Cafes he's on his last few coins when one evening at Twilight, he finds himself lost. After wandering for a bit, he finds himself in front of a European style mansion and is quickly invited inside for tea. Once inside, he meets Shiroshi Saijou, who offers Seiji a part-time job, including room and board. All he has to do is help Shiroshi with his business. The problem is Seiji is 100% sure that he can't say no and that Shiroshi's business is no normal business. It may even be Hell on Earth.  I can not begin to tell everyone how much this is exactly the story I've been looking for for months! This blends Yokai folklore and mythology with a detective style story reminiscent of Yokomizo. So much so that the second "case" in the book appears to be dedicated to him. And I can say with 90% certainty that I think Yokomizo would love these stories.  So far we have delved into two stories that center arou...

When Affinity Blending was six years old, she summoned the demon that took her mom to hell by playing with magic outside. Now, at fifteen and the last remaining Wrathwitch on the planet, Affinty must learn to master the very magic that destroyed her life. Not to mention dealing with bullies, periods, and making friends at her new school. But with her Aunt Serenity and familiar Leon at her side, Affinty feels like she's got this... almost.  Honestly, this was just a cute little coming of age story about a young girl finding and making her in path in the face of "time honored tradition." It's a tried and true classic theme, and Affinty was the perfect character for this theme.  There are two portions of this I really enjoyed, though. The first was taking the self-doubt and self-esteem issues that fifteen old girls face, and having this be a physical manifestation. As a parent, I found this to be a brilliant tool (witch or not) to help kiddos confront this. ...

In a small village lives a little girl, who is not a little girl, while he learns to embroider and cook like all other little girls he dreams of being a great warrior just like his tato. One day after the little girls brother runs into the woods after an argument, the little girl knows that the woods are dangerous and he rushes after his brother only to find that Baba Yaga has captured him. The little girl is terrified but knows that he must save his brother at all costs and in his bravery Baba Yaga declares that the little girl is no longer a girl but a man and he will become a great warrior as well just as the little boy had hoped for.  Oh, my heart. I love fairy tales and folklore, probably more than any other type of story, and to create a new fairy tale with a transman as a hero? This was just absolutely brilliant. Honestly, as the mom of transman I just couldn't have picked a better book to read! It's not just that though, you can tell how important this was t...

After the Feeders came and wiped out much of humanity, the remaining humans scattered gathering into small settlements dedicated to keeping humanity going and the Feeders out. In order to do this though elite groups of humans, Crossers train to make the dangerous trek across The Outside, where Feeders roam freely and recently seem to have evolved to become twice as dangerous as they were before, with Crossers rarely returning with the life sustaining supplies they need. Supplies like antibiotics, Layla, a young woman living in New City, Redoubt finds herself in an impossible situation because of these smarter, more dangerous. Feeders have ensured that there have been no successful Crossings recently. Her father desperately needs medicine and New City desperately needs more Crossers, terrified but determined Layla passed the tests to become a Crosser, setting out with a group of six, having no way of knowing that she'll stumble across secrets that will have far reaching ...

With Kai gone Jiang-Li and a contingency from Yunakuni ascend to Tiankawi for his memorial and Mira hopes to negotiate new deals between Tiankawi that would give the Fathomfolk more freedoms and hopefully help the humans that now find themselves part Fathomfolk as well deal with this. While Mira spends endless days politicking, she sends Nami off on a mission to hopefully quell the newly awakened Titans' anger at their partner being killed. As both women try desperately to bring Humans and Fathomfolk together a new threat arises that is just as dangerous as any Titan, two groups of extremists, one group human, one group fathom dedicated to destroying everything Kia, Mira, and Nami has worked for both groups backed by powerful figures human and fathomfolk alike. As they become bolder, it becomes clear to Nami and Mira that in order to save both peoples, a little blood must be shed.  Cordelia said, "Poor, Unfortunate Souls." Okay, she actually said, "Poor, ...

Danae is a simple fisherman's daughter, living on the island of Naxos her biggest concern currently is her sister's obnoxious fiancé and getting through the Thesmorphia. Fortunately for Danea, that isn't too much of worry, Athena's priestesses never choose loud girls like Danae, and with her sister engaged, she can't be chosen. Besides, hopefully, there won't be a need for a sacrifice this year. Just as everything is getting started, though all hell breaks loose, the Maneads, a group of outcast women attack disrupting the Thesmorphia, and in the process, Danea's sister goes missing Little does Danea know that this attack will mark the beginning of Danea's destiny. She is the Last daughter and the one prophesied to destroy the gods.  I received this in my Caffeine and Legends book box, and I am so glad I did. I'm not a fan of Greek Mythology at all so this probably never would have come across my radar which would have totally sucked becau...

Utsugi Tetsuo has started to see a young woman, every where he goes, and he knows he is either being haunted or losing his mind. He can never see her face, though, which is the most terrifying part of these visions. Trying to find some reasonable explanation for these sightings, he turns to a doctor who is certain that not only does Tetsuo know who this girl is, he is purposefully blocking out her face, afraid of the answer. He encourages Tetsuo to focus on her face, certain if he does, the hauntings will end. However, instead of stopping the hauntings once he realizes who this young woman in memories he had long repressed rise again and Tetsuo descends into madness.  This was good. This was excellent, and to truly appreciate it, if you have the English translation, you must read Kawakatsu Tokushige's essay in the back of the manga. I highly recommend reading it *after* you've read the manga, though.  On to the review This was such an interesting conversation on ab...

Isaac Fletcher finds himself a widower, raising three children alone after a horrific car accident kills his wife Gwen and permanently ruins one of his legs. Caught up in his grief and his stress, he starts drinking heavily, which is affecting his ability to be a parent to his children. His children and his work have both found him passed out drunk in odd places, and if he's honest, he probably hasn't been sober once since Gwen's death. After a call from his mother in law Helen, that sounds like she wants to take his children from him. Isaac decides what the family needs a vacation. Since it's his daughter Emily's birthday, he decides that this is the perfect excuse to take the family to their remote cabin in Northern Michigan. Determined to prove to his mother in law that he hasn't the drunken failure she believes to be, he invites her and his brother along. Almost immediately upon stepping foot on the shores of Orphan Island strange things begin to...

Shakti is one of the mayakari's, witches linked to the Nature Spirits and persecuted by Emperor Adil. And while the Emperor believes they are dangerous creatures, hell bent on humanities destruction that couldn't be the furtherest from the true as their one overriding tenant is to do no harm. However, after the Emperor himself burns Shakti's aunt at the stake right in front of her Shakti, in her grief, she crosses a line that she may never be able to come back from. Ashoka is the youngest of Adil's children and viewed as the weakest. He adheres to the tenants of the mayakari and rebels against his father's bloodthirsty campaigns against them whenever and wherever he can. After his father dies unexpectedly and his cruel but stupid brother ascends The Obsidian Throne Ashoka knows that now is the time to truly stop his family's bloody legacy, but, will he lose is soul in the process? This was truly excellent. And while as you can see I only gave it four...

This was just a very cute book about believing in yourself and how a good friend and thoughtful gift can turn any bad fur day around.  It's definitely a great little story for the holiday season for the kiddos and parents alike!

Davi, fully realizing that her reset button is malfunctioning, has come up with a plan to hopefully save humans and wilders alike. And it would have gone absolutely wonderfully if Prince Johann was actually in charge but Duke Aster is running the show in the Kingdom and now Davi, The Dark Lord, must pretend to be The Wizard's Apprentice and hope that her predictions of the future convince the humans that going up against the Wilders would be a really bad idea.  Unfortunately, while Davi and Tsav are in The Kingdom trying to keep the humans from heading to their doom, Artaxes and Sibarae have taken control of The Horde. With Davi's plans completely unraveling, she is going to have to do something she's never done in a thousand years: Rely on other people.  That's an ominous rely on other people because many of you reading this I can guarantee just thought of that gives you anxiety, hell it gave me anxiety just reading it. Honestly, this was significantly bet...