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lilmatt050's review
5.0
I do not know if Goodreads ever recommended me this children's book but I saw the cover on my library database and I thought why not check out a children's book and read it? So I did and I am glad that I encounter this book. I did not realize at the time but Katsuhiro Otomo (the author) is the famous creator of Akira which sadly I won't read anytime soon since I've seen the film. When I saw his name I figured I was in for a nice joy ride and I was right.
In this fantasy town of Salta is a small city with a big castle that overlooks the city and the city itself has wall fortress surrounding Salta. In this town, Vampires live and exist where no sunlight has risen in 2,000 years. We meet this vampire boy name Hipira who believes he is scary vampire. One day he sees the Elder of the Vampires is doing something inside the castle because of the sparks of light coming out and decides to discover what is going on. When he arrives to the top, he discovers that the Elder has collected Human souls for over hundred of years because he wants to turn them into sprites which if a vampire eats will go to Hell and for Vampires, hell is definitely good. When the professor is done with his experiment, he realizes that he has failed because the sprite wasn't complete because it did not grow legs. The Elder is angry about the whole situation and Hipira makes a new friend called Soul.
Over the course of the book we get insight to Hipira & Soul and their mini-adventures around Salta. We get to met random creatures and see how every obstacle that comes Hipira and Soul's path, they are always willing to work together and solve the mystery. I would highly recommend this book for everyone who is into cute children's book but I have to warn you that this story has no plot. I do not know if its because the lost of words in translation but there isn't enough background information on our characters and Salta. I believe because of this issue we really do not connect and get insight into these characters and find the meaning of friendship to be less impactful as other children's books.
You may be wondering why I rated this book 5 stars? Its that simple which is the artwork. The illustrations were mind-blowing and utterly beautiful. I felt like the illustrator really put hard work into these drawings and just make the world building spectacular. I really love how unique they designed the vampires and the other characters and I felt like children can enjoy and relate to these characters. While it may lack a plot, the drawings of Hipira, Soul, and Salta is worth the read.
In this fantasy town of Salta is a small city with a big castle that overlooks the city and the city itself has wall fortress surrounding Salta. In this town, Vampires live and exist where no sunlight has risen in 2,000 years. We meet this vampire boy name Hipira who believes he is scary vampire. One day he sees the Elder of the Vampires is doing something inside the castle because of the sparks of light coming out and decides to discover what is going on. When he arrives to the top, he discovers that the Elder has collected Human souls for over hundred of years because he wants to turn them into sprites which if a vampire eats will go to Hell and for Vampires, hell is definitely good. When the professor is done with his experiment, he realizes that he has failed because the sprite wasn't complete because it did not grow legs. The Elder is angry about the whole situation and Hipira makes a new friend called Soul.
Over the course of the book we get insight to Hipira & Soul and their mini-adventures around Salta. We get to met random creatures and see how every obstacle that comes Hipira and Soul's path, they are always willing to work together and solve the mystery. I would highly recommend this book for everyone who is into cute children's book but I have to warn you that this story has no plot. I do not know if its because the lost of words in translation but there isn't enough background information on our characters and Salta. I believe because of this issue we really do not connect and get insight into these characters and find the meaning of friendship to be less impactful as other children's books.
You may be wondering why I rated this book 5 stars? Its that simple which is the artwork. The illustrations were mind-blowing and utterly beautiful. I felt like the illustrator really put hard work into these drawings and just make the world building spectacular. I really love how unique they designed the vampires and the other characters and I felt like children can enjoy and relate to these characters. While it may lack a plot, the drawings of Hipira, Soul, and Salta is worth the read.
bloodravenlib's review
4.0
See my blog post on it:
http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/11/booknote-hipira.html
http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/11/booknote-hipira.html
saemiligr's review
3.0
A cute little children's book that had been hilariously labeled Manga. Cute art but the story is kind all over the place. Still enjoyed it, glad I picked it up.
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