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Reviews tagging 'Blood'
Manga Classics Count of Monte Cristo by Crystal S. Chan, Stacy King
1 review
wolfiegrrrl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Most adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo that I have seen tend to be almost jarringly fast-paced, as there is a lot of story to translate into a more digestible format and that hardly leaves much time to linger on the early build up at the start of the tale when most of the entertaining action takes place in the middle of the Count's story and onward from there.
This manga is no exception when it comes to that preference for jumping into the meat of the tale as quickly as possible, but it utilized some creative techniques to smooth the transitions between major events and I feel like, even if I hadn't already been familiar with the story, I would have still been able to follow along without being too shaken by the pacing of the information being delivered to me. I found the convenient character relationship chart at the end of the book extremely helpful in navigating the story as it was happening! Armed with that information about the key players, I was able to better appreciate the exposition revealed to the readers in each chapter.
Watching the story unfold in this way gave me a peculiar feeling of satisfaction that I was able to see all of the pieces of the Count's plan falling into place as it was happening. Like watching someone painstakingly set up dominoes in a swirling pattern one at a time and, when the last domino is finally knocked over, you get to witness how smoothly and beautifully they all fall to create a final pattern on the floor at your feet despite all odds that the momentum wouldn't be enough to get them there. There's that initial tension - the moments where you're holding your breath and trying to calculate in your head "can this person really do it?" - right before you're blown away by how neatly and precisely the preparations paid off, each piece getting taken out one by one, taking each other down with them, while the mastermind watches on in delight.
Once again, I am very appreciative of the attention to detail and the care afforded to the characters of Dumas' work displayed by this Manga Classics team. This trimmed version of the novel did a wonderful job of delivering as much as it could without being extraneous.
This manga is no exception when it comes to that preference for jumping into the meat of the tale as quickly as possible, but it utilized some creative techniques to smooth the transitions between major events and I feel like, even if I hadn't already been familiar with the story, I would have still been able to follow along without being too shaken by the pacing of the information being delivered to me. I found the convenient character relationship chart at the end of the book extremely helpful in navigating the story as it was happening! Armed with that information about the key players, I was able to better appreciate the exposition revealed to the readers in each chapter.
Watching the story unfold in this way gave me a peculiar feeling of satisfaction that I was able to see all of the pieces of the Count's plan falling into place as it was happening. Like watching someone painstakingly set up dominoes in a swirling pattern one at a time and, when the last domino is finally knocked over, you get to witness how smoothly and beautifully they all fall to create a final pattern on the floor at your feet despite all odds that the momentum wouldn't be enough to get them there. There's that initial tension - the moments where you're holding your breath and trying to calculate in your head "can this person really do it?" - right before you're blown away by how neatly and precisely the preparations paid off, each piece getting taken out one by one, taking each other down with them, while the mastermind watches on in delight.
Once again, I am very appreciative of the attention to detail and the care afforded to the characters of Dumas' work displayed by this Manga Classics team. This trimmed version of the novel did a wonderful job of delivering as much as it could without being extraneous.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Gun violence and Slavery
Minor: Incest and Infidelity
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