sisa_moyo's reviews
195 reviews

My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 2 by Wataru Hinekure

funny lighthearted fast-paced

This manga is so laugh out loud funny and so enjoyable. The characters are flawed but understandably so because they’re young and navigating their first crushes. 
It’s so cute and lighthearted and I am thoroughly enjoying this series. 

Suzume 1 by Makoto Shinkai, Denki Amashima

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Suzume, is high school junior living with her aunt. One day she bumps into a young man looking for some ruins. This encounter leads her into a fantasy world filled with runaway cats and doors from another world. 

I loved the illustrations and the panels, they were really well done and animated. The fantasy elements were quite interesting and unique. 
However, the story was overall not very engaging for me. It was an easy and straightforward read but I felt that the main characters were not especially fleshed out which meant that i wasn’t especially attached to them and I couldn’t commit to the stakes of their mission. While I understood the overall purpose of the journey they’re on, at some points it felt too fast-paced and all over the place that I had to make sure I hadn’t skipped a page or panel. 
Overall, while I probably won’t read volume 2, I think this would be great for fans of the movie and for people who like magical, fantasy elements in their manga with a  calmer and less gruesome story.
[e-ARC courtesy of Netgalley]

My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 1 by Wataru Hinekure

funny lighthearted fast-paced

In this volume our main character mistakenly falls in love with his crush’s crush while trying to set them up together. 
This is so cute and wholesome and so laugh out loud funny. 
All the characters are utterly clueless in equal measure which makes this so funny. 

Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency by Martin Dugard, Bill O'Reilly

informative medium-paced

this book follows the adult life of Ronald Reagan from his time as an up-and-coming actor in Hollywood to his ultimate role as President of the United States. 
It was an interesting look into Reagan's life and his journey to becoming President. From his fall out of Hollywood stardom to his wife and his family this book artfully chronicles a life of an enigmatic and interesting man at a pivotal time in American history. If you're looking for a text that solely focuses on Reagan and his family and biography, then this isn't it. The author delves beyond Reagan and into the political environment in which Raegan existed. From Ford and Carter to Gorbachev and Thatcher, this also intricately lays out the global political climate of the Cold War years and how the American political elite navigated it.
This book is really good for people interested in post-WW2 and Cold War history, American politics and the everyday, behind the scenes of the going-ons in the White House. Though a few statements seemed biased against communist ideology, it for the most part tried to keep neutral tone in laying out the ideological war outside of the opinions of the American political elite. It was overall an informative book that for me humanised a political figure I've known only from political and history classes. 

The Silence of Bones by June Hur

adventurous challenging informative medium-paced

In this book, we follow a police bureau servant girl through an investigation of a murdered noble woman which leads her into a web of deadly family secrets, a catholic conspiracy and unimaginable betrayal. 
As always Hur shows an artistic ability to weave high-stakes mysteries into historical ancient Korea settings, as in this story the death of a noblewoman is set alongside the purge of Catholics in 19th century Korea. Her historical fictions feature young, capable and intelligent women in a society that does not hold women in any regard and brings their skills to the center alongside the men and the nail biting murder mysteries and aristocrat conspiracies. I loved the themes we delved into: revenge for the sake of family, on shame and the villains it builds, familial longing and a search for home and belonging, loyalty and betrayal. I think Hur explores these themes so well through our main characters and their relations with each other. I also liked for the most part how she handled the mystery, we knew only as much as the narrator at any given time, so we felt equally as confused as she was which lent well to the immersive experience of the mystery. 
However, I did feel that the story moved a bit slow especially around the beginning which made the story feel longer than it needed to be. First, some of the character descriptions felt unnecessarily repetitive especially in the first act, e.g. when Inspector Han would appear the same larger than life descriptions of him would be cycled through. I do understand how they work to build the narrator's idolising of him at the time but after the first two times it felt repetitive. Second, though this did work to craft a not-easy-guess-mystery, I did feel that overall, the mystery may have been more convoluted than needed. While it allowed Hur the time to tackle multiple themes and touch on various aspects of Korean history, the multiple links to the investigation were for me at least a bit overwhelming and lent to the slow pace of the book. But only a bit - as always Hur's mysteries hook me, and the ending for this one was bittersweet and honest. 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel), Volume 5 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

The series wraps out on a dark and rainy night at Guanyin Temple as dark, calculating secrets are revealed and resentful spirits are laid to rest for a century. 
What I loved: the way the story concluded JC and WWX’s relationship and brotherhood, the secrets each had and how those changed the trajectory of their lives in irreversible ways. I also loved the Lan Sizhui, wwx and lwj bond and how that ending was done. Another thing was the commentary on societal expectations and how loudly those who used to praise you will shout for your downfall. It has a lot to say on the morality of man, that no one is entirely black or white, good or evil, morally upright or a demon. Each individual character here that would be painted as ‘evil’ has their own backstory and journey - not to absolve them of their wrongdoing, but to show how humans progress and live and make choices and end up at the point they are at. 
However, everything else felt like a drag for me personally, from the dubious consent to the distasteful smut especially in this volume I was fighting to get through this volume. The best part was the Guanyin Temple arc and all that happened on that night and everything else felt superfluous and unnecessary in my opinion. 
I also could not care less about the extras in this volume. It was difficult to get through the first one on the family banquet as it was mostly smut (which personal preference I hate reading, especially if it’s imo this bad), and I could not get into the rest of them. 
I don’t want to be the person who brings up the show constantly, but I think the only way I made it through his entire volume was because of the love I have for the show, and this committing to reading the source material. I’m happy for what the book has done for talking about LGBTQ issues especially in Chinese media, but as a certified smut hater, it’s so interesting to see how artfully and delicately The Untamed interpreted and reworked the novel in regards to the censorship. 
Overall, while the first quarter was an intriguing final act conclusion to the series, this was my least favourite volume of the 5. 

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

June Hur again with a masterfully done historical thriller. In this novel, we follow Min Hwani as she secretly travels to Jeju Island during in search of her father who went missing while searching for 13 missing girls in one of the island villages. There she finds a secret that links to her and her sister’s childhood, a side of her father she never knew and a mystery that cost too many their lives. 
Hur blends the two genres so well and in an engaging way as we delve into issues of familial love, abandonment and family secrets. She takes a dark time in Korean history and infuses an intriguing mystery with strong, intelligent women leads and complex, well-fleshed characters. From the ritual girls, to shamans, haenyeos,  royal wives, palace nurses and woman detectives - Hur explores the various yet limited fates of women in historical Korea and the impact of class. 
One of my favourite things about Hur’s works is how she unapologetically infuses Korean history, culture and language into her books. She does not directly translate any Korean spoken; after an initial explanation, she will refer to things in their Korean name; and she also includes parts of Korean culture and historical society, like Jeju-do’s haenyeo, into her stories a seamless way. 
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the mystery and the way in which lesser known parts of Korean history are made accessible and known to the reader. June Hur is easily becoming one of my favourite authors. 

How to Think about War: An Ancient Guide to Foreign Policy by Thucydides

informative

focuses on how to think about war and international relations from Thucydides' writings on the Peloponnesian War as compiled and edited by Hanink. 
Using the war which saw a clash between Athens and the rise of Sparta, it delves into why states go to war, the considerations involved, the justifications for war. It is a very informative book on theorising about politics and international relations, using the speeches and dialogues of key political speakers at the time as transcribed by Thucydides.
It touches on the Pericles's speeches, the Melian Dialogue, on the realpolitik of Athen's invasion and imperialism and also on how this text has formed the foundation of realist thought in International Relations, on the rationality of man, the inevitability of war and that humans and states will always act in their self-interest. Hanink also sheds light on that this text has been a key informer for US politics and its justifications for war, seen too in the parralells of how Athens as the dominant power saw itself and its imperialism and how the US and Americans view themselves and their hegemony.
An interesting read for students of international relations and political thinkers on what to do and what not to do when thinking about war and foreign policy. 

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi (Novel) Vol. 4 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

In this volume wwx and lwj journey on burial mounds and are confronted by a second siege, the one wrecking havoc on the cultivation world is revealed and the cultivators turn away from them. 
This was one of the most emotional volumes, as we follow Wei’s created life on the burial mounds while living on borrowed time. From the Wei-wens, to Yanli and Zixuan, Jiang Cheng, the juniors and Wangxian - MXTX artfully explores themes of found family and friendship, selflessness and sacrifice, grief, loss and guilt as well unconditional and unwavering love and devotion. 
We also see a traumatised and damaged wwx, who goes from being praised by the cultivation world to being looked down upon and hated. We see his further traumatic decent into madness as he goes further down his own path, and we learn the reasons for it and the author wonderfully explores these issues. I loved how Mxtx beautifully and masterfully explores these themes and issues and provides great commentary on the way societal expectations burden people and ruin them, and how they hold people back and suppress talent and how they are so quick to turn on you without proof. 
However, there are some scenes here that were not my favourite, if you cannot stand reading smut like me, you’re forewarned that there is smut in hear that for me tethered on dark romance energy and had dubious consent around it. 

No-No Boy by John Okada

A poignant and enlightening book on the experiences of Japanese-Americans in America during the Second World War, the discrimination and segregation they face because they are in some part Japanese. It sheds lights on the no-no boys, those who, when faced with a choice that meant a complete denunciation of a Japan they were not fully a part of and an unwavering allegiance to America and join its army against the Japanese, chose to say no. 
Through the writing style we see the identity dilemma of not being wholly Japanese or wholly American and what that means in an America that does not consider you at part of it self even when you feel more American than Japanese. We see the internal conflicts of identity and belonging, of inherited trauma and loss and friendship through the eyes of Ichiro, himself a no-no boy. 
However, while I enjoyed exploring these themes through Ichiro’s narrative voice and his internal monologues, I feel that the book was longer than it needed to be but I can’t quite put my finger on why.