Cirque du Freak, Volume 3

Title:  Cirque du Freak: Tunnels of Blood

Volume:  3 of ??

Author: Darren Shan
Illustrator: Takahiro Arai
Type: Manga

Publisher: Yen Press

Genres:  Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Age Rating: Teen - LV

Public Libraries - Location Suggestion

The best spot would probably be in your Young Adult collection.

School Libraries - Location Suggestion

Elementary - Not recommended

Jr. High/Middle School - Possibly, it depends on your community

High School - This should do just fine in a high school setting; the rating is for language and violence only.
 
According to the Publisher - What the Age Rating Means

A “T” rating indicates that there may be content within that some parents or guardians may consider inappropriate for children under the age of 13; LV = Language and Violence

Parental Eyebrow Raisers 
Language
 - I only noticed one curse word in this volume - dammit - but it's possible I missed a few in scanning.

Violence/Gore
 - References are made to bodies with slit throats being drained of blood, but nothing is shown
 - Images depicting a vampire war; blood is shown
 - A close up of a human skull with decaying flesh still on the bones is seen
 - During a battle between two vampires, one shoves his hand into the chest of the other, lots of blood is shown

Sexuality/Sexual Themes
 - One of the minor characters is a very voluptuous woman who is often seen in a revealing outfit
 - A boy and girl share two very chaste kisses 

 
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Cirque du Freak, Volume 2

Title:  Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Volume:  2 of ??

Author: Darren Shan
Illustrator: Takahiro Arai
Type: Manga

Publisher: Yen Press

Genres:  Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Age Rating: Teen - LV

Public Libraries - Location Suggestion

The best spot would probably be in your Young Adult collection.

School Libraries - Location Suggestion

Elementary - Not recommended

Jr. High/Middle School - Possibly, it depends on your community

High School - This should do just fine in a high school setting; the rating is for language and violence only.
 
According to the Publisher - What the Age Rating Means

A “T” rating indicates that there may be content within that some parents or guardians may consider inappropriate for children under the age of 13; LV = Language and Violence

Parental Eyebrow Raisers 
Language
 - I could not find any language in this volume; that doesn't mean it wasn't there, just that it was too mild for me to notice.  Let's assume that there might have been a "hell" or "damn" that escaped me.

Violence/Gore
 - A vampire cuts a man's leg in order to drink from him; some blood is shown
 - A character does something to the legs of another character; it's not clear what happens, but the boy is knocked to the ground and some spattered blood is shown
 - A boy is shown being bitten in the neck by a spider
 - A boy dreams of being force-fed blood from a still-beating heart
 - A boy is attacked by a man with a club
 - A boy digs his (very sharp) fingernails into a man's arm, blood is shown spurting out and dripping down the arm
 - A man has his arms bitten off by a wolf-man; this is an incredibly graphic scene with lots of visible blood, flesh and bone
 - Two boys are attacked by a wolf-man; one of them is scratched across the arm, the other is caught and eaten; again, this is a fairly graphic scene and there is some blood
 - A young vampire cuts a boy's neck and drinks heavily from his blood

Sexuality/Sexual Themes
 - One of the minor characters is a very voluptuous woman who is often seen in a revealing outfit

 
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Cirque du Freak, Volume 1

Title:  Cirque du Freak

Volume:  1 of ??

Author: Darren Shan
Illustrator: Takahiro Arai
Type: Manga

Publisher: Yen Press

Genres:  Horror, Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Age Rating: Teen - LV

Public Libraries - Location Suggestion

The best spot would probably be in your Young Adult collection.

School Libraries - Location Suggestion

Elementary - Not recommended

Jr. High/Middle School - Possibly, it depends on your community

High School - This should do just fine in a high school setting; the rating is for language and violence only.
 
According to the Publisher - What the Age Rating Means

A “T” rating indicates that there may be content within that some parents or guardians may consider inappropriate for children under the age of 13; LV = Language and Violence

Parental Eyebrow Raisers 
Language
 - I only noticed one curse word in this volume - hell - but it's possible I missed a few in scanning.

Violence/Gore
 - A very big spider sinks it's fangs into the neck of a goat, a little blood spatter is shown
 - A very big spider sinks it's fangs into the neck of a boy, blood is shown dribbling down
 - Streams of blood are shown dribbling down the hands of a boy and a man as the boy is being made into a vampire
 - A boy gets a bloody knee and another boy proceeds to lick at it; blood is shown dribbling from his mouth
 - A character is thrown out of a window and killed
 - A character attempts to drive a stake through another's chest, but can't go through with it, a little blood is shown

Non-sexual Nudity
 - One of the male characters is shown soaking in the bath
 - A young girl is shown sitting on the edge of a bath tub in only a bath towel

 
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It Takes a Wizard - Overall Imperssions

First a quick apology for the "down time" between posts.  Spring Break is very hectic for me both at work and at home, so I didn't have as much time to work on my blog as I would have liked.

Anyway, moving along to my impressions of the OEL, It Takes a Wizard.  I actually dreamed about this manga last night...I don't know if it was because I was feeling guilty for putting off my mini-review or if it was something else, but thanks to this manga I had the first nightmare I've had in almost six months.  Yeah...it creeped me out that much.

So...that being said, here's a quick, succinct look at how I feel about this story.  In my opinion there was far too much gore and not enough story.  Now, I'll admit I'm not a big fan of graphic violence, in fact I find that images of it (either real of fake) tend to affect me deeply...even when it's the "bad guys."  However, I'm inclined to overlook such violence in a story...when there actually IS a story.  It Takes a Wizard has what I would consider to be the beginnings of a good story...but it promises and then doesn't really deliver. Yes - it has a beginning, middle, and an end, but when it was over the story somehow felt lacking.  I think it's possible that what I was really wanting was more character development.  You've got this huge, almost 500+ page book and yet the characters don't really grow or change, they just follow along the track that's been laid out for them without ever doing anything unique or unexpected.  That disappointed me.

The art, however, was much less of a disappointment.  It had a flowing, sort of sketchy style that really appealed to me.  The characters were excellently rendered and attention to detail was made on both ends of the spectrum, with creatures that were either disturbingly creepy or adorably cute.  The humans were nicely done, as well; everyone had a different look and feel which made some parts of the story easier to follow.  

In the end,  I'm not sure how willing I am to recommend this book for a library setting.  While there are probably a few libraries out there who will find this title fits their collection's needs, most will have better ways of spending their money.  Something else to remember is the size - this almost 500+ page paperback book is not much bigger than a trade paperback.  Make sure to ask yourself how long it's likely to last in your collection before you're frantically trying to tape and paste in loose pages to make your money go further.

Roadsong - Overall Impressions

I hate to admit it, but the more OEL's I read the warier I become about purchasing them for my personal collection.  While there are a few gems that stand out among the rest, most just wind up being disappointing.  When Roadsong began it had so much potential - the plot was good, the characters were interesting and the art was nice too look at, but in the end it just didn't really deliver.  I DO understand that it's difficult to develop plot and characters in only three volumes, but to be honest I'd rather that the author had sacrificed a bit of plot to delve a bit more into the characters and their motives than vise versa.  These guys have been on the run for several months...and yet between volume 1 and volume 3 they don't really "grow" at all - they're still reacting to their situation (and each other) in exactly the same ways, which seems unlikely to me.

Something else I didn't care for (although this is entirely an issue of personal genre tastes) is that the story couldn't seem to decide if it wanted to be serious or funny.  In the first volume a whole boatload of people are killed in an explosion, the main characters are accused of the crime AND the REAL killers are after them - it sounds like a pretty serious issue...and yet the villains are more like a joke than a real threat and neither of the main characters seems to care that they've just lost the people that were most important to them.  I know that people deal with grief differently, but it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief about their attitudes.  In the end, although it seemed obvious I was supposed to care/sympathize with the different characters and their situations, I just couldn't do it.

The artwork itself was well-done, kinda cute and light-hearted - although there was a slight shift in style between volumes 2 and 3, it didn't detract from things too much.  But again, (and this is just personal preference) I really think this story would have benefited from a darker style rather than a humorous one - something...anything to make me feel like the characters were actually in some sort of REAL danger.

Overall, I would probably only recommend adding this series to your library's collection for two reasons: One - it's three volumes long, perfect for if you're trying to beef up your graphic novel collection AND stretch your budget; Two - it's a guy-oriented manga that doesn't have an "epic" battle happening on every other page.  Although, truthfully, I don't think your typical teens will find as much at fault with this story as I did - I really believe that much of my un-enjoyment was just personal preference.

After School Nightmare - Overall Impressions

When I ordered these books I did it for only two reasons - the artwork was absolutely gorgeous and I got a REALLY good deal for buying the whole series at once.  And now, as I sit here typing this, having read all 10 volumes, I can safely say that this is one of the most bizarre series I've ever read...and it's not just because the main character is a hermaphrodite with serious gender issues.

As I finished each volume and then went online to find reviews for my blog, I was honestly surprised by all of the positive feedback.  I was trying not to get spoilers, but I was also truly curious about what it was others saw in this story because I just wasn't seeing it.  Yes, the artwork was delicate, and flowing, and everything a good shojo series should have...but was this REALLY a shojo series at all?  There were elements of fantasy, horror, romance, etc. - it's like the story itself couldn't decide what it wanted to be, just like the main character couldn't decide which gender to accept.  Confusion abounded, but I kept reading because the mystery had captured my interest - then at about the 4th or 5th volume I figured it out...and kept reading to confirm my suspicions (and to finish things up for my blog.)

In addition to the convoluted plot, I also found myself disliking the main character, who did nothing but whine, complain, and blame others for almost all 10 volumes.  That got old fast and even the other characters couldn't save the story from my downward spiraling opinion.  All in all - despite the unusual twist of an ending (that you may or may not see coming), I just didn't like what After School Nightmare had to offer.

Regardless, there are still plenty of teens that I think would relate to, and enjoy this series.  So, if the story sounds like it might fill an empty/lacking niche in your library, why not give it a try?