The Great Hunt

Moving right along.  Apparently this book isn't as long as I thought it was.  I'd forgotten that last time I saw Rand as Jared Padalenki.  It still stands.

New Spring: The Novel

Why yes, I have read this before.

Iron Kingdoms: Full Metal Fantasy Roleplaying Game

Iron Kingdoms is the setting for the Hordes and Warmachine games so it made sense that we would start playing in it.

As a role playing game it's nifty.  The two career systems gives direction but lets you create pretty much any character you could think of.  There's lots of variety and no one class seems to outshine the others.

The game itself seems more focused on combat than anything else (and miniatures of course).  It takes a good game master to remember that his or her players have skills outside of combat.

As a book it's very well laid out.  Things are easy to find, good descriptions and the art is appropriate and good to look at.  Everyone who saw me reading it had to ask about it.  It doesn't fall into the trap that so many first edition rulebooks do in assuming that the reader has never played a role playing game.  Unlike Call of Cthlulu I never felt that the authors looked down on other role playing experiences.

The economics could use a bit of an overhaul.  Pretty much everything is too expensive because, although copper and silver exist, only gold crowns are used.

It could have used a sample adventure here too.  A thread through the whole book, from character creation to adventure, would have added a unifying theme.

Black Butler Volume X

This was a Sherlock Holmes mystery.  I think I read nearly the same one in the last collection I read.  So I had a pretty fair idea of where this was going.  As a result, this story was very different from the others in this series.  It was less about the human condition and more about the story.  In a weird way, it felt like filler until it was time to go back to the demonic Ciel.

Vampire Knight Volume 14

Kaname doesn't deserve Yuki.  She's so much more devoted to him than he is to her.  Of course, Yuki doesn't deserve Yuki either.  For a love triangle it's messed up.  Interesting to see more of the history of this vampire world.  My sympathies are still with Aido.  He's just trying to protect Kaname and those he loves.

Naruto Volume 49: The Gokage Summit Commences

This feels like the beginning of the end.  I can't imagine Naruto not being Hokage by the end of this arc, and once he's fulfilled his dream, is there much point in continuing the story?

Bakuman Volume 4

I feel bad for Mijo.  Things are going so well for Moritaka and she's getting into the creepy area of voice work.  Things are much different in Japan.

Bakuman Volume 3

I like that they separated and still came up with the same kind of story to tell.  It really gives the feeling that they have a great partnership.  They're also growing as characters.  This work is more complex than I would have thought it would be.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

I've been reading a lot of comics lately.  One of them has been Red Hood and the Outlaws and I realised I really didn't know much about Jason Todd.  I knew he'd died, but the details about him coming back to life and taking up the mantle of the Red Hood were not in my lexicon.

I really liked this story.  There were so many elements that I've really enjoyed in the Batman mythos that are all present here.  Plus, it's always nice to see Nightwing.  I lost the story a bit in the second act because I didn't recognise some of the players.  But a good story.

I'd also seen the Batman: Under the Red Hood movie recently.  The first act was pretty much lifted whole for that script.  A few minor changes to make it more accessible to someone who didn't follow all of DC comics.

Naruto Volume 46: Naruto Returns

Naruto gets a pretty epic re-entrance in this volume.  It's hard to imagine that he'd get here when looking at where he came from.  Things are really building up.  Not good that Kakashi is having a heart to heart with his dead father.  I don't want this to be the end of that character.

Black Butler Volume IX

Reading this reminded me too much of the movie Clue.  I kept expecting a fast forward run down of what had happened.  I don't believe Sebastian's dead though.  He seems harder to kill than that.

Bonk

I've read Stiff and Spook by Mary Roach so when I saw she'd written a new one I very excited to read it.  Then I saw it was going to be all about sex.  The book was actually surprisingly informative and she got into a lot of places that I'm surprise would let her in.  On top of that is her humour.  I really enjoy her style.  Some parts of the book made me laugh out loud.  That doesn't happen often.

I would think there were still some aspects of the subject of sex that she was hesitant to write about.  The ultrasound experiments for one.  Besides herself and her husband I'm really curious about why these couples would agree to do this thing.

Rosario + Vampire Season II Volume 7

These are getting harder and harder to read at work as they become more and more risque. 

The story progresses though.  The dynamic between inner and outer Moka is quite interesting and I wonder why other vampires don't seem to need the Rosario like Moka does.  I want to find out more about what happened in her memory to her mother and her oldest sister Aqua.

Naruto Volume 44: Senjutsu Heir

Once again Naruto nearly brings me to tears. There was a lot more emotion than I expected from Naruto when he found out about Jiraiya's death. Tsunade breaking down once she was by herself was very moving too.

And then there's Sasuke. I want him to find out he's been lied to. He needs to join back up with Naruto. Though at this point I expect that Naruto is the only one who would welcome him back. Now that they're trying to bring down the eight-tailed fox it won't be long before he comes looking for his old friend.

Death Note Volume 1: Boredom

I can't believe that I actually like the protagonist of this series. He's a serial killer! But he is very clever, and that has to be admired. I wasn't sure when I first started this but as I continued reading I found myself appreciating the lengths that Light was going to to protect his identity and how he was manipulating those after him. I'm very curious as to L's identity. The decision to not reveal him to the readers as well is interesting. It really does make Light the hero even though what he's doing is very wrong.

Hound of the Baskervilles

This novel was quite different from the other Sherlock Holmes novels I've read, and from the short stories.  Holmes was hardly in it.  He sent Watson to do all the investigating and showed up for the climax to tell Watson that he already knew what was going on.  Plus, he had the final pieces to solve the mystery.

Not that the reader could quite solve this one.  It hinged on a portrait that we couldn't see and wasn't described by Conan Doyle.  Some of the behaviour of the villain might have given it away but he was already pegged as an eccentric so it didn't seem that unusual for him.  I did know that the hound was not a demon, and whomever was using it to scare the Baskervilles was stealing boots to give it the scent.  However, I would not have guessed at the love triangle between Baskerville and the Stapletons.  Or that Lyons was in any way important to solving the mystery unless she out and out told them what she knew.

I felt that the subplot with the convict was an unnecessary distraction.  It felt like padding the word count to give Watson something to do while he waited for Holmes to arrive and solve everything.  It gave him an excuse to be out on the moor to see Holmes in shadow but again, I didn't feel it moved the plot along to have the poor man killed.

There's apparently some suggestion that since this was written after Holmes' apparent death in The Final Problem this story does not have the real Sherlock Holmes in it.  The theory attempts to explain why Watson takes a more prominent role in this novel than he has previously.  To me, it's obvious that it's an earlier adventure of Holmes.  He and Watson are still living together at Baker Street and there is no mention of Mrs. Watson or his flourishing private practice.  It seems more likely that Conan Doyle was simply trying something new.  It's documented that he was tired of writing stories of Sherlock Holmes and had intended the character to mock skeptics.  When it became popular he felt his hand was forced to continue.  Even after purposefully killing the character so he wouldn't have to write it anymore.

Brightest Day Volume 3

I came out of this volume with one thought.   The white lantern is a dick.  It brought heroes back to life just so it could kill them, it brought villains back to kill heroes and it used Deadman to make these things happen.  And then it gets to take time to tell Hawk why he failed in the mission to kill himself.  All in all it seemed a convuluted way to bring Swamp Thing back to the DC universe.

Naruto Volume 43: The Man with the Truth

This volume was huge!  Double size almost.  I can see why it was done, there was no real spot to split the story into another volume and it does bring the whole arc with Sasuke and his brother to a close.  It was an amazing battle.  And, as always, Kishimoto lets his character shine through even when it's just a fight. 

I don't know how I feel about Sasuke switching his revenge to the whole Konoha village.  It's going to set up conflict between him and Naruto again.  Though, I suppose they might see eye to eye on it.  Both their lives have been affected by decisions the ruling council thought would save the village.

Naruto Volume 42: The Secret of the Mangekyo

So it's revealed that Jiraiya looks on Naruto like a grandfather because his name was taken from one of Jiraiya's books.  That's so sweet.  It made his death in this volume more poignant.  I was quite touched when I read it.

Black Butler Volume 7

This concludes the creepiness that has been this arc of Black Butler.  I was wondering why Ciel wasn't worried about his staff.  I thought he was just callous.  Apparently Finnie is some kind of mutant and his hat hides a number on the back of his head.  Mey Rin's short sightedness belies her extreme accuracy at distance and Mr. Tanaka is a silent killer.  Plus, the chef is American.  I thought there was something up with him.

However, with a little space to fill, Toboso also gives us the story of a new suit for Ciel.  Which includes a tailor that likes to feel up Mey Rin's breasts but is also attracted to Ciel's feminine form as he's still just a small boy.  Not what I was expecting.