Shaman Warrior: Volume 9

by Joong-Ki Park, 191 pages

Horakaan confronts a familiar face, Genji reveals some secrets and keeps others, Nejo wises up and steps in, Yaki goes into shaman warrior overdrive, and Yatilla carries on in the name of the fallen.

I think. I'm so confused! I'm not 100% sure who's dead and who's alive at the end of this, the final volume of the series. There are some awkwardly placed (yet poignant) flashbacks that seem to be there because the author had the info in the back of his mind the whole time and only just now remembered he hadn't told the reader about it. And then there's a sudden forward jump of a few months and no real explanation of what happens to everyone in the interim. And that's followed by an unresolved semi-cliff hanger of a final scene. I wish Park had at least spread it out into one more book and given the reader just a little more confirmed resolution on the fates of the characters and society we've come to know--and a little more time to come to terms with it all. Maybe I'm just sad 'cause I don't want it to be over....

Confusion aside, I'm unquestionably a fan. Perhaps if I could read the full nine volumes again in succession it would all fall into a more cohesive narrative and I'd be less foggy on the details. I'm all for open-ended conclusions that ask more than they answer, and the longer I ponder this one the more satisfied I am with it; but I'd be happier if I didn't have to put so much effort into accepting what little conclusion there is. That said, if Park gets another title published in English, you can be sure I'll be all over it. The man understands action and emotion, place and character. He's sucked me in once, and I don't see why he couldn't do it again. Good stuff.

Shaman Warrior: Volume 8

by Joong-Ki Park, 201 pages

Yaki and her companions fight individually and together against former allies and Kugai's shaman hunters. Together, they stand a chance. But what happens when they are all split up?

There's only one volume of this Korean series left and I don't know how Park can manage to resolve everybody's problems and leave them safe and happy in a single book. Actually, I don't think he can resolve everybody's problems and leave them safe and happy no matter how many books he has left. But it's so good, I want to see what he does with it, regardless.

Shaman Warrior: Volume 7

by Joong-Ki Park, 199 pages

The Manutu assassination plot against the Kugai does not fare well, though Yaki, Batu, and the others don't let the enemy off lightly. But sadly, not all of their small group walk away, either. In retaliation, the Kugai start beefing up their recruitment efforts, and one of their new faces is not so new to the reader, though he's changed much since last we saw him. What's next for the beaten rebels and the long-suffering people for whom they fight?

Owy, owy, owy. This volume hurts. Not just for those we lose, but for those we meet again who are lost in an all together different way. Communication needs to happen soon, or an already tragic story will only get worse. If it makes me care this much, I must like it; but that doesn't mean I'll be happy if all goes as badly as it could. Great fighting action and powerful, sometimes painful, images. This is one series where I wish they had the time and money to color it, because the full-color covers and occasionally colored intro pages are just kewl.

Shaman Warrior: Volume 6

by Joong-Ki Park, 198 pages

When his master, the incomparable shaman warrior Yarong, is betrayed and killed by the General (Yarong's own trusted superior), Batu swears vengeance. But he's also made a promise to the fallen Yarong--to protect his infant daughter from the newly adopted genocidal policy of the Kugai clan who once employed him.

Yaki has run off from the brutal Butcher Camp where she was raised--and toughened and indirectly protected--and has rejoined her guardian Batu, eagerly agreeing to aid him in his co-plot with the Manutu clan to assassinate the General and his right-hand man, Yuda, the one who dealt the death blow to her father years ago. But will Batu and Yaki and their fellow conspirators survive yet another betrayal from within?

The politics in this manhwa (Korean manga) series are a little hard to follow, but the characters are intriguing and the art is all detailed, well-choreographed action. It was sweet and sad to see, via flashback, how Batu and Yarong met and became friends, and it's good to see various characters from previous volumes all coming together again. But I'm still worried for Nejo, Yaki's closest friend from the Butcher Camp, whom we don't get any updates on at all in this installment. They were separated last volume, neither aware of the other's situation, and I worry for his safety and their naive dream of a quiet future. And now one of the Manutu's own is a spy for the Kugai? What's going to happen next?!