Black Bird: Volume 14

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 191 pages

The brothers battle it out as Misao tries to find a way to comfort where she can't fix things.  What kind of impression does Sho really want to leave when he's gone?

A side story gives us the background on how Sagami (a daitengu, and Hoki's older brother) and Ayame met and fell in love.

I like Sho much more now that he's moody and suffering than I did when he was moody and power-hungry.  And that makes his involuntary resurrection and ultimately voluntary fate that much sadder.  *sigh*  The willingness to occasionally thoughtfully delve into non-romantic seriousness is one of the reasons I stuck with this series when the lead couple's respectively wussy and selfish personalities would otherwise have convinced me to drop it.  Thankfully, they've both grown a bit along the way, which makes reading about their trials and tribulations less eye-roll-inducing.

Black Bird: Volume 13

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 192 pages

Hoki, a young member of Kyo's daitengu guard who betrayed his master in order to save one of their own, prepares to accept his fate behind enemy lines.  But his master may have other ideas.
Sho's second life is painful and empty and the only thing that might keep him in it is the one person who's ever shed tears for him--his brother's gentle-hearted wife.  But conflict can only be put off for so long, and he and Kyo begin a final battle that will only end when one of them is dead.

Misao's random teleportation of sorts (it has to do with the out-of-control wards they originally used to protect their domains) right into Sho's hideaway at a moment of weakness for him is certainly convenient, but I guess the author thought that was the easiest way to get him and Misao in a place where they could talk things out without Kyo around to get all bent out of shape about it.  The result is even more sympathy for secretive Sho, as well as a little more approbation of once hot-headed Kyo, who has been gradually more reasonable and understanding the last few volumes.

Black Bird: Volume 12

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 192 pages

Sho goes after Kyo by going after members of his close-knit personal guard, the daitengu.  But he doesn't take into account that even the weakest links in a very strong chain are still tough to break.

I like that Kyo and Misao's relationship is pretty solid now.  Getting married has in no way derailed or deflated the story.  Actually, resolving the angsty romantic melodrama has only made their relationship and the broader story of clan bonds and tensions that much better.  I still think Misao's a wimpy thing, but she's getting tougher incrementally, which is an improvement.  She cries and worries about it every time, but at least she moves and is able to make the occasional independent decision now.

Black Bird: Volume 11

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 190 pages

Sho's attendant Kaede helps him foment discord in the clan by encouraging villagers to ask for (or try to forcefully take) Misao's healing blood.  To shake things up even more, Sho offers to undo the block he put on Misao's memories ten years ago.  Could the truth change her relationship with Kyo?

I like the fact that Sho's not exactly voluntarily the villain anymore (he was quite content to stay dead after saving Misao's life a few volumes back, but one of his followers decided they still needed him).  But now that he's back, he feels he has no other purpose, even if his heart's not in it.  That Kaede, on the other hand, is an unpleasant, jealous young woman lacking in the empathy department.

Tenken

by Yumiko Shirai, 327 pages

As the Tenken festival approaches, a construction manager learns its origins are not as fanciful, or as innocuous, as people believe and resolves to help a young worker escape her potentially tragic fate.

For more details, please see my full review at NoFlyingNoTights.com!

Supernaturally

by Kiersten White
342 pages

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees. But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself. So much for normal.


A bleeping fantastical sequel!

Paranormalcy

by Kiersten White
335 pages

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only one who can see through glamours. But now Evie’s dreams are filled with haunting voices and cryptic messages—and she’s realizing that she may be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. So much for normal.

This book was. Bleeping. Hysterical. I loved it!

Girl of Fire and Thorns

by Carson Rae
423 pages

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can’t see how she ever will.
Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.
And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.
Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young. Most of the chosen do.

I read through several raving reviews of this book before reading it and now, after reading it, I completely agree with all of them. A transformation story that, along with the character, starts out slow, but turns into a fast-moving read till the end. There was a shocking twist at the end, but I still refuse to believe it and am waiting to see what happens in the sequel.

Black Bird: Volume 10

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 189 pages

Kyo's long-disappeared father suddenly returns as Kyo and his followers worry over clan tensions and suspicions of a spy in their home village. Will father and son be able to mend their relationship before circumstances drag them even further into intrigue and danger?

I grumble about this all the time here, but Misao's got about as much personality as a sack of potatoes. She's always in awe of her sweetheart and down on her own usefulness (self-fulfilling prophecy?). At least in this volume she determines to learn the truth about Kyo's dad's disappearance and the death of his mother so she can fill in that knowledge gap for her too-proud-to-ask-about-it husband. Not that she has to pull teeth to get it, as her father-in-law pretty much volunteers the information without her having to ask. Kyo tells her she's strong in a different way than he is, but as the reader I just don't see it (unless you count the prodigious passivity as a strength).

Black Bird: Volume 9

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 192 pages

Kyo and Misao may have overcome one hurdle to happiness, but the emotional and political drama continues as it becomes clear that a spy is passing information to rival clans. Misao may be Kyo's, body and soul, but she won't be safe as long as their enemies still think they can use her.

The inter-clan intrigue and Kyo's more open emotions regarding Misao help bring this series back from the brink of the eye-roll-of-doom cliff for me, though it's still fluffy melodrama and Misao's still a frustratingly passive heroine. The lengthy side story about the youngest members of Kyo's circle of loyal clansmen is sweet and goes a little way toward showing why he was chosen to be leader and why they're all so attached to him. In Misao's defense, it seems Kyo has a tendency to inspire unresisting devotion in most of his hangers-on, not just her.

Black Bird: Volume 8

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 190 pages

Crow-demon Kyo decides the only way to protect himself, and his future with human lover Misao, from dogged exorcist Raiko is to wipe the young man's childhood memories of the demon attack that scarred both his body and his psyche. Misao, hating the idea of manipulating someone else the way she once was by Kyo's scheming brother, nevertheless goes along with the plan, although she asks Kyo to try every diplomatic avenue possible first. She just has to convince Raiko to trust them to negotiate in good faith. But can she trust him?

I've the same problems with this volume as I've had all along. Misao is a personality-less non-entity who generally goes along with whatever her man says, believing wholeheartedly in the melodrama. Kyo is a possessive cold fish who doesn't seem to care all that much about anything, his own life included, despite his manly 'tude. At least in this volume he admits to himself that his instinct is to live, whatever the consequences. The romantic tension finally gets dealt with, but by this time the reader's interest has waned a bit and she just wants to know how it all plays out with the prophecies everyone's been fretting about since book one. I like the whole tengu angle, but I don't think it gets used to its full potential--although this volume does a little better with it than have others. And as nice as the art is, I think it doesn't quite work for this kind of fantasy melodrama and would be better suited for a more mundane, realistic story.

It only just occurred to me that Misao and Kyo are rather Bella- and Edward-like in their personalities and in their relationship to one another: she's a human, he's a dangerous creature with sharp pointy bits (talons in this case); she's weepy-spineless, he's moody-broody; she wants to take it to the next level, he won't out of concern for her. He's even got a close-knit "family" who begrudgingly takes her in even as it's under perpetual assault from rival clans wanting to move in on its territory. Maybe those similarities are one reason I get so annoyed with these books? And yet, as with Twilight, I read them anyway. *sigh*

Black Bird: Volume 7

by Kanoko Sakurakoji, 190 pages

Misao and Kyo are together but they aren't "together"--yet. Not that they wouldn't like to be. But there's the small matter of Kyo being a tengu, a type of winged demon, with some major clan responsibilities hanging over his head, and the fact that Misao is the prophesized "Senka Maiden" whom every other demon in the area would like to consume in order to gain immortality and the upper hand over their rivals. The couple have survived conspiracies from other demon clans and from Kyo's own brother, but now there's a new threat to their lives as well as their love: a very human yet powerful exorcist who believes all demons are evil things to be eliminated and whom Kyo cannot harm (due to his being a not-evil, though admittedly cranky and sadistic, demon).

This series is fun-ish, but it's rather light on the qualities that encourage real reader investment. Misao is a besotted weakling and almost completely dependent on the protection of her lover, Kyo, who is himself a bit too much the mean-and-detached-but-actually-nice-with-emphasis-on-the-detached romantic lead to be all together likeable. The will-they-or-won't-they tug of war is wearing a little thin by this volume, as well, but I don't think there's much left to the series, so they can't drag things out much further. There are moments when elements work really well--as when in an earlier volume Kyo unhappily executes another charismatic demon he knows will otherwise only attack his beloved again--but there aren't enough of them to make the whole consistently satisfying. I like the story concept just fine, but the end result is a little lackluster. Still, I'll be waiting to see how they overcome this latest, and very nearly last, obstacle to happily-ever-after (I'm assuming it's going in that direction, but I've been wrong before...).