Blogs

If you’ve ever struggled with the age-old question, “Are you a cat person or a dog person?”, then this week’s manga pick is for you. This is an autobiographical manga all about the author’s day to day life with their dog named Inu, or Mr. Dog, and their cat Neko, otherwise known as Lord Cat, respectively.

This week I want to recommend a newer title, The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be-Wife! It’s an adorably sweet workplace rom-com that takes place in a fantasy world that isn’t all that much different from our own.

In this week’s manga pick, dinosaurs were once discovered to have survived extinction on a remote island. And with the success of genetic engineering and breeding, the world was sent into a dino-mania, creating a huge demand for dinosaur theme parks. However, since the occurrence of a mysterious incident, the popularity of dinosaurs has been in a decline, leaving sanctuaries such as Dinoland struggling to stay open. The story follows Suzume, a plucky and passionate rookie dino-keeper, as she tries to save Dinoland and its prehistoric residents from extinction.

Blood Debts is an ambitious debut that exceeded my expectations. I didn't go into this book expecting to be as blown away as I was, much less to experience one of the most well-written debuts I've ever read.

This book has a lot to accomplish as the first part of a planned series, especially as a book that feels like high fantasy in a contemporary setting (al la Game of Thrones) -- and I think it does so expertly while doing the unexpected. We have multiple POVs, but the characters are so distinct that it's easy to tell them apart. We see a shift from first to third person with some POVs, but it makes sense and fits with the narrative being told to us. In other books where this might be jarring, it felt natural to me, while expanding the book's world.