The Guin Saga Manga: The Seven Magi, Volume 2 by Kaoru Kurimoto, illustrated by Kazuaki Yanagisawa
Vertical, $7.99, 168pp, tp, 9781934287071. Fantasy graphic novel.
(See our our review of Volume 1.)
This is quite definitely the middle book of a trilogy: the story doesn’t end, and I want to know what’s happening. We meet more characters, more potential villains, and have more action. Unfortunately, in addition to suffering from book-two-itis, this one also suffers from even more disjointedness than did volume 1: the story jumps back and forth between Guin’s quest and Sylvia in the palace, with apparently side jaunts into flashback that don’t last very long. I had a little trouble following the story (the disconnection when jumping between universes was fine, but the storyline itself was more of a story-tangle).
Once again, I absolutely love the art. And the realm of Baba Yaga is so startlingly different from the lands we’ve seen before that that is definitely not a one-trick pony.
Yeah, I’ll be tuning in to find out what happens in volume three. But at the moment, I might urge you to wait until you’ve got all three, and then read the story straight through—that may help clear up some of my difficulties with it.