Manga: Hitorijime My Hero 7

Hitorijime My Hero Vol 7 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Masahiro Setagawa doesn't believe in heroes, but wishes he could: he's found himself in a gang of small-time street bullies who use him to run errands. But when high school teacher (and scourge of the streets) Kousuke Ohshiba comes to his rescue, he finds he may need to start believing after all... and as their relationship deepens, he realises a hero might be just what he was looking for this whole time.

Kensuke and Hasekura have a few problems to work out that have been a long time brewing and came to a head in volume 6. In volume 7, it's time to conclude working them out! I liked that there's still more development to their relationship and it hasn't just stalled and faded into the background in favour of the main couple. We even get a smidge more background on Hasekura as well as a little more depth to how he and Kensuke first became friends and bonded! 

Meanwhile, Masahiro and Kousuke are working on moving in together and actively looking for apartments. However, Kaide sensei might potentially throw a spanner in the works as she saw something at the service station but it could all just be a misunderstanding. It certainly seems like we're heading for a little bit of potential angst or drama thanks to this, although there's a hint of Kaide's own 'scandal' that could prove to be interesting. I'm wondering if I might be on to what it is, but I'll have to wait and see! 

I'm going to be honest, I kind of felt like this volume jumped around a lot. Particularly when it came to time, though there was only one clear flashback. I did get a little bit mixed up as to what was happening and when, although I did like finally getting to find out about Kensuke and Kousuke's father. 

I think that while there's some resolution for Kensuke and Hasekura, there wasn't much progression when it came to the plot overall in this volume, or when it came to Masahiro and Kousuke's relationship though there is a possible set up for some potential trouble coming in the future. 

Review: Incendiary

Incendiary 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

I am Renata Convida.
I have lived a hundred stolen lives.
Now I live my own.

Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King's Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata's ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King's Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.

Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred--or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned "hollow" during her time in the palace.

When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez's top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.

But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom--and end the war that has cost her everything. 

Incendiary starts us off with an intriguing opening that provides threads of the world we're embarking into and leaves you with plenty of questions. We're in the middle of a rebellion that's been brewing for a long time and the history to the world and this rebellion is woven into the opening chapters, along with the mythology and lore of the Moria's magic. 

I have to say, Ren was such an interesting MC to me, not only because she has no memory of her past but also because it's kind of refreshing to have an MC that's got this super rare power and first of all, there's consequences to using it. Her power is different to the others in that she gets scars on her hands in exchange for using it and if she takes too many memories she leaves a Hollow behind. Second, she's not viewed as the 'chosen one' which happens in quite a few books from this genre. Instead she's viewed with suspicion, called a traitor and treated quite badly because of it. I was kind of half waiting for her to go down the villain route and I genuinely would not have blamed her one bit if she had.  I just enjoyed her character, she's a badass, she's fighting against other people's image of her and coming to terms with herself and who she is. 

When it comes to the rest of Ren's group, only Dez and Sayida treated her as normal, but it made for an interesting dynamic to have Margo and Esteban be so hostile towards her. I loved the pay off towards the end of the book when Esteban had warmed up to her, though I'd expected more from Margo. I was surprised at her character and a little disappointed. I felt like her reason for disliking Ren so much wasn't particularly strong as she didn't exactly make the effort to befriend Ren either. 

I have to mention Leo as well, I really liked his character and he was quite the source of mystery and debate as I was reading and trying to figure out if he could or couldn't be trusted, or if he was a spy or not. Lady Nuria was also a pleasant surprise, and I liked her immediately. I would have just liked to see more of the two of them, particularly Nuria but I hope for that in the next book! Castian was also quite the surprise. I was torn for most of the book between disliking him but also having a strong inkling that he was going to be the love interest and trying to figure out how that would be possible. I wasn't quite sure what to make of him and my opinion on him kept changing thanks to all the pieces of memory that Ren discovered. Eventually though, I had to admit he was going to be on of my little misunderstood cinnamon rolls. 

The romance aspect is quite interesting to me, because there's very little of it. It's sprinkled in at the beginning and I'm not quite used to having a relationship already established and then of course some things happen and the romance is pretty much non-existent as we focus on the story. What does intrigue me is where it's going to go in the next book. I'm envisioning a love triangle and I'm curious as to how it's going to play out. 

I'm going to be honest, I was living for the world that was being built. It's Inquisition era Spain and I really enjoyed the world building and the magic system. I thought it was nicely crafted with the backstory to the Kingdom and the rebellion and it was very realistic that Memoria had been wiped out and their traditions and beliefs changed and twisted. The Kingdom of Puerto Leones is definitely out to conquer and colonise as much as it can and there's a long road ahead to take them down. There was so much tension and danger in the first few chapters I couldn't help but be drawn in and I was ready for things to get going...except they already were so I was curious what the story was going to do when the rebellion was already in full swing. I also had a very big sense of unease as I read certain scenes with certain characters. I shipped two characters, I thought they were cute but I had such an awful feeling and then the big twist happened and everything I thought this book was going to be was turned on its head. 

There are so many stunning plot twists to this novel. There are ones that you kind of have an inkling about from the way things are going but you're like 'oh no, the author wouldn't do tha-never mind'. Then there are the ones that are subtly crafted and creep up on you, so you start to get a creeping suspicion about something and then you get hit with the realisation as you put the pieces together right before the reveal and you have to take a minute to process everything and order your thoughts. We have all the exact same information as Ren does, and we find out bits and pieces at the same time as she does, it's just a case of which of us can put it together first. 

I have to be honest, I did find things to be a bit slow in places and the twists did seem to be timed to counter that and could be seen to be a bit overdone in that sense, though I did enjoy them. Particularly towards the end, my attention was fully engaged with the book and I found it harder and harder to put it down. Incendiary is quite trope-y in that it uses a lot of tropes we're all familiar with and have seen many times in this particular genre, I do feel like it brings something a little different with Ren and the consequence to her power as well as the way she isn't front and centre leading the rebellion. 

There are intriguing characters, some more fleshed out than others, the world was interesting and I enjoyed the world building even if I felt it could have been a little bit richer in places. For the most part, I had a really good time reading this, particularly as the story picked up pace in the latter half of the book and I'm definitely going to need to get my hands on the sequel to find out what happens next! Not to mention how Ren's power may or may not develop based on something we caught a little glimpse of in this book! 

Manga: The Heroic Legend of Arslan 12

The Heroic Legend of Arslan Vol 12
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Arslan is the teenage prince of the ancient kingdom of Pars, who doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a great ruler like his father. A fateful encounter with a slave from the neighbouring country of Lusitania leads Arslan to question the world outside of the royal capital's walls, but before he can indulge his curiosity, war breaks out. Arslan is rushed off to his first war, only to see his kingdom crumble in front of his eyes. This series of events leads the young Arslan on a journey to reclaim his lost kingdom.

Okay, there's quite a lot of interesting developments this volume! Hilmes is doing some quite tense manoeuvring when it comes to his position with the Lusitanian's and there's also a hunt for a treasured sword that is allegedly the rightful sword of the King of Pars. This quest will be quite familiar to readers who have watched the anime! Meanwhile we have Guiscard scheming for his own position and I can't exactly blame him, his brother is kind of useless. 

Then there's shady sorcerer guy who only gets more shady in this volume. Andragoras has a very interesting role to play in this volume, and if you've watched the anime you'll know exactly what's coming with him, though this volume does plenty to instil a sense of foreboding. I would say, in terms of the anime, we're fast approaching the second season. 

As for Arslan and co, they are on the move once again with survivors in tow which means Etoile has some time to acquaint herself with our crew. The banter between all of them and her attitude were amusing, but I also so badly want her to thaw towards them and join the crew officially already! 

But that's not all this volume, there's also Merlain (Alfareid's brother) who is on the move himself as he escorts the princess to Hilmes. Like I said...there's a lot going on and we see pretty much all of our main characters. 

What's particularly interesting about this volume is Tahamenay. She's been quite quiet this series, but in this volume she finally speaks up. Her wording, particularly when referring to her child, brings up an interesting point of intrigue. Especially after what we've seen of how she treats Arslan and what she knows. If my suspicions are right, there could be quite a plot twist in store. 

Of course, this is all quite calm and leisurely as our characters move around the board and we have a smooth passing of time. But it's not long before danger looms again in the form of the Turanian army, which also heralds the arrival of a familiar face...I'm sure you can tell who it is from the cover of this volume! 

I was more than happy to see Kubard come back into play, I actually quite like his character and I've been waiting for him to join Team Arslan! I also really enjoyed that Farangis got a little bit of the spotlight in this volume as she gets to lead an attack of her own and team up with Kubard. 

While there's a little of Arslan, it's nice to see other characters take more of a role in this volume. Farangis and Kubard in particular! The plot moves smoothly on, driving forward and I'm a big fan of the transitions and how the passing of time is handled in this series. While not quite as action heavy as previous volumes, characters are moving across the board and it seems that Arslan has a new ally on his side. 

Volume 12 leaves us on a nice little cliffhanger which wouldn't be quite so bad if we didn't have to wait so long for the next volume! My one and only disappointment with this volume is the lack of Gieve, I have to be honest! 

Manga: Eden's Zero 7

Eden's Zero Vol 7 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

A young boy gazes up at the sky and sees a streaming bolt of light. The friendly, armour-clad being at his side tells him gently, 'That's a dragon.' The fact that he's joking isn't important. What's important is the look of wonder on the boy's face... and the galaxy-spanning adventure that's about to take place! 

Volume 7 finds the crew in search of Valkyrie, however they soon stumble across a seemingly peaceful planet that's under the tyrannical reign of Madame Kurenai. Shiki and Homura soon become separated and relegated to the labour district in order to mine 100,000 metals before they can be free. It's not the kind of mining that you might be thinking of though. 

In an original twist there's creatures that carry metal and they must be defeated to obtain or rather 'mine' it. While they deal with Madame Kurenai's minions there, the lady herself is seeking the Eden's Zero. We also make the discovery of a weakness to the ether gear, which I personally thought was an interesting development and makes it seem less over powered. 

Meanwhile, Rebecca has been separated from them and is unable to make contact with the others remaining on the Eden's Zero. She does run into Labilia though and I think I dislike this character more and more every time I see her. It was kind of heartwarming for her to offer to help Rebecca and to help her become a better B-Cuber in the process, but there was a little twist that I really shouldn't have been surprised by. However, we do get to meet another B-Cuber called Nino. I spent a lot of this volume trying to decide whether or not I trusted him! 

Volume 7 moves along smoothly from point to point with its usual mix of action and intrigue, plus a really big monster to fight! There's also two really great plot twists to look out for in this one, one of which throws quite a spanner in the works for our crew and their mission and I'm curious as to where they're going to go from here! 

Review: Aurora Burning

Aurora Burning 
Rating: 4/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

First, the bad news: an ancient evil—you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal—is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.

Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favorite faces.

And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri.

Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.

When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it’s time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago, the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them. But time is short, and if Auri can’t learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.

Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits, and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion’s most unforgettable heroes—and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well. 

Aurora Rising was a nice little surprise for me, I'd been sent an ARC by the publisher and even though Sci-Fi isn't my usual thing I fancied picking it up and giving it a shot. I ended up really enjoying myself reading it and highly anticipating the sequel, Aurora Burning. In fact I was kind of procrastinating from reading Aurora Burning because I was so excited for it and knew I'd binge through it in no time! 

Aurora Burning follows much the same kind of formula as the first book. There's a nice action packed opening before the whole Kuzco 'yeah that's me' kind of thing like I mentioned in my review of Aurora Rising. I do love how it's addressed and acknowledged in the narrative so I'll give it a pass for being kind of, exactly the same. There's also the multiple POV's, the slices of information on the world although from what I could tell a lot of them were the same as from the previous book but don't quote me on that because I'm not 100% sure as I didn't have time for a re-read! I just got that eery sense that I'd already read them. The humour and snark of the previous book is also present in abundance throughout Aurora Burning, as is the action scenes, fast pace and slight ridiculousness that sometimes pops up. 

However, this time around I feel like we get a lot more emotion than there was in the previous book, to go with the new characters that we're introduced to and we finally get some more background and insight into the characters. Zila in particular was much appreciated by me as I kind of always forgot she was there in the previous book and I felt like out of all the characters we got to know her the least. With the absence of one character, Zila certainly takes the spotlight a lot more in this book. Not only do we come to understand her thanks to a very cleverly written chapter, but she also has a lot more to do in this book! Before she kind of felt like an additional crew member to bulk out numbers and I couldn't quite figure out what her purpose was so I was excited to see her take on more of a role and learn more about her. It was also nice to see her relaxing and becoming more comfortable with the others! 

As you'd expect from the cover of Aurora Burning, our cover man Kal takes more of a focus in this book. I felt like we saw a lot less of Tyler than we did in the previous book and all eyes were on Kal as we went deeper into his character's background and there were some brilliant twists with him that I usually figured out about 2 seconds before the reveal! I also loved getting a deeper look at the Syldrathi and the split between them with the Unbroken opposing pretty much everyone. 

Aurora Burning picks up smoothly from where we left off with a burst of action to pull you in as we get to grips with the current situation our crew have found themselves in. Once again, I liked that we didn't hang around and jumped straight into things. Quickly being introduced to the 8476343 problems they have to face. One of which is new character Saedii who's badass, a little bit scary and yet still kind of awesome. 

I have to say, Finian further cemented his place as my favourite character in this entire series! I love he and his narrative and I loved getting to see one of my ships develop further in this book. I feel like Finian had more depth in this book, as did Scarlett actually! The two of them really remind me of my Teen Wolf OTP Stydia! Speaking of OTP's, I feel like Saedii and Tyler are going to become a thing next book and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I've been holding out hope for Cat and that hope hasn't entirely died so I'm not sure if I can get behind Tyler X Saedii. 

I have to say, Kal was my biggest disappointment in this book. He was super intriguing in the first book with his 'enemy within' and that internal struggle and then we get plenty more intriguing information about him in this book...but somehow he ended up just being relegated to being the love interest. He stopped being a character all of his own and really just became like one entity with Aurora and I felt like the entire point of him this book was to be Aurora's love interest. It was really disappointing and I felt like his potential was never really explored which made the ending all the more frustrating. 

On the subject of Aurora and Kal, I never fully got on board with their romance in the first book, it seemed very insta-love and didn't have much depth to it but I figured it would be expanded upon in this book. However, there's a little plot device in this book that allows months to pass for the two of them in the blink of an eye and I was side-eyeing it immensely. It sped up the romance but I still didn't fully buy it because we didn't get to see a lot of it and it seemed like it was there to make things more wrenching and emotional towards the end but it just...fell a little flat to be honest. 

There are still some plot twists that are pulled out to surprise you that leave you gasping and ramp up towards the end fantastically. I also particularly thought that the final chapter was clever as we snap quickly between POVs and it added to the building rhythm of the finale, keeping you speeding towards the end and amping up the tension before the absolutely horrific cliffhanger ending. Was that really necessary!? 

I can't say whether I enjoyed this more than Aurora Rising, I think I might have enjoyed the previous book a little bit more. Aurora Burning is much like Aurora Rising in that it isn't entirely perfect, there are a few things that niggled at me, but it was still a fast and enjoyable read that you could have fun reading! I look forward to having that cliffhanger resolved in the next book and I'm once again, probably foolishly, holding out hope for a certain character! Although I think I've now finally lost hope for Cat.  

Manga: Noragami 21

Noragami Vol 21 
Rating: 5/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Yato is a homeless god. He doesn't even have a shrine, let alone any worshippers! So, to achieve his ambitious goals, he's set up a service to help those in need (for a small fee of course). He hopes that one day he'll be able to build the temple he feels he deserves, but for now he can't be picky about the jobs that he chooses to accept. From finding lost kittens to overcoming school bullies, Yato is divinely intervening all over the place! 

While Yukine is busy harbouring the stray who promptly disappears, Hyori is getting used to regular life without he and Yato. Speaking of Yato, he's gone off with Kazuma to train and hunt Ayakashi although it soon becomes clear that the two of them really need to work on getting more in sync with each other. Yukine needs to hunt down the stray but while doing so he ends up encountering Yato's father whom we all know and hate, and as soon as he said that there's a way out of Yomi my first thought was, 'here we go. What could possibly go wrong with this knowledge?'. 

Yato's father provides plenty of interesting information in this volume. There's a glimpse of how he came to be and some ominous notes when he mentions the stray's death which kind of has me curious, because there's clearly some history there. However, there's quite a development when it comes to Yukine as he starts to wonder how he died and it definitely provides a sense of impending doom when paired with everything we learn this volume. 

This volume largely spends its time building up for the next showdown and adding in a few little plot twists with Yukine and then with Hiyori and her lifeline, while also having Yato and Kazuma preparing for the next step. The Gods are all plotting together to help Yukine and go after the Crafter although the mention of 'God hunting' is ominous and had me on edge. Much as I love and feel for Yukine, I'm back in the 'wanting to shake him' place. 

Volume 21 is another solid volume, moving the plot along and keeping the readers interest through to the end. While serving to continue to set up and move the characters where they need to be for coming volumes and events, it also provides more intrigue and ends on a super ominous note that leaves you desperate for the next volume!