katharine_opal's reviews
482 reviews

Suitor Armor: Volume 3 by Purpah

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This volume starts to get a bit more into the larger world and this story's history and I'm so excited for it! I had assumed it would be a simpler more whimsical story, but it clearly is aiming to get darker as it goes along. This story holds no punches when it comes to its darker elements. It also appears that there will be political intrigue, which I am very excited for. I cannot wait to see where this story goes from here!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
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Dra-Q 1 by Chiyo

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funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

2.5
This story is insanely fast-paced, much to its disadvantage. It hits every plot point it wants to but takes all of the substance out of the story. I find myself not caring about anything that's going on or any of the characters because you never get a second to breathe and learn about the characters or events. I did find the five rules of staying hidden as a vampire in the mortal realm to be interesting, in a cute way. Weirdly though, it reminded me a lot of Chibi Vampire. I'm not really sure why, the premise isn't the same aside from "vampire teenage girl tries to live in the human world and falls in love with a human boy". The art was technically good, but also somehow had no flavor. This just did nothing for me. It's not technically bad per say, it's just bland.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
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Indigo by Chi-Ho Kwong

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

First thing, I realized the copy that I was sent was formatted backward. You have to start at the "last" page and swipe backward, but you're actually starting at the beginning and going "forwards". This story had some potential, but it was overall a confusing mess. Ella apparently has the ability to hear others' thoughts, but you only see her use this power maybe once or twice and for non-persons. This story focuses on making several urban legends be true but handles it in such a harebrained way. I also REALLY didn't like that they made Indigo children an actual thing. The story even mentioned in a single line, that Indigo children could just be Autistic. In reality, a lot of "Indigo Child" and "Starseed" kids are just neurodivergent children whose parents would rather think their children are aliens than admit they're Autistic, ADHD, or AuDHD. It's honestly a stupid conspiracy theory that has led to a lot of harm to neurodivergent children. The rest of the story is alright? It goes so quickly, you're left spinning and never fully understanding. I did actually like the art, the art style is very pretty.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
Semantic Error, Vol. 1 by Angy, Soori Jeo

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fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Sadly, this story flopped for me. The entire premise of the primary conflict is honestly very stupid. The members of a group project slack off and contribute nothing, so Sangwoo Choo leaves their names out. He gets all of the grief for being "heartless" because they automatically failed due to nonparticipation. Jaeyoung Jang, a senior whose complete non-attendance of the class gets discovered because of this, hates Sangwoo. But...I really do not get why it's treated as if Sangwoo is the one in the wrong? He wasn't. His classmates did not contribute to the project, so they failed. Maybe there's some other Korean etiquette thing I'm missing, but from my view, Sangwoo didn't do anything wrong. Sure, he's very uptight and rigid in his routine, but he wasn't wrong to leave off their names. But because Jaeyoung is forced to retake the semester, as he doesn't have enough credits to graduate, he decides to make Sangwoo's life on campus hell. Except...Jaeyoung is wrong for this??? He's harassing someone when HE is at fault for never attending class and never contributing to the project. The story is trying to play this as an enemies-to-lovers story, but this is just one guy being a dick cause he got caught slacking. I don't know, this story just irritates me because it acts as if Sangwoo is in the wrong and is the bad guy who calling out his classmates. But, you don't do the work, you don't get the credit. The art is good, I did enjoy that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
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Men of the Harem, Vol. 1 by Alphatart

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This story is honestly pretty interesting, with plenty of room for political intrigue. However, the pace of this volume is all over the place, with multiple large timeslips. I understand that the story is trying to get to the premise of the larger story quickly, but it barely lays the groundwork. She's Emporer in a flash and the barest bones reason why she's constantly trying to get back at fellow Emporer who spurned her love for a political marriage. I'm honestly more curious about the potential political moves the consorts will be making in the future. I hope after this first volume the pace will smooth out and we will finally get some juicy bits. I do really like the art, though some panels are a little off with how hard it leans on 3D assets. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
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The Person I Loved Asked Me to Die in My Sister's Stead: Volume 1 by Mizuki Nagano

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Ended up liking it a bit more than I thought! I thought this was going to be one of those "Turn back time" or "Reincarnated into my younger self" type of stories, but it's very much not! The plot pacing it a little rough at points, but it appears like it's trying to do the entire series set-up in a single volume. The magic system for this story is actually pretty interesting! I don't think I've seen a magic system like it before, which instantly makes me want to read more about it. The art is gorgeous, I love how pretty everything is.
The Ayakashi Hunter's Tainted Bride 1 by Midori Yuma

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I wanted to like this story so much more, but it sadly falls into the "This is an okay story" category for me. The female lead Nanao, is a woman who has a large amount of dark spiritual energy, but after an incident, becomes tainted by a yokai and is shunned by the rest of her family. After a fateful run-in with Yako, she is whisked away to be his bride. Unfortunately, this story has so many tropes shoved into it, that I struggled to take it seriously. The start was honestly interesting, I was curious about Nanao's "immersive dark spiritual powers" but it feels like it's barely touched on, except for some brief mentions. The art was very pretty. I don't know what it is, but something about this just didn't hit for me, which sucks cause I thought I'd love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
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Love on the Horizon 1 by Machi Yamashita

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was a very simple story, with a cute but simple concept. A pair of next door neighbors slowly fall in love with one another before getting together. There is also the entire thing of Nagi sleeping in the same bed with Yu while Yu is passed out drunk, and Nagi sneaking out before Yu ever wakes up which is...odd. But it's played as a cute romantic thing but I still think that's kind of weirdo behavior. There's also just nothing really to this story. It moves from pining to romance a bit too quickly for my taste. I just like a little bit more substance to characters or at least some more building of a relationship before it jumps to being in a committed relationship with [spice] scenes. The art was beautiful, and I did enjoy the character designs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review
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String #1 by Paul Tobin

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

There were many things that I liked about this graphic novel. Yoon-Sook Namgung is a young Korean American woman with the ability to see "Strings". No, not the Red string of fate, but the Blue strings that show sexual partners and Black strings that show death. This concept was honestly a really interesting, and very cool play on the common "Red String of Fate" story trope. I also enjoyed the other characters, they were all fairly well-rounded and felt very real. However, the pacing is all over the place in this comic. Some scenes are just characters walking and talking, and my God there is just so much dialogue and the scenes just drag. The action scenes are intense, but always pretty short. The way events unfold in this story doesn't feel smooth at all. It's just "lots of talking then suddenly OMG THIS IS HAPPENING then oh well that's over". I think if the pacing was better this would have gotten a much better rating from me. I do have to say, I absolutely love the art style! The character designs, and the locations, all look so pretty in this art style.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
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I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 Reading this made me feel a lot like how I felt when I read 2001 A Space Odyssey. Endlessly perplexed, but driven to keep reading because I just wanted to understand. I didn't understand everything, but I think I understood something by the very end.

The way this is written is like a stream of consciousnesses, but it works oddly well. I never found myself bored and managed to sprint through the book in only a few days. This book is very bleak, but it never pretends that it's not. No one knows why there are 39 women locked away in a cage, and you won't know either. 
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