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beneaththetangles · 1 year

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Reader’s Corner: Unnamed Memory, So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin, and Rainbow Days

Are you using the holidays to catch up? We’re doing a bit of the same here, with just a scattering of new entries this week and mostly reviews of other fairly recent releases. And here’s a tip: A number of our reviewed volumes this week are on sale! Click the images to follow our affiliate links to that big ol’ book (and everything else) retailer. Happy reading!

The Eminence in Shadow (Vol. 5) • The Executioner and Her Way of Life (Vol. 5) • Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc (Vol. 3) • Rainbow Days (Vol. 1) • So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? (Vol. 1) • Unnamed Memory (Vol. 1)

The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Light Novel Vol. 5

“Saving a friend is well worth destroying the world”—a complicated statement that is central to the theme of The Executioner and Her Way of Life (vol. 5), and to the entire story thus far. Through four volumes, Menou has struggled with her sense of duty and a growing heart for Akari, the otherworlder who is in love with her, but whom it is her job to kill. As volume five begins, Menou has embraced her friendship with the girl, and out of that love desires to kill her friend before she becomes a “human error,” an otherworlder who has lost all her memories and turned into a being with enough power to destroy a continent. But first, Menou must battle her old master, Flare, who has captured Akari. That fight, and many others, comprise the bulk of this volume, which reaches deeper into the relationships at the core of the series than in previous ones. This volume thus improves a light novel series that has been on a slow decline since its inception. While The Executioner and Her Way of Life has always excelled when it focuses on the action, making great use of its unique magic system and setting a tone that is often grave, there is a disconcerting trend that continues in volume five: characters never really die (or at least don’t stay dead). That device drains the series of much of its excitement. On the other hand, the total lack of chemistry between characters and flat relationship-building, while remaining in the first half of the book, starts to finally disappear near the climax of this volume. Yes, the characters remain obnoxious (Momo), boring (Menou), or both (Ashuna); but interesting reveals and serious character growth, which compliment the relationship development between characters, add a critical element that’s been missing for these many volumes. If Mato Sato can continue to improve his characterization while making deaths and injuries more permanent (people die if they are killed!), he may finally meet the promise of a series that started so strong. Volume five is the best the series has offered—and hopefully a harbinger of even greater (and more devastating) things to come. ~ @animepopheart

The Executioner and Her Way of Life is published by Yen Press.

READ: The Executioner and Her Way of Life (Light Novel) Reviews: Vol. 1 (full) // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4 (full)

So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin?, Manga Vol.1

Akira Yagami is a skilled office worker who goes the extra mile for everyone—from his slackadaisical intern, to the little boy about to be run over by Truck-kun. That’s how he ends up lying in a pool of his own blood on the asphalt making two final wishes: that he could have lived his full four-score years, and that he could have passed on the skills he’d acquired to his junior, who happened to be at the scene of the accident. Cosmic Google intercedes and locates a world where those two wishes can be granted! And before you know it, Akira is a goblin with the Unique Skill of Octogenarian. Which is a big deal since goblins only live for seven days. Akira’s management skills, strategic planning, and acquisition of many more skills, paired with his longevity, soon see him becoming the mayor of the goblins and venturing out into the wider world to negotiate deals with humans. The way he lays the foundation for an essentially feudal, trades-based society is interesting and, alongside the vibrant art, serves as the highlight of this introductory volume. So in answer to the title, well, Akira manages to avert the one thing that is wrong with getting reborn as a goblin—the hebdomadal death sentence (new word alert! that’s fancy for “week”). So nothing much is wrong there. But what about the volume itself? What is “wrong” with So What’s Wrong…? First off, the titular goblin is blue, whereas everyone knows goblins to be green. Translation error? Maybe. Second, every chapter reiterates at least a handful of times a) how virile goblins are and b) how cute humans find them to be. Ok, ok, so Akira’s goblin form is admittedly cute, but talk about heavy-handed foreshadowing here! A lengthy visit to a brothel confirms these suspicions, though the perviness of this sequence is mostly displaced onto an old man character rather than attributed to Akira himself. All in all, there wasn’t enough intrigue here to keep me hooked—but then, I’m not super into goblins, even if they are irresistibly cute. ~ claire

So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin? is published by Yen Press.

The Eminence in Shadow, Manga Vol. 5

Meanwhile, while sitting atop a “needlessly tall building in Midgar…” Yep, the humor has finally returned! After so much seriousness for the last volume and a half, The Eminence in Shadow manga wraps up its mini-arc involving Aurora the Calamity Witch and returns to what it does best (and what it does better than virtually every other isekai)—dwelling in humor and ramping up the laughs. To accomplish that, the story transitions from a surprisingly heartfelt conclusion for Aurora’s arc to the Bushin Festival (the second in the series so far, though who’s keeping count?), where Cid will enter disguised as a weak fighter to live out yet another manga trope. And in between, the manga addresses a weakness that apparently isn’t present in the original light novels: lack of character development for the Shadow Garden members. With that now covered, could this be the rare manga adaptation that surpasses the light novels? By maximizing the comedic potential and minimizing the less compelling parts of the story, I can’t see how the answer isn’t “Absolutely!”~ Twwk

The Eminence in Shadow is published by Yen Press.

READ: The Eminence in Shadow (Manga) Reviews: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2 // Vol. 3 // Vol. 4

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc, Manga Vol. 3

When given the task of writing an “interquel” between two anime (the original Puella Magi Madoka television series and the Rebellion Story movie) that are already complicated, and creating a new arc that makes some sense, it’s just natural that you end up with a tale that is itself overly complex. And unfortunately, that’s the case with Wraith Arc. After some pretty thrilling action in the first half featuring Mami and Kyoko fighting against wraiths that resemble them and their friends, as well as other powerful ones that are killing people, a long, soporific section explains what Homura has been feeling, why she’s forgotten so much, and what she ultimately decides to do in order to “protect” Madoka. Yawn. That said, this does feel like more than a simple cash grab. I do believe it’s canonical (help, Madokaverse fandom?) and has value as an explanation of what occurred between the two referenced works. It also features majestic art by Hanokage, who illustrated a number of the spin-off manga. The visuals are breathtaking and on-par with the anime series and movies. Many of the panels are beautiful pieces independent from their relation to the story, stunning additions to the PMMM franchise. And so I’m very glad to have looked at this volume and the previous two, though I think only the most dedicated fans will be glad to have actually read it. ~ @animepopheart

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc is published by Yen Press.

READ: Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc Reviews: Vol. 1 // Vol. 2

Rainbow Days, Manga Vol. 1

The best way to get over being dumped by your girlfriend on Christmas Eve is to fall in love with Santa. I’m serious. Especially when this Santa knows what you really want (tissues to dry those eyes) and she’s both beautiful and kind. Too bad that this Santa may or may not remember meeting you on the 24th (it was a busy night after all). Thus begins Natsuki’s journey toward confessing his love for Anna, who—whether by coincidence or fate—was passing out sample products on Christmas Eve, including right to the newly love-stricken boy. Though their burgeoning relationship is certainly cute, Rainbow Days works because of the friendship between Natsuki and his three guy friends, who are by varying degrees more “mature” than he is—which basically means they act more like typical teenage boys than the naive and sincere Natsuki does. Minami Nizuno does a fabulous job of keeping an innocent, cute, laugh-out-loud vibe while featuring teenagers who are thinking and often talking about adult topics. I laughed throughout and enjoyed the entirety of volume one, and was reminded why I similarly delighted in the anime version from several years ago, though the manga is more engaging than that adaptation. It’s a quicker, sharper romcom work. What this volume does less well, though, is presenting one character as gay while obviously meaning for that individual to go on a journey toward falling for someone of the opposite sex. This small side story (which will almost certainly grow in prominence in future volumes) didn’t necessarily bother me, but I imagine many will find it in poor taste if not outright offensive. That aside, the volume rings with charm, warmth, and a calming tone, and since I don’t remember the anime too well, I’m eager to “discover” how the stories between the boys and their matches work out. Oh, and extra points for a mangaka friend in the series referencing Oreimo, and then shortly afterward making his Valentine’s Day chocolate into the shape of a Gundam because his girlfriend “loves the principality of Geon.” What a nerdy, lovely good time! ~ @animepopheart

Rainbow Days is published by VIZ Media and releases on December 6th.

Unnamed Memory, Manga Vol. 1

It’s exceedingly rare for a manga to hit that apex of strong romance, humor, and fantasy adventure, but volume one of Unnamed Memory manages to do so. Adapted from the light novel series, the manga immediately captivates by creating a mysterious and ominous backstory focusing on five witches and setting the initial action in the tower where one dwells. But this where cuteness and romance develops, as the Witch of the Azure Moon is quite pretty and kind, and agrees to accompany a prince back to his kingdom, though he’s insistent on more than that, asking her to marry him! But before the romance goes full blown, a murder occurs during a festival, and the witch becomes the leading suspect. I don’t actually do justice to the tone of work through this summary, as its moves deftly between kawaiiness and macabre, and is able to do so successfully while pulling readers in through the charm of its leads. I’m very eager to continue the tale where it takes us—into legend, romance, or humor (and likely all of the above). ~ @animepopheart

Unnamed Memory is published by Yen Press.

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“Reader’s Corner” is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works they’re reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works, and those older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.

#Manga #Light Novels #The Executioner and Her Way of Life #Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road #So What’s Wrong with Getting Reborn as a Goblin?#Tensei Goblin Dakedo Shitsumon Aru?#The Eminence in Shadow #Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute!#Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc #Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Majuu hen #Rainbow Days #Nijiiro Days #Unnamed Memory #Reader's Corner #Articles #Author: TWWK #Author: claire

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physsting · 1 year

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A Cruel Prank

CW: Exposure, environmental whump, unnamed whumpee, whumpee death (fade to black, left ambiguous)

1k words, lemme know if anything else needs tagged! Written for @amonthofwhump 's March Whump-a-Thon!

Whumpee zipped up his pants and started the couple minute trek back to the campsite from the bathrooms. It was his first real camping trip -- the one night ones as a kid that ended with no fire and a lot of swearing didn't count -- and he was a little surprised at who he was taking it with. This group of kids practically ruled his college. Their parents bought the salaries for half the professors and skated through their classes with ease. Whumpee, well, he was on a scholarship he'd earned in Science Olympiads.

He really couldn't believe his luck. He'd come up to their table in the lunch hall expecting to be laughed off, and instead they'd invited him on a trip! Sure, it'd been a little awkward so far, they'd talked over him a lot, but he was certain things would turn around today.

The campsite was quiet when Whumpee returned. He'd left Friend making coffee on the fire, but now the fire was kicked out and Friend nowhere to be seen. No matter, she probably also ran to the bathroom. A different bathroom that the one he'd just been at. He looked around for the lighter but couldn't find it, and figured she must have set it in her tent to keep it dry. He'd simply wait next to the fire in his pajamas for her or someone to come out. Everything was normal.

"Hey, Whumpee! How's it going?" Friend laughed on the other line. Other laughing voices were quickly stifled in the background.

Several minutes later, Friend hadn't returned. No one in any of the other tents had stirred either. Whumpee had pulled out his phone and began playing games on it, not worrying about the battery. He wasn't a picture person anyway. It did allow him to count up the time. 10 minutes…then 20…then 30… and still no one had come.

Whumpee got up and circled the tents, looking inside for the outlines of sleeping forms. There weren't any. Whumpee's heart sank, memories of being left behind on field trips flooding his brain. He pulled out his phone again and dialed a number. It rang several times before someone picked up.

"Um, not great. Where are you guys?"

"Chill out dude! We just ran into town for a few things, we should be back in a couple hours."

"Hours?"

"You'll be fine! Get close to nature!" Friend laughed. Whumpee spluttered.

"You can't just leave me-"

"Woops, sorry, bad connection, gotta go!"

The phone clicked off. Whumpee stared down at it in his hand. He could yell. He could scream. He could drop kick it into the woods. Instead he tucked it into his pocket and went to get dressed.

The sun rose into the sky and there was no sign of Friend's Jeep. The area was remote, with no other campers nearby. Whumpee played on his phone until the battery reached 20%. He sighed and tucked it into his pocket. The chargers were all run off of the car's battery. He took a walk around the grounds of the campsite and eventually sat down to wait by the campfire again.

The sun began to travel down the sky and the temperature began to dip. Clouds formed, dark and angry. Whumpee hugged his coat around himself and pulled out his phone.

"Are you coming back yet?"

"Pssh, we're almost ready to head back, don't get your pants in a twist."

"Its getting cold up here, I think it might snow."

"It's not supposed to snow today, don't be a baby, Whumpee." Friend clicked off the line without saying goodbye and Whumpee stared angrily down at his phone again. 10%.

Despite the forecast not calling for snow, all of the others had taken their winter coats with them. The firestarter was in the back of the jeep with the wood. Whumpee sat down next to the dead fire and pulled his coat tighter around him. Big flakes of snow began to fall. Whumpee retreated inside his shitty $30 tent he'd bought just for the trip.

It was fine. It was fine. The others would be coming back soon, he'd be pissed at them, and they'd all go back home and he'd never talk to them again. No need to call anybody. He began to shiver and pulled out his phone again.

"Are you guys almost here?"

"No, we're still two hours out. The roads got real bad out of nowhere."

"Two hours? It's really cold up here!"

"We can't be there any faster, Whumpee!"

Whumpee clicked off the phone and nearly threw it in frustration. It was on 7%. He stared at it for a second, thumb nearly on the emergency dial button, before putting it away. Two hours wasn't a lot. It would suck, but he'd survive. No need to bother anyone from emergency services about a stupid, stupid prank.

A couple minutes later, Whumpee was shivering violently. His teeth were chattering. The tent was doing little to keep the wind out. His toes were long since numb in his sneakers and his fingers down to the second knuckle were going the same way. He pulled out his phone and hit the emergency dial button.

"Thank you for calling kssshhh what is the khsss of your emergency?" The operator chirped through a cloud of static. Whumpee cursed not getting the roaming package.

"I'm - I'm stuck on the mountain, my friends left me."

"Please rep - ksshh, you sai- ksssh- 're stuck?"

"Yes! Yes I'm on the mountain, I can't get down and its really cold!"

"Underst- ksssssh - we have - kssh - cation but - ksssh - take -kssssh- pter - kssh- hours to get - kssh- you."

"What?"

"It'll take - kssh - rs to get -kssssh, but hold - kssssssh - coming."

Whumpee's phone shut down. He stared at it for a several seconds before hurling it against the side of the tent. A couple hours either way. Whumpee started to panic. He'd never make it, he'd never make hours. Maybe the helicopter would be able to save him once they got here, but how specific was the location? How long would it take them to get him to a hospital? How long until he died?

His breaths came out in rapid huffs. He wanted to scream and cry and tear everything apart, his shitty tent with his two shitty blankets and his shitty coat and shitty phone that couldn't hold a goddamn charge. He unzipped the tent and dove outside.

He immediately regretted it, all of the warmth trapped by the tent immediately dissipated and the wind sapped all of the residual warmth from his core. He let out a guttural cry and went back inside the tent. It was freezing but at least it wasn't windy. He curled up and pulled the blanket tight over him, hoping for a swift rescue.

His shaking began to subside, which he hoped was a good sign but knew was bad. He was so tired. His head seemed magnetized to the ground, every push to get up met with an equal force pulling him down. He couldn't fall asleep. He knew people who fell asleep in the cold never woke up. But he was so tired.

Tears streaming silently down his cheeks, without even the energy to sob, he said his goodbyes to his family and finally slipped into the warm void of sleep.

A couple minutes later, the sound of helicopter blades beat against the sides of the mountains.

#whump #amow tropeathon 2023 #environmental #whump fic #whumpblr #whump writing #environmental whump #the roads got closed off which is why the friends couldn't get to him #storms happen fast in the mountains #my writing a cruel prank #somehow a tagging system will happen #my oc unnamed

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random-bookquotes · 1 year

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Some people had been waiting their whole lives to live lawlessly, and they were the first to take to the streets. Some people knew that would happen; they knew better than to open their doors when they heard cries of help. Others didn’t. What disease cannot do, people accomplish with astonishing ease.

Meg Elison, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (The Road to Nowhere, #1)

#Meg Elison #The Book of the Unnamed Midwife #The Road to Nowhere #disease #inhumane #post apocalypse

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lambdalibrary · 2 years

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The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Triggers

rape and sexual slavery, abuse, childhood sexual assault and child marriage, suicide, child death, homo/biphobia, a bit of transphobia, misogyny, religion, racism, a character is drugged against their will, and I honestly would kind of describe it as a small forcefem section at the ending?

Summary

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife is a post apocalyptic gendercide novel. An unknown virus killed almost all of humanity, where women and children had a higher fatality rate, leaving basically a ten to one ratio of men to women. Because this is a gendercide novel it explores ideas of gender and patriarchy in a world where society has completely collapsed, the triggers above should give you some information as to how those ideas are explored. Because of those triggers we see women in this novel deal with this danger in their own ways, with the protagonist dressing and acting as a man throughout the novel.

Specific to this novel though, is the topic of birth and pregnancy. Not only were women particularly effected by the virus, but the infant mortality rate increased to 100%. So, the titular unnamed midwife, while scavenging for supplies like any post apocalyptic protagonist also scavenges for methods of birth control and abortion. For obvious reasons, it's refreshing to see media treat birth control and abortion as lifesaving healthcare.

Links

Openlibrary link (audio book available)

Meg Elison's website featuring her other works

The YouTube video I heard about this book from, which includes other bisexual book recommendations if you'd like to check it out :)

Thoughts

So this is a book I really enjoyed but not for any of the reasons people will recommend this book. Except for maybe the approach to birth control and abortion I mentioned in the summary. What I liked is how granular the details about survival are, the day to day life after the apocalypse, which I thought was written really well. For me that's something that really pulls me into the world and the conflict, but I can definitely see that going the opposite way for others, in that it could be too slow or repetitive.

I also really liked the occasional changes in perspective. We as the reader, despite the framing device of the midwife's journal, aren't always in her head. We get snippets of writing from other characters who cross paths with the midwife and later find out how their stories ended after they left her, which expanded the plot and the rest of the world in a nice way. It allows us to see even more of the reactions to the collapse of society than we would otherwise get which is important when you're examining that as the central idea of your novel, especially in regards to how the collapse of society would affect women.

And here's where I'm going to get into the things I'm more ambivalent to negative about, which are also the reasons people will tell you to read this book and others like it.

Again this is a gendercide novel, where not only has society collapsed, it has collapsed and left more men than women. Without a coherent civilization, people are living solely to survive or solely for pleasure. But since this is a world where women are rare, violent misogyny has come out in full force. And I'm not sure how much I like this framework, which you see often in these novels, to analyze patriarchy and misogyny.

Two, caveats here: one, this is not me going #notallmen which will hopefully already come through if I phrase things the way I want them but I want to put that up front. Two, I don't really care about spoilers but the rest of the review will contain spoilers from here on out for those who do. I would recommend going in spoiler free but also it's impossible for me to analyze the things I want to without at least vaguely discussing middle portions of the novel.

Okay. So. When we talk about post apocalyptic novels, we're often dealing with authors saying intentionally or not, that this is what humans are like without society. Often, it's humans at their worst, desperate to survive at any cost and sometimes contrasted with people trying to rebuild society in the way they see fit.

When there's a feminist angle to this premise and especially when there's the imbalanced ratio of men to women you see in gendercide novels, we're then discussing specifically men and their misogyny at its worst.

Without society in this novel, we see men within months of the virus decimating humanity viewing women as literal commodities to be traded like food and water, forcing women into sexual slavery, and running after the protagonist to kidnap her and do god knows what the second they see she's a woman.

And here's where I'm conflicted. Obviously, misogyny and problems like human trafficking, rape, and domestic abuse are already common today and I'm not disputing that these issues would get worse with any kind of horrific disaster. We already see that too. But its important to make a distinction between misogyny caused by an array of societal conditions and pressures, and it being inherent.

Obviously these men were alive before the virus, and while society may not be acting on them at the present, they're still carrying over the same values until they come in conflict with them. But what they represent is the equation of men without society, and often men without women. Which makes them desperate and violent for any woman in this story. To me, I feel conflicted because as its presented in the novel, its not bioessentialist, but it doesn't seem to push back on that idea very hard either. Instead it seems to say that this is the eventual outcome of every man, even the ones who are nice to the protagonist. For example, we see the protagonists one time love interest or well, fuckbuddy is more accurate, who once brought her books only written by women end up marrying a child bride he rescued and once treated like his daughter once his wife dies. The theme is that while it may take some time, sex is such a priority to men that they will seek it no matter how violent and disgusting the ways eventually because of their misogyny and inability to see women as human, rendering them interchangeable. And I'm not sure how well that works as a framework. I think its more important in feminist works to discuss not how society holds men's misogyny back, but how it enforces it instead.

And I think I wouldn't have such a problem with the examples I gave if Elison did not also show the way society enforces misogyny very clearly. One section of the novel has the protagonist stumble upon a community of Mormons, still clinging to their religion and way of life in the middle of the hell around them. That includes enforcing gender roles and subservience in the few women in the community. In fact, the situation around them makes them enforce those roles harder in the name of safety. And its a perfect example of showing society and especially religiously enforced misogyny. Which, for obvious reasons, feel way more important to discuss, but its only a portion of the novel.

While we're talking about this novel's approach to gender, I'd also like to say I'm ambivalent on how Elison approaches her protagonist's gender as well. What I expected going in was much less groundbreaking than what I got. The protagonist never really felt like anything more than a cis woman to me personally. In fact, there's very little reflection on her own gender, even though she's full time presenting as a man for her own safety. And it never felt like anything more than that to me. I'm putting the nonbinary tag anyways because I'm not sure, I think this could read differently for other people than it did for me and they might appreciate it more. Other trans people never show up in the novel, except for offhand mentions of them existing and a very...unclear situation at the end that made me put forcefem in the trigger warnings. I wouldn't say this is exactly a problem in the novel, just a blind spot that I think could have been more explored. I can't lie, I was comparing this to Manhunt a lot as a was reading, which is why I wanted more on the subject of gender and gender identity specifically in this world.

One last thing I want to add as a warning is that and I feel like I shouldn't be the one to say this as I am also white, but the writing at times felt very white when it came to characters of color. Its nothing that hasn't been seen before, but I felt like I should warn for it. Especially when there's a very egregious example where the protagonist asks herself if she's wandered into Saudi Arabia when she steps into the Mormon community which, like... just don't.

This is definitely a book which left me very conflicted, but in a way that's good. It's stuck with me, I finished this book weeks ago and I just now finished the review because I kept thinking about how I wanted to phrase things, whether I was reading it right, what I was really saying and what the book was really saying. I think that was worthwhile. Or at least it made me ramble a lot oh my god.

#the book of the unnamed midwife #meg elison #lgbt #lgbtq #bisexual #nonbinary #bookblr #book rec #book recommendations #lgbt books #sci fi books #post apocalyptic #road to nowhere #road to nowhere series #book review

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