Tag: Witches

Wicked: Witch & Curse

fantasticfictionsblogLeave a comment

Wicked: Witch & Curse by Nancy Holder, Debbie Vigié
Series Name: Wicked
Volume Number: 1 & 2
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Romance, Supernatural, Urban, Witches
Intended Age Group: YA
Publisher: Simon Pulse/ Simon & Schuster
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4169-7119-1
Rating: 1.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Holly Cathers’s world shatters when her parents are killed in a terrible accident. Wrenched from her home in San Francisco, she is sent to Seattle to live with her relatives, Aunt Marie-Claire and her twin cousins, Amanda and Nicole.

In her new home, Holly’s sorrow and grief soon give way to bewilderment at the strange incidents going on around her. Such as how any wish she whispers to her cat seems to come true. Or the way a friend is injured after a freak attack from a vicious falcon. And there’s the undeniable, magnetic attraction to a boy Holly barely knows.

Holly Amanda, and Nicole are about to be launched into a dark legacy of witches, secrets, and alliances, where ancient magics yield dangerous results. The girls will assume their roles in an intergenerational feud beyond their wildest imaginations…and in doing so, will attempt to fulfill their shared destiny.

Personal & Info

This is the first volume of the two-in-one editions for the Wicked series. In total, there are two thick two-in-one volumes, along with one single volume. Or, for anyone getting individuals, it would equate to five books.

There are tons of different perspectives in this novel. It jumps around to tell a story of past and present, as well as both sides of an ongoing feud.

Content Warnings

-animal sacrifice including house pets

-death

-suicide

Characters

Cathers/Cahors

Holly Cathers is the main character. She’s seventeen when her life undergoes tragic and drastic changes. At the start, her family history is completely unknown to her.

Isabeau Cahors is an ancestral member of the Cathers family. As the successor of the Cahors family, she was arranged to marry Jean Deveraux, even though their families were enemies. Her spirit is not at rest.

Catherine Cahors is Isabeau Cahors’ mother. In her time, she led the Cahors family as Queen Regnant of Le Circle des Cahors, which basically equates to master of her family.

Marie-Claire Cathers-Anderson is Holly’s aunt, the sister to Holly’s father, Daniel. She does not know she is a witch, and she is vain about her appearance. Despite her vanity and wealth, she is a kind person.

Amanda Anderson is one of Marie-Claire’s and Robert’s twin daughters. She is the more kind and down to Earth twin. According to Michael Deveraux, Amanda is normal, like her father.

Nicole Anderson is one of Marie-Claire’s and Robert’s twin daughters. Like her mother, she cares about how she looks. Her dream is to become an actress. Nicole is the daughter with the obvious signs of being a witch.

Many other Cahors family members appear throughout the book, but their parts are small, so I’m not going to bother listing them here.

Deveraux

Duc Laurent de Deveraux is an ancestral “noble warlord” of the Deveraux family. As the ancestral master of the family, he is Jean’s father, and played a part in arranging the marriage of Isabeau and Jean. In modern day, he appears to Micheal in the form of a spirit that looks like a grotesque corpse.

Michael Deveraux is, as far as he knows, the current master of the Deveraux family. He seeks to gain the knowledge of the black fire and destroy what remains of the Cahors family, whether they are ignorant of their heritage and powers or not.

Eli Deveraux is Michael’s oldest son. His father can easily manipulate him by appealing to his greed for money and power.

Jeraud Deveraux, who usually goes by Jer, is Michael’s youngest son. He has more humanity than his father and brother. I think he’s supposed to be Holly’s love interest.

Jean Deveraux is an ancestral member of the Deveraux family. As the successor of the Deveraux family, he was arranged to marry Isabeau, even though their families were enemies. His spirit is not at rest.

Many other Deveraux family members appear throughout the book, but their parts are small, so I’m not going to list them here.

Coven Members

Holly’s

Tommy Nagai is Amanda’s best friend. Holly suspects they should be dating, but neither will cross that line.

Cecile Beaufrere is the mother of one of Amanda’s friends.She practices the art of Voodoo.

Silvana Beaufrere is Amanda’s friend who lives in New Orleans.

Jer’s

Kialish Carter is Jer’s friend, and the son of a shaman.

Eddie Hinook has very few descriptors. His only specifications are that he is Kialish’s lover and he is friends with Jer.

Kari Hardwicke is a teacher’s assistant at the university Jer is attending. As a grad student, she is older than him. They are dating, because Kari has interest in magic for her thesis and she knows Jer’s family practices.

Mother

Anne-Louise Montrachet is a protection magic specialist.

Supreme

Sir William Moore is the Master of the Supreme Coven in London.

James Moore is Sir William’s son. He’s wants to overthrow his father to steal his position.

Madrid/White Magic

José Luís is the current leader of the coven.

Señor Alonzo is the oldest member of the coven. He is the benefactor and father figure.

Armand is the “conscience” of the coven. He is serious and quiet, and he is a former student of the priesthood.

Pablo is José Luís’s younger brother.

Philippe is José Luís’s lieutenant, and a love interest for Nicole.

Other

Robert Anderson is Marie-Claire’s husband. Holly describes him as “gray.” He is a normal, kind human, who processes his problems by overworking or drinking alcohol.

Dan Carter is Kialish’s father, the shaman.

Witch

Rating: 2/5

Story & Thoughts

I feel like this book starts slow. It jumps around to a bunch of perspectives that don’t make much sense at first, which makes it hard to get into. I’m used to reading books with multiple perspectives, but this one is rough for the first few chapters. It’s gets better once the story starts making more sense, but early on the transitions are a bit disorienting. It makes sense though, because it’s supposed to be disorienting to Holly.

The multiple perspectives tell a story of past and present. I don’t think I like the execution. The characters slowly gain more information and understanding of the events they see in their dreams or visions. This is supposed to contribute to plot building, but my problem with it is the events of the present are actually dull compared to the past. The present doesn’t get interesting until closer to the end.

The biggest reason for that is the fact none of the characters involved even know they are witches until about half way through the story. You’d think that would provide ample opportunity for the characters to have interesting experiences to grow and learn, but there are time jumps where we’re supposed to just assume they are studying and researching however they can. I don’t like the story telling method of “time passed so they can just do this now.”

I’m not even sure if I should consider this a romance. The romance for the modern day stuff is seriously lacking. It paints kind of a Romeo & Juliet type thing, but one of them is already in a relationship, and nothing amounts to anything. All the romance is basically exclusive to the past characters, Isabeau and Jean.

Overall, I’m not impressed. There is very little I like about it, but I don’t hate it. If the second novel in this two-in-one is not any better, I will probably donate the whole series instead of reading it.

Curse

Rating: 1/5

Story & Thoughts

This part starts approximately one year after the beginning of the first. Right off the bat, I’m disappointed. Nicole is missing, because she ran away. This could have been used as an interesting scene, where either the group bickers about her desire to flee, or we see her sneak away. Just telling the reader she’s gone seems like poor writing. I have many issues with the storytelling.

Multiple times, there are instances in which people just state things, instead of putting them in the story. It’s like cutting events and learning experiences, and it detracts so much from the story. Most of the things that get this treatment are the parts that should be intense and epic or interesting or constructive to character growth. How are we supposed to understand that Holly is the strongest Cahors since Catherine? We don’t get to see her learn and grow.

There are so many more perspective changes than before. Curse tries to tell the generational parts of the Deveraux and Cahors histories, and adds even more characters to the already large cast. The majority of the historical parts are not dreams or visions. They’re just scattered around and don’t seem to directly contribute any relevance to the story. The history is interesting, but it’s mostly for the reader. Most of the parts involving the history for Isabeau and Jean just rehash everything we already know from Witch.

I have almost nothing but complains to say about this section. It was frustrating to read. The romance is garbage. Holly and Jer don’t know anything about each other. I don’t think they even love each other. I honestly think they just have an illusion of feeling in love, because of Jean and Isabeau influencing them.

Overall

Story & Thoughts

This is one of the crappiest books I’ve ever read. The overarching story is fine, but it has an absolutely terrible execution. A story about three girls discovering they are witches and getting pulled into an ancient family feud should be an awesome story, but it’s not. I’m abandoning the possibility of ever reading the rest of this series, because it’s so terribly written.

You’d think the premise would provide ample opportunity for the characters to have interesting experiences to grow and learn, but there are time jumps where we’re supposed to just assume they are studying and researching however they can. We don’t get to see anything that teaches the reader how magic works while they themselves learn. I don’t like the story telling method of “time passed so they can just do this now.” Any good fantasy novel describes the mechanics of how the magic works to immerse the reader.

I’ve seen authors give advice that specifically says not to just tell what happens, but to show it. This novel struggles with that concept. It skips any interesting learning experiences that could contribute to lore and world building. Even events that are supposed to be climactic with high stakes are disappointing. I cannot express how disappointed and frustrated I am about the storytelling. It got to a point where I just wanted it to be over, but I was determined to finish.

The romance isn’t even good, if it exists at all. There’s a good chance Jer and Holly aren’t actually in love and are just feeling the emotions of Isabeau and Jean. They don’t know each other. I don’t think they’ve ever even had a conversation outside of wet dreams and warnings.

I don’t recommend this book or series to anybody, unless you enjoy bad storytelling. It’s a good premise with a terrible execution. Also, someone kills a cat, and not just any cat, a beloved house cat. That felt more like it was done for shock value than storytelling. I’m just so glad this book is done. I don’t often compare books to garbage, but this one is kind of garbage. It was an ordeal to finish.

Some Girls Bite

fantasticfictionsblogLeave a comment

Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill
Series Name: Chicagoland Vampires
Volume Number: 1
Genres: Fae, Magic, Romance, Shifters, Supernatural, Urban, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: New American Library/ Penguin Group (USA)
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-22625-9
Rating: 3/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was mine. I was doing fine until Chicago’s vampires announced their existence to the world—and then a rogue vampire attacked me. But he only got only a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker…and this one decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead.

Turns out my savior was the master vampire of Cadodan House. Now I’ve traded sweating over my dissertation for learning to fit in at Kenwood mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of Course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred-year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects my gratitude—and servitude. Right…

But my burgeoning powers (all of a sudden, I’m surprisingly handy with some serious weaponry), an inconvenient sunlight allergy, and Ethan’s attitude are the least of my concerns. Someone’s still out to get me. Is it the rogue vampire who bit me? A vamp from a rival house? An angry mob bearing torches?

My initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war…and there will be blood.

Personal & Info

If you like House of Night, you might like this series. House of Night is YA, but this one is more adultish, with kind of similar vibes. Or if you like Chicagoland Vampires and want to try a YA alternative, you might like House of Night. If you’d like more information about House of Night, I have a review for the first volume, Marked, and will be reviewing more volumes at some point.

Characters

Merit is the main character. She’s a twenty-seven-year-old grad student from a wealthy family, but she has no interest in her family’s money or influence. Apparently, she has terrible fashion sense, but I find her clothing choices relatable.

Mallory is Merit’s roommate and best friend. She inherited the house in which she and Merit live. Mallory is a successful advertising executive at McGettrick-Combs. More importantly, she’s a vampire buff.

Mark Perkins is Mallory’s aimless boyfriend. He goes on a lot of adventurous trips, but has no idea what he wants to do with his life.

Joshua Merit is Merit’s dad. He owns the Merit Properties real estate company, and he is part of the Chicago Growth Council, which advises the mayor. Joshua cares only about money and political influence.

Meredith Merit is Merits mom.

Charlotte Merit is Merit’s older sister. She is married, so she does not live with the Merit family.

Robert Merit is Merit’s older brother. He is in line to inherit the family real estate company.

Seth Tate is the mayor of Chicago.

Ombudsman’s Office

Chuck Merit is Merit’s grandfather, and the Ombudsman. He is a liaison between humans and supernaturals to help handle disputes.

Marjorie is Chuck’s secretary. She’s about fifty-years-old.

Jeff Christopher is a twenty-one-year-old computer prodigy and shape-shifter. He’s also a bit girl crazy.

Catcher Bell is a twenty-nine-year-old sorcerer. As Chuck puts it, he is pretty, but gruff.

Below is a list of the Chicago vampire Houses and any known members. Some vampires are named with no additional information. Not every vampire is likely to be important, so these are just running lists to keep track of members of each House.

Cadogan House

Ethan Sullivan is the Lord of Cadogan House. He is 394 years old, and he’s attractive in the most stereotypical ways. He is fit and has long blond hair, like Thor. However, his personality leaves much to be desired.

Helen is the Cadogan representative who handles transitions for newly changed vampires.

Malik is Ethan’s second in command. If anything happens to Ethan, Malik would inherit the House.

Amber is Ethan’s courtesan. She covers the role of the snobby pretty girl.

Sean & Colin are bartenders at Temple Bar.

Gabrielle is Amber’s snobby friend.

Security

Luc, or Lucas, is captain of the Cadogan House guards. He has cowboy vibes.

Lindsey is a Cadogan House guard. She is apparently the resident psychic, and fast friends with Merit.

Peter is a Cadogan House guard. He has contacts beneficial to the House.

Juliet is a Cadogan House guard. She is “slippery” and gathers data.

Kelley is a Cadogan House guard. She is the resident mechanical and software genius.

Initiates

Warner

Joseph

Adrian

Michael

Thomas

Connor obviously comes from a rich family, but he is optimistic and kind.

Penny

Jennifer

Dakota

Melanie

Christine is the daughter of a famous notorious criminal defense attorney. She is an acquaintance of Merit’s from pre-vampire life.

Grey House

Scott Grey is the Lord of Grey House. He is a sports fan.

Navarre House

Celina Desaulniers is the Lady of Navarre House. She orchestrated the coming out of vampires in Chicago.

Morgan is Celina’s second in command. If anything happens to Celina, he would inherit the House. He’s charming and funny.

Alexander

Rogue

The rogues are not and do not have a House. Instead, they have a representative, and work together when they have to.

Noah Beck is the representative for the Rogue vampires.

Story & Thoughts

As the first volume of a series, this book does a good job at many things. It introduces a large number of characters, not all of them significant, yet. The ones that matter seem well defined and realistic enough to believe they could actually exist. Their interactions have personality, so they don’t feel flat.

The most important thing about the characters, I think, is Merit is a strong female lead. She doesn’t always know what the best thing to do is, but she stays true to herself. She doesn’t let anyone boss her around or convince her to accept any sexist or outdated terms. Her own moral compass always comes first. I don’t come across many female leads like her, and I’d like to see more of them.

As expected, there are a lot of world building and lore dumping, but they’re all interesting. Despite what the description implies, vampires are not undead in this world. The lore is a little different than normal. The transition to become a vampire is more of a genetic alteration than an undeath. They only need blood about once every other day. They can still eat and drink normal food and beverages. Sunlight is still a weakness, or in this case, considered a deathly allergy. There’s actually a whole culture involved, and I think that’s pretty cool.

I like the book enough to read more of the series if I get the chance, but I won’t go out of my way to find more. I’m satisfied with the story and the ending. There isn’t a cliffhanger, so there’s no pressing need to get another volume.

The epilogue tries to do one of those stereotypical, end of an episode, ominous, “danger is coming, but I’ll be ready,” type things. I see what it’s going for, but I can’t help laughing at it. It’s not really a spoiler, but Merit finishes by saying she’s very, very good at her job. That’s just laughable to me. She’s been a vampire for, like, two weeks, and has hardly any training. I just can’t take that seriously, because she is not good at her job, not yet, anyway.

Beautiful Creatures

fantasticfictionsblog

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Series Name: The Caster Chronicles
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, Magic, Paranormal Romance, Witches
Intended Age Group: YA
Publisher: Little, Brown/Hachette
Edition: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-316-04267-3
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous planation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Personal & Info

This is volume one of the Caster Chronicles, which is four volumes long.

I read this series back in 2013. Unfortunately, after I read it, I found out there are short stories between volumes that are digital only. This made me feel like I hadn’t gotten the complete story. I didn’t have a kindle or anything back then, either, but now I do, and I have the middle story parts as well. So, it’s time for a reread. I also have the sequel duology that I don’t want to read until I get through my reread with all the little middle stories.

Apparently, I never took any notes or wrote any reviews for my initial read, so this review will be based on my reread opinions only. The rating is an average of my original rating and and what I would currently rate it. It’s been ten years, but my first impression rating should still count for something.

Characters

Ethan Lawson Wate is the sixteen year old main character. He’s six foot two, on the school basketball team, and can’t wait to get out of boring small town Gatlin, South Carolina.

Amarie Treadeau, mostly known as Amma, is the grandmotherly housekeeper of the Wate household. She is barely five feet tall, smart, ornery, and dabbles in voodoo, which is obvious early on in the story. She comes from a long line of tarot readers, which she also does as a side business.

Wesley Jefferson Lincoln, who goes by Link, is Ethan’s best friend since the sixth grade. He has a car they refer to as the Beater. His mother, Martha Lincoln, is part of the DAR, a women’s group that runs the town.

Lena Duchannes (Du-Kane) is the love interest. She supplies most of the paranormal aspects to the story.

Macon Melchizedek Ravenwood is the local shut-in and Lena’s uncle. The townspeople of Gatlin fear him even though they never see him.

Dr. Marian Ashcroft is the head librarian, and the best friend to Ethan’s mother before her accident. She’s not from Gatlin, and is blatantly smarter than almost everyone else in town.

Ridley Duchannes is Lena’s cousin. She is one year older, and they grew up together like sisters. Their current relationship is a bit estranged.

There are tons more characters, but I’m not going to list them here. Most of them are extended family members for Ethan and Lena. The rest are classmates from Jackson High, or parents, with a small sprinkling of other less important people who only appear once or only get passing mentions.

Story & Thoughts

Beautiful Creatures takes place in the small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, where nothing surprising or interesting ever happens. The residents of Gatlin follow the negative stereotypes of xenophobia, mob mentality, and prideful confederate heritage. If you are not born and raised in their town, are a little different, or don’t agree with their glorification of the confederacy, they will hate you and try to drive you out of their town. It’s that kind of place.

The book starts off slow. Around fifty pages in, the story only just starts to get interesting after finally finishing the primary introductions to Gatlin and the community. That’s about the time Ethan starts interacting with Lena and weird stuff starts to happen. From there, the book dives into a slow burn romance with intrigue and research.

Lena is a caster, or witch, there isn’t much difference. Her sixteenth birthday is going to be an incredibly important event, but not in the way normal people have sweet sixteens. The problem is, she knows little to nothing regarding what will actually happen, and anticipates having no control over it. No one will tell her or Ethan anything helpful, because of the ridiculous idea of ignorance being safer. So, the whole book revolves around the growing romance between Lena and Ethan, while they stress and try to figure out how to change the possible worst case scenario.

I admit I probably liked this book better the first time around, but I still like it well enough. The writing is enjoyable, so the majority of the story, where it feels like not much is happening, doesn’t feel like it drags. I think the portrayal of the characters helps significantly with that. There are many, but they all seem to be done well. For me, whether or not the characters feel fleshed out or authentic often affects how tolerable any book is.

I genuinely like the story. I have no issues there. Lena is melodramatic, but she has good reason. It’s actually surprising to me that her family doesn’t take her concerns seriously. People don’t bother to comfort her, let alone tell her anything that will calm her down. It’s always just reassuring her everything is going to be fine without doing or saying anything to convince her of that.

My biggest gripe is with Ethan’s dad, Mitchell. I get that he’s grieving, but he’s doing it in a selfish way. He locks himself in the only room in the house anyone can feel close to Lila (Ethan’s mom), and nobody else is allowed to enter. Mitchell isn’t the only one who lost someone. Ethan did, too, but his dad doesn’t seem to care about that fact. They need to be there for each other. They should both have access to the room.

There is one line in the book I found so funny I had to set it down for a moment while I laughed at it. Someone threatened the possibility of a Wal-Mart opening in Gatlin and everyone was so aghast at the idea. I don’t know why, I just found it absolutely hilarious. That was the funniest thing in the whole book to me.

Rosario+Vampre: Season II, Vol. 14

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 14 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7967-2
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

As with many previous volumes, is book advertises a free mini-poster inside. It’s one of the two sided types that does not fold out. One side is a cute group image of most of the important characters. The back side is the same picture of Moka as the back cover of the volume. Not as single “mini-poster” in the entire series is perforated, so I have no idea why they are even advertised as posters. None of them are worth tearing out if you don’t want to damage the book. I can’t imagine any of them would come out with a clean tear.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

San is a siren graduate from Yokai Academy who’s been living in the human world ever since she left school.

Tohofuhai is one of the Three Dark Lords. He looks like an old man most of the time, and his specialties are seals and magic.

Tenmei Mikogami is one of the Three Dark Lords. I had to laugh at the translation choice for his title. Instead of referring to him as a strategist or some other word you would expect, they chose, “maneuverer.”

Story & Thoughts

This is the final volume for the series, and it wastes no time getting started. Fairy Tale headquarters crashes into the town. Obviously the gang survives the crash, because they’re the main characters. Alucard is awake and it’s time to take him down for good. No idea why they thought human weaponry would be a good idea. Monsters generally defy logic, so that tactic seems like a waste of lives.

Despite the length, there are only two chapters in this book. The first one, containing the final battle takes up most of it. It’s an epic showdown, and everyone gets to participate. We even get to see some characters from the school and people met earlier in the series, like San.

There are some pretty awesome tropes, like two old guys getting epic for a final showdown. Tsukune and Moka get featured, too, this time with a new look for the final battle.

The second chapter is the epilogue. The gang goes back to school, and it’s ten months after the events of the battle. The silliness returns in this chapter as everyone is transitioning back to normal life. Tsukune and Moka are experiencing some changes, and everyone is fighting over Tsukune again. Life is good, but doom lurks in the future.

It’s a satisfying end, but I’d definitely like to see how the relationships play out. Does Tsukune keep his harem and have babies with everybody (because it’s pretty clear most, if not all of them want kids), or does he make Moka his one and only? They’re too young to make a final decision, but a couple possible solutions are mentioned.

I’ve come around on liking Aqua after seeing how much she genuinely cares for Moka. She’s a little psycho, but she’s not all bad. Her backstory is unfortunate, though.

The bonus comics are an extension of the epilogue, and tell what happens with some of the characters.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 13 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6949-9
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster. As with volume twelve, and several others, this one is a fold out. It features a colored sketch style picture of Inner Moka and Aqua.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Kahlua is Moka’s older sister, and Gyokuro’s eldest daughter.

Gyokuro is the leader of Fairy Tale.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Aqua is Moka’s eldest sister. She has an obsession with Moka.

Story & Thoughts

This book picks up where twelve leaves off. Tsukune personally challenges Gyokuro in hopes of beating her before he completely becomes a ghoul. Between Tsukune and Moka fighting her, this battle takes the majority of the volume. However, before it’s entirely over, we learn a little more about the rosario and what Gyokuro’s studies reveal as its true intention.

Koko’s battle with Kahlua also wraps up in this volume. I would have liked to see her do the entire battle by herself, but unfortunately she needs assistance. It makes sense, though, because a huge aspect of the story is constantly team work. I just think Koko deserves a massive self-earned win.

Vampires have strange abilities in this series. Koko and Moka don’t seem to have any odd abilities, but that might just be because they haven’t grown into them yet. Their family members, however, have freakish abilities that I don’t think fits into any vampire lore.

I love that Kurumu and Mizore are team fighters. They’ve had a long journey through the series to become good friends. But, I don’t think their big attack for this volume makes any sense. How do they get holy water, and why does it need to be holy water? I think it was pretty clear regular water would be enough for their needs. Season one made that very clear.

The ending of this volume hits hard. It’s a blatant, “to be continued,” in the middle of trauma, tears, screaming, and impending disaster. You might want to make sure you already have the fourteenth volume at the time you read this.

The bonus comics at the end mostly focus on a few Fairy Tale members with some question and answer silliness.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 12 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5702-1
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume has a mini-poster inside, like volumes elven, eight, seven, and five, it’s a fold out. The poster features Kahlua and Koko sweeping up leaves.

I didn’t recognize Kuhlua on the cover right away. She looks obviously tan in the panels of the manga, and she even looks tan on the color fold out mini-poster. I’m not sure why she looks so pale on the cover. It makes her look like a completely different person.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Aqua is Moka’s oldest sister. She is has an obsession with Moka.

Kahlua is one of Moka’s many sisters. She participates in the family profession of assassination.

Koko is Moka’s youngest sister, and Gyokuro’s youngest daughter.

Gin and Haiji tend to be tag team fighters. We finally find out what monster Haiji is.

Gyokuro is Kahlua and Koko’s mother, and the leading member of Fairy Tale.

Story & Thoughts

Things get intense in this volume as everything that can go wrong does. Everybody is fighting somebody. It’s so close to the end of the series now, that everything is combat. Unfortunately, Mizore and Kurumu are benched for the volume. We see them unconscious toward the beginning from the events of volume eleven, but that’s about it. Yukari and Fangfang aren’t in this one much either. They appear for maybe a page and that’s it.

The first fight that takes up a large chunk of the book is the confrontation with Aqua. Tsukune finally gets his chance to use his training against her dimension sword. Moka and Tsukune fight together for this battle. It’s nice to see him be a relatively competent fighter compared to how he originally started off in the series as a whole. He’s had a tremendous amount of growth in such a short time.

Koko, whom we haven’t seen much of in a while, finally gets a chance to shine. She gets to show her improvement in skill and confidence with a battle of her own. I get that she’s been spending a lot of time training and everything, but I think it would have been nice to have her in the story more with the main group. She’s one of my favorite characters.

The bonus comics feature Kahlua. She is given a mission by her mother that requires seduction, which apparently is one of the few skills she did not learn in her assassin training.

I think there was a typo on one page when Gyokuro says, “the tide of battle is already turning against us.” I’m pretty sure she means, “against you,” because the following panels show supporting evidence of the typo.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 11 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5240-8
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises a free mini-poster inside. Like volumes eight, seven and five, it’s a fold out. This one features Mizore and Kurumu in a sort of spy pose theme. They are wearing nice clothes and posing with guns.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Story & Thoughts

This volume picks up with Fangfang’s fight scene. The first two chapters finish that off. All in all, it’s not a long battle compared to others. I’m glad Fangfang gets to shine at least a little bit. It seems like his main problem in life is he doesn’t know what he is good at. However, it must be devastating to find out Yukari can essentially master anything he can’t do within the timespan of only a month. Geniuses can really make a person feel inferior without intending to.

We see a few returning villainous faces from season one. Some we already know about, and some are a surprise. This leads to Tsukune getting a fight scene that spans about three chapters, with many cut-aways to keep up with what others are doing. There’s some recap here as well in case the reader doesn’t remember who he is fighting and what their previous interaction was.

Kurumu and Mizore get to fight, too. I think it’s cool and interesting that Mizore and Kurumu have become a team duo for combat. That has been slowly building up over time, because they seem to train specifically with each other quite a lot.

Basically, this is another high combat content volume. We’re at the tail end of the series, so it’s not that surprising. I’m fully expecting even more combat encounters in the three volumes after this. We are far away from the light hearted romantic comedy the series started out as, but the characters are showing their depth and skills, proving how hard they have trained, and how strong their friendships have become.

The bonus comics are a little random. They feature Ludie of all people, and her crush on Xilong.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 10 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4879-1
Rating: 3.5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. Like volumes nine and six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. The first one is Tsukune with some kind of circuit board pattern on his arm, and the second one is a pretty picture of Ruby with a magic circle on her abdomen.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Ruby Tojo is a witch who works for the school.

Many members of Moka’s family make appearances.

Story & Thoughts

This volume is combat heavy, so don’t expect a lot of humor and fan service. Most of the book is a single fight scene, and the start of another. The good thing about this, though, is we get to see Ruby shine. She doesn’t usually get to do much, but she’s the star of the volume. I find it surprising she’s not the one on the cover.

The gang has spent a whole month training, and it’s finally time to go save Moka. We don’t get to see what everyone has learned, but we do get to see some of Tsukune’s new abilities, and a substantial amount of Ruby’s. I don’t think I ever thought about what kind of spell caster Ruby is before. Apparently she’s a conjurer, and that’s pretty cool.

I do think this volume is a bit stereotypical. It follows the final dungeon trope of everyone taking turns fighting the strongest foes while crunched for time. I like the trope because it gives the characters a chance to show off their skills, but at the same time, it’s a cliché.

There are only three bonus comics at the end of the book, because there weren’t enough pages. They are mostly about Moka’s time in captivity.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 9

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 9 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4209-6
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

This volume advertises two free mini-posters. These ones are no different than standard color images at the beginning of any manga. As with volume six, the posters are front and back, so you can only actually display one of them if you choose to tear them out and hang them anywhere. One is Mizore and Kurumu is their swimsuits, and the other is Moka and Tsukune standing back to back.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s big sister.

Tohofuhai is one of the Three Dark Lords. He looks like an old man most of the time, and his specialties are seals and magic.

Aqua is Moka’s eldest sister. She works for a branch of Fairy Tale and absolutely adores Moka.

Ginei Morioka, also known as Gin, is the Newspaper Club’s president. Normally we hardly ever see him.

Story & Thoughts

This volume has more chapters than usual. There are six. The first third finishes the events of combat with Aqua. There are some epic and dramatic moments there.

I think the most important section is the last half of the book. It focuses heavily on Kurumu. She shines here, but at the same time it’s so emotionally tragic it almost made me cry. Kurumu does not give herself enough credit. She doesn’t get many chances to shine, so I love that for her in this one, even if it’s in an unpleasant situation.

Gin arrives at some point with Ruby and a few others when the story switches focus to training. I don’t usually pay attention to how people talk, but Gin’s speech drove me up the wall in this book. I had to read it without the…What would it be? An accent, maybe? Gin speaks in an annoying way in this volume, and I just can’t help wondering if I just didn’t notice before, or if it was a new translation choice. He says things like, “yer” instead of your and, “purty,” instead of pretty. It makes him sound really annoying, and I hate it. I swear he did not speak like that before.

Overall, this volume is another serious one. There is very little comedy, if any, but it covers a significant amount of content. As a whole, I think it might be one of the best volumes, but that’s just my personal opinion. Everything in it is important.

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 8

fantasticfictionsblog

Rosario+Vampire: Season II, Vol. 8 by Akihisa Ikeda
Series Name: Rosario+Vampire: Season II
Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Harem, Monsters, Romance, Vampires, Witches
Intended Age Group: Older Teen
Publisher: Viz/Shonen Jump Advanced
Edition: Paperback 
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4050-4
Rating: 5/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble RightStuf ThriftBooks

Description from the Book

Average human teenage boy Tsukune accidentally enrolls at a boarding school for monsters – no, not jocks and popular kids, but bona fide werewolves, witches, and unnameables out of his wildest nightmares! And now he’s a sophomore!

On the plus side, all the girls have a monster crush on him. On the negative side, all the boys are so jealous they want to kill him! And so do the girls he spurns because he only has eyes for one of them – the far-from-average vampire Moka.

On the plus side, Moka only has glowing red eyes for Tsukune. On the O-negative side, she also has a burning, unquenchable thirst for his blood…

Personal & Info

No bump for the rating of this volume. There are still things I remember later on in the story, but there’s enough I don’t remember to consider them fresh reads from here on out.

This volume boasts a free mini-poster inside. Like volumes seven and five, it’s a fold out. This one features Aqua, the eldest Shuzen sister.

Characters

Tsukune Aono is the only human at a school for monsters. Due to various events in season one, he wears a chain lock on his wrist, similar to Moka’s rosario.

Moka Akashiya is the beautiful vampire love interest. She is considered the most beautiful girl in school, and the series likes to play up that fact.

Kurumu Kurono is the second beautiful love interest. She is the character with the largest breasts in the group, and the whole school also fawns over her, but not nearly as much as Moka.

Yukari Sendo is a twelve year old genius, and a witch.

Mizore Shirayuki is love interest number three. She is a yuki-onna, but the translation constantly calls her a snow fairy. She’s also the most considerate of Tsukune’s happiness.

Fangfang Huang is a freshman, and the son of the leader of a Chinese mafia.

Lingling Huang is Fangfang’s undead big sister.

Story & Thoughts

Pretty much the entire volume consists of Moka’s backstory. We learn what her relationship with Aqua was like when they were kids. More significant vampire lore is addressed, and we learn more about Moka’s mother, Akasha. The story is intense and heart wrenching. The only comedy parts in this one are the bonus comics.

Kurumu uses an ability we’ve never seen before. She’s always been able to do it, but hasn’t had reason to until now. I’m not sure if it makes her tail gross, though…It looked slimy.

I imagine some people would probably be upset because this volume is super serious, but I love the serious volumes. The funny ones are great, too, but I enjoy both ends of the spectrum. I feel like a series needs a decent balance of both to be good. This series has some serious volumes and some funny ones, as well as some that cover both equally, so I think it’s great.

This volume doesn’t even wrap up this adventure, yet. It’s one of the longest events in the series. This book and the one before it focus on Moka’s backstory, and it looks like the next one will continue the invasion on the Huang house with the combat portion.