Tapestry – DaneCobain.com

Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata – Death Note: Black Edition: Volume III | Review

Title: Death Note: Black Edition Volume III

Author: Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 416

Rating 4.5/5

After rating two installments in this series in a row a 4.5/5, I was kind of hoping for a 5* read with this one. Unfortunately, it went the other way, but that might just be because I’d read two of these back to back. It could also be because this is towards the middle of the series and so it could have the manga equivalent of middle book syndrome.

Still, it was an excellent read and I’m definitely enjoying the series, and I can’t wait to keep on reading and to finish off the second half. I’ll also be interested to see how the events at the end of this are resolved, as well as a few other story lines that have been ongoing. Death Note does that well – I’ve said before that it reminds me of Prison Break, in that each issue ends with some sort of cliff-hanger that keeps you going and that there are constant call backs to things that happened earlier.

It leaves you, as the reader, with the feeling that everything has been thought of beforehand. In the same way that the A Song of Ice and Fire books only work because stuff that was mentioned in one book is referred back to many books later, Death Note leaves you with that feeling of a master planner at work. It’s beautiful, like a painting or a tapestry.

What’s interesting about this part of the story is that the nature of it changes slightly. We still have the concept of Kira killing people by writing their names in a notebook, only it’s a different Kira and with a different motive. It almost becomes a tale of corporate crime, and while that might not be for everyone, I thought it worked pretty well and I enjoyed it.

All in all, so far the series has been so good that even if takes a dip in quality from here on out, it almost doesn’t matter. I’ll still recommend it no matter what, and I’d recommend this book no matter what too. Just make sure that you read them in order, because this isn’t the kind of series that you can dip in and out of as standalones. The good news is that you can get a pretty cool box set that brings them together.

Click here to Death Note: Black Edition Volume III.

Philip Terry – Tapestry | Review

Title: Tapestry

Author: Philip Terry

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 242

Rating: 5/10

Philip Terry – Tapestry

I have to explain something before I jump in to things – I score my ratings based on how readable a book is, and this one was damn near impossible to get through. That’s not because it’s badly-written – in fact, it’s incredibly well-written, but the language is tough because it’s written according to the dialect of a time when a bunch of nuns were working on the Bayeux Tapestry.

Confused? Let me give you an example of the writing: “Sche arrives during the niht, between the hours of matins and lauds… and quickly the rumour spreads from lit to lit lyk wild-fyr: Aelfgyva has come home!” It’s a bit like reading Trainspotting, you have to use your brain to understand what’s happening – that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you should prepare yourself and bear this in mind before you start.

Once you get past the language, which is deliberate and one of the delights of Terry’s work once you get in to it, it’s actually quite an enjoyable read – another great example of Reality Street publishing innovative work. But the problem with being innovative is that it’s not always guaranteed to make you appealing to everyone – if you get a copy of this and you really love books then stick at it, it’s a long old read but it’s well worth it in the end.