Now 2023 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA Portfolio Artwork WIP

Recent posts

Month in review

Reviews:
Angus and the Cat by Marjorie Flack
Another Life by Charles Oberndorf
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Castway Cats by Lisa Wheeler
Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr. and Lois Ehlert
City of Light, City of Dark by Avi
Clifford the Small Red Puppy by Norman Bridwell
Constellation Chronicles: The Lost Civilization of Aries by Vincent Lowry review copy
Day of the Dragon-King (Magic Tree House #14) by Mary Pope Osborne
The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers
Dino-Dinners by Brita Granstrom
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House #1) by Mary Pope Osborne
Don't Say Ain't by Irene Smalls
Do You Want to be My Friend? by Eric Carle
Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan
Esoteric City by Bruce Sterling
Evolution's Shore (aka Chaga) by Ian McDonald
Harriet and the Garden by Nancy Carlson
I Spy Fun House by Jean Marzollo
I Wish That I Had Duck Feet by Dr. Seuss
Jin Jin the Dragon by Grace Chang
Lizzi & Fredl: A Perilous Journey of Love and Faith by William B. Stanford
Logicist by Carol Emshwiller
Madeline and the Cats of Rome by John Bemelmans Marciano
The Mammy by Brendan O'Carroll
Minifred Goes to School by Mordicai Gerstein
Miss Pickerell and the Geigor Counter by Ellen MacGregor
The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood
Nightwings by Robert Silverberg
One Yellow Lion by Matthew Van Fleet
Opera Cat by Tess Weaver
Queen Vernita Visits the Blue Ice Mountains by Dawn Menge
Riding High by John Francom and James Macgregor
Sassy by Gloria Mallette
The Stars Down Under by Sandra McDonald
Strange Reading by Grant Uden
The Sunless Countries by Karl Schroeder
Tarot Cafe Volume 1 by Sang-Sun Park
Tepper Isn't Going Out by Calvin Trillin
Tiger on a Tree by Anushka Ravishankar
Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House #13) by Mary Pope Osborne
The West End Horror by Nicholas Meyer
Where Is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox
Yoko's Paper Cranes by Rosemary Wells

Previous month


Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Beat the Backlist 2023

Canadian Book Challenge: 2022-2023

Artwork
Chicken Art



Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Tarot Cafe Volume One: 01/22/10

I've mentioned before the diverse selection of graphic novels and manga my local library has. The latest volume I picked up is the start of a seven part manhwa (Korean manga) series, Tarot Cafe by Sang-Sun Park.

Pamela reads fortunes for a living. After hours she takes special clients who need to harness her clairvoyant powers. After a brief introduction the rest of the book is divided into four episodes: one per tarot reading. They are: A Wish-Fulfilling Cat, Eternal Beauty, A Fairy and the first part of A Heartless Princess, an Alchemist, and a Jester.

Of the four my favorite is the first. The story of the cat's unnatural love for his human mistress is heart breaking. Eternal Beauty is the old emo vampire who falls in love but makes enemies in the process. That sort of story has been done (and is still being done) to death. A Fairy is the story of a fair folk cursed into the body of a little girl and forever pining after her fiancé. Time is cruel to her. The final story acts as a cliff hanger to the second volume; it's the creepy tale of an alchemist who desperately wants a princess to love him. His gifts though reveal an ugly side to his beloved.

Sang-Sun Park's artwork is beautiful but ambiguous. One reviewer complained that all her characters look like girls. I wouldn't go that far but her magical characters do tend to be overly beautiful beyond even what seems typical in the manga equivalents.

Tarot Cafe Volume 1 was one of the quickest manga volumes I've read. I plan to see if my library has any more books from the series.

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:


Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2023 Sarah Sammis