Shaman Warrior, vols. 1-5 (Park Joong-Ki)

[chomiji]

Shaman warriors have the ability to transform their bodies in various ways, making them formidable war machines. As this series opens, a legendary shaman, Yarong, meets his death under circumstances that seem highly suspicious to his servant, the massive fighter Batu. Batu swears to defend his master's child, Yaki, but he soon finds this far more difficult than he expected: shaman warriors are being hunted down and killed, with the circumstances of Yarong's death being twisted to provide an excuse. Batu at last decides he must take desperate measures to ensure that little Yaki survives and becomes able to defend herself.

Thus far, this is playing out like an almost gender-blind shounen/seinen adventure. There are more male characters than female characters (especially in the first volume), but the female characters we've encountered thus far are fighting, doing magic, and adventuring along with the men. These female characters are also generally drawn with reasonable bustlines and amazingly modest clothing. The story includes betrayal, loyalty beyond the grave, a variety of non-romantic attachments (siblings, master-servant, parent-child, team mates, etc.), and complex politics. The artwork is gorgeous, illustration rather than cartoon, along the lines of Inoue's work on Vagabond and Samura's work on Blade of the Immortal (and when we do encounter grotesques, they're all the more unnerving because they're so well-drawn).

Oh, and telophase? Batu the Destroyer traveling with little Yaki is just your kind of thing!

Shaman Warrior, vols. 1-5 (review)

(FYI - that's teenaged Yaki in the icon.)

OK ... wild theories time. The Mr. and I don't think Yarong was Yaki's father. We think Yarong was Yaki's mother.

This may sound like total crack - after all, we have a number of pictures of bare-chested Yarong in vol. 1, and that's a totally masculine-looking torso, very much in the realistic mode: not tapered and bishie-ish, but compactly muscled and slightly stocky. But think about how Yarong has a tiny baby, and Batu keeps urging him to take it easy because "you can't fight anymore. Your body can't take it" and the General who sends Yarong off on his fatal mission apologizes that he had to "inform you of this while your body is still changing," and then later this same General thinks of Yarong with this statement:"I have plucked the most beautiful flower in all Kugai ... ."

I guess only time will tell.

Park gets a little weird with names: there is a character called Genji (female, and supposedly Batu's sister) and another called Aragorn (the tattooed warlord of a clan that's being forced out by the General). Genji is a lot of fun - frankly outspoken, a skilled fighter, and a master of disguise. Aragorn's a pretty good character too, but I keep twitching every time I read that name ... .

Yaki's experiences in the Butcher Camps are all too realistic, except in one area, and I think Park is actually to be commended for not going for the sexual angle in most of what happens to her. I also like how Yatilla gives her a reason to go on and be strong. He's a very promising character, and I hope we'll see more of him.

My only regret thus far is that Yarong was killed off so soon. He was just my sort of character.

Comments

[avierra.livejournal.com]

Haha it's all good. Not everyone is going to like all the same things. :D (Rachel dwells on her appearance a lot as well, but only inasfar as she considers herself to be somewhat unnatractive. Yeah, like some big-busted, redheaded wench in a size-4 leather dress is going to be thought unattractive ;P)

FWIW, I don't think Sookie is a Mary Sue, but I can see how she comes across as one. I think that Harris was trying to do with Sookie was to create a woman who IS a girlie-type, and then throw her to the wolves (or vamps... same difference ;) )and see what comes out at the end. That's a bit of a different setup than urban fantasy.

Harris also plays with (or plays into, I am not yet sure which it is) a lot of stereotypes of the deep south, of which the ultrafeminine woman is one. So that's also some of what is going on, I think, but it doesn't make it any less exasperating for someone who doesn't like that stuff.

[chomiji]

I finished it ... I'll need to do a proper blog entry for it. But suffice it to say for now that I think the author just opened with a few unfortunate passages from my viewpoint, and they may well have been deliberately attempts to snag the usual chick lit crowd, and if so, no wonder I cringed away.

[chomiji]

We're all mentioning so many books in this post that I feel like I should pull them out and make a post that's nothing but a listing of them!

[chomiji]

I like mysteries, but I tend to like boy-type mysteries, like police procedurals. I used to read Ed MBain's "57th Precinct" series until it got too grisly for me. My favorites are Peter Dickinson's mysteries (or course he writes fantasy, too), especially One Foot in the Grave, The Poison Oracle, and King and Joker ... and I know I'm repeating myself, because we discussed his detective, Inspector Pibble, and the name made you laugh.

[chomiji]

Well, Morris in The Poison Oracle is a dysfunctional mess, and Dickinson emphatically shows that. In fact, the contrast between him and Anne is profoundly ironic: she's most definitely part of humanity, even though she's decided to become a terrorist, whereas he is not, even though he's acting out the role of a respectable person.

I'm sorry it upset you - I certainly didn't mean it to do so. I love the imaginary anthropology in the book, and Dickinson makes one very profound statement through Morris: "A society that allows you to become anything also allows you to become nothing. In other societies, you have to be what you are." The irony hits here again: Morris is thinking about Anne, but it's also true of himself. It isn't until he's forced into a fatherly role for Hadiq and Peggy at the end that he starts joining the human race and becoming a person.

I will say that The Poison Oracle isn't as much of a re-reader for me as King and Joker and One Foot in the Grave are. King and Joker is also Dicksinson doing female PoV - two of them, in fact: young Princess Louise and her elderly, bedridden nurse.

I keep forgetting about the Gordianus books when I go look for things to read!!

[chomiji]

>> Oh, hush, it's not like I was sitting up into the wee hours with nightmares or anything! <<

That was oddly comforting on multiple levels ... reminded me of when I rec'ced Swordspoint to my friend TK, he commented later than the guys had a pretty weird relationship, and I got all worried, and he came back and said, basically, "You know, it's not your job to supply me with happy gay relationship examples! Chill!"

>> the "what these people need is a honky" trope <<

Point taken. The other two I mentioned won't have that issue.

Well, I'll gladly borrow your Saylor books! I want to lend you the Hodgell stuff, but as noted, I think sanada still has the last two volumes.

[chomiji]

Dickinson loves getting to the bottom on the non-heroic character ... Inspector Pibble is a relatively mild-mannered little guy, for example. In One Foot in the Grave, he has some really vivid criminal characters.

Well, you never know what I might like (even though it's fairly easy to predict what I won't like). And Karl might like those Falco books too.

[chomiji]

Hmmm, more books!

I just figured out how to use bookmarks on my LJ Inbox. For someone with a technical degree, I can be dreadfully slow sometimes.

[chomiji]

I've been bad at keeping up with this ... not because I don't want to, but the trip is starting to breathe down my neck a bit. But I love getting mail from you, so I don't feel like dropping it either.

We'll have to get together when I get back, and swap books.