Demon Slayer anime episodes 1-4 By Haruo Sotozaki

Demon Slayer anime episodes 1-4

By Haruo Sotozaki

Before I being I should note that I'm not a hardcore anime fan. While I have watched anime series in the past since high school honestly… I'm fairly casual about it and don't devote nearly as much time or effort to it as I do my books. For example, I don’t bother really learning the names of directors, voice actors or show producers and so on. If I did, I'd likely be reviewing anime series instead of books, assuming I didn’t take one look at youtube and decide there were plenty of anime reviewers already. However, I should note that I was exposed to the anime first and picked the manga second to see where this had all come from. So keep in mind that might be influencing my review. Additionally, as many of you expect by now, Demon Slayer the anime will be getting two grades, the first is how it stands on its own and second being how good of an adaptation it is. I will only be discussing the first 4 episodes as they are an adaptation of the first manga, that I just reviewed. Demon Slayer is created by Ufotable Inc, a studio founded in 2000 by staffers from TMS Entertainment through a subsidiary branch. It's known for claymation sequences, Fate/Zero, adaptations of the Tales of video games and for owing the Japanese government a large amount of money. The lead director Haruo Sotozaki is known for directing a number of those Tales of adaptations. What little I could find out about Mr. Sotozaki is he's known for being fairly decent if not inspired work with some calling him conservative but able to turn in good work. This is my first experience with Mr. Sotozaki’s work so my own feelings are that he did a workmanlike job with this and I appreciate it.

The anime gives a lot more attention to the training of Tanjiro devoting 2 episodes of the 4 we're covering. It does a really good of conveying just how brutal and exhausting that training is despite using the standard montage narrated by the main character method of showing it. Although I think a lot of credit for that has to go to Natsuki Hanae, Tanjiro's voice actor, who found a way to communicate just how tired Tanjiro was with a single gasp in episode 2 and manages to sound like he's exhausted for most of the training. When he's not terrified that the training is actually going to kill him. I don't know if he just didn't sleep or went for a 5-mile run or something before reading his lines but it really worked for me. I think this also laudable when you consider the fact that I know all of about 15 words of Japanese, so Mr. Hanae manages to jump the language barrier and do so pretty effectively. I do feel somewhat sorry for Nezuko's voice actress who got all of like 4 lines and then was left with nothing as Nezuko spends of the run time either with a muzzle on or in a dead sleep. I did find training more interesting in the anime. I had doubts about the training system specifically, but those were verified and confronted in the story itself. I won't go to much into it due to spoilers but I do find some dark humor in the fact that Tanjiro basically had to be trained by a pair of ghosts looking for closure in order to really master his skills. Sometimes it takes the patience of the dead to really see something through. That said, I do consider the fact that a good chunk of two episodes is basically a montage meant to burn through 18 months a bit of a weakness in the story, which is much more noticeable in the anime than in the book. I get that not much happened in those 18 months compared to afterward but it kinda glosses over what would be a really important time in Tanjiro's life that would form how he deals with the world afterwards. Remember this is pretty much a 13 years old boy (15 years old when goes to the final selection I should note) who has lost his entire family to a brutal attack and is now spending everyday training until he falls over to kill things. This is a weakness in the manga as well but it's more glaring in the anime since they devote more time to it.

The art for the series is fairly good, with striking character designs that make every character easy to tell apart and well-animated backgrounds. The demon designs are well done as well. Even the demons that aren't heavy altered from the human baseline are easily recognizable as something other than human. The final enemy that Tanjiro faces, a demon that has basically altered himself to a mountainous body made up of grasping arms, a mouth and leering eyes is hideously striking and memorable. The anime doesn’t alter the character design work of the manga but does add color and detail to it. Although this isn't the first villain I've seen from Japan who seems to be a pile of hands and arms. So I'm wondering if some cultural context or reference that I'm missing out on here or if I'm reading way to much into it. The music is also very well done able to match the tone of the scene and invoke emotion without overbearing what's going on on the screen. All together the first 4 episodes are a good opening to an anime, we get the inciting incident, the character's reaction, the first obstacle and goal and the first triumph of the main character which leads him to a larger world. That said, there’s not a lot done here to make the anime really stand out, on a plotting or visual level. The voice acting and music do add to the overall experience but I don’t really think this was an amazing start. A good start definitely and certainly better than some I’ve seen (For example a while ago I tried Black Clover and that went stale for me fast). So as a stand-alone I would give the first 4 episodes a B. It’s well done, certainly better than average but not quite there yet.   Before anyone gets excited, remember we're only looking at the first 4 episodes. 

As an adaptation it does a remarkable job, adding to the manga instead of taking away and there are a number of scenes that have been lifted straight from the book. In fact, it follows the book almost beat for beat. That kinda hampers the anime a bit since with a bit of creativity they could have addressed the training without using an old stand by but it was a workable use of it. That said they did a great job telling the story while translating it to a new medium and did so maintaining the same story beats and character work. They also managed to add to that mostly through the efforts of the music and the voice cast. Although I should note that the work on the backgrounds was a big plus as well. Honestly, you could move between manga and anime without any real problems. As an adaptation, I'm giving it an A-, it's almost perfect but at times the strict adherence to the manga holds it back slightly. Thankfully the source material is so good that this isn't really a terrible drawback.

Join me next week as we embark into Military Science Fiction month, looking at the lady authors of the genre.  Until then, keep reading!

Or... Watching in this case?  I'm sure y'all can figure it out.

Demon Slayer Vol 1: Cruelty by Koyohara Gotoge

Demon Slayer Vol 1: Cruelty

by Koyohara Gotoge

Koyohara Gotoge was born in Japan on May 5th, 1988. She first gained attention by taking part in the 2013 Jump Treasure Newcomer Manga Awards with a one-shot named Kagirigiri about a young man with a sword hunting a magic-using vampire. She also submitted a story in 2014 named Monju Shirou Kyoudai that unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything about except that there are bugs and young ladies involved somehow (I… potentially approve?). Rokkotsu, her third work was also released in 2014. I was able to find a Japanese version showing a young man roaming around what looks like modern Japan fighting spirits and supernatural creatures that plague people. In 2015 she published Haeniwa no Zigzag, which is about a young man able to lift curses. Now, each of these works was a one-shot story that, while often over forty pages, were done fairly quickly. It wasn't until 2016 that she started on her first series, published in Weekly Shonen Jump: Demon Slayer. Before we jump into that series, let me talk about Shonen Jump. Weekly Shonen Jump is a magazine that features multiple comics and is the dominant magazine/comic in Japan, and might be the best selling and long-running magazine in the world. It was first published on July 2nd, 1968. Today it sells around 1.5 million copies a week (Holy Crap), compare this to the US market where a successful comic book rarely gets past 100,000. The current line up has such works as Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Dr. Stone; and in the past works such as Dragon Ball Z, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Rurouni Kenshin also appeared. While aimed at younger boys, it also boasts a large female readership (polls conducted in the early 2000s showed it as the favorite magazine of choice for middle school girls and boys, over 60% of its readership being under the age of 14). Which may explain some trends in anime in general but let's get to Demon Slayer already shall we? Quick note: There will be spoilers.

Demon Slayer takes place in Japan during the reign of Emperor Taisho (aka the Taisho period) between the years of 1912 and 1926. During this time Japan is rapidly modernizing and democratizing with a liberal movement known as the Taisho Democracy increasingly taking up the reigns of government. I'm not entirely sure when in the Taisho era but I'm leaning towards the beginning and possibly even before World War I. To be honest, most of the series as I've seen it is in the Japanese countryside where the outside world doesn't have much meaning at this time (Which makes dating things a bit difficult, yes. If you want to go Full Ham you could maybe use fashion, if the author is particularly fastidious about such things.). The main character is Tanjiro Kamado, who lives on a mountain with his large but somewhat struggling family. That struggle is unsurprising, given that his father is mentioned as having passed away recently (I say recently because one of his siblings is barely a toddler). To support them Tanjiro sells charcoal that he has to carry from the mountain all the way down to the village. The series opens with Tanjiro heading out to sell charcoal so he can buy food for his brothers and sisters as they good-naturedly clamber to come with him. Their Mother puts a stop to this, as the journey is a long one and might be dangerous for children. Tanjiro also proves popular in town and can even use his hound-like sense of smell to determine who broke a plate. However, he spends to long in town and has to spend the night with an elder of the town who insists that he do so to avoid being attacked and eaten by a demon. Tanjiro goes to sleep thinking this is just a bullshit excuse because the old man is lonely, and showing what a good guy he is resolved to bring his younger siblings next time so the old man will have more company. Tanjiro takes off the next morning and arrives home to find everyone violently murdered and blood just everywhere. Interestingly enough, it doesn't look like anyone in the family has been especially... gnawed upon. It's also interesting that they're only attacked after their father is dead. I may be overthinking it but I find myself wondering if there wasn't another motive to the attack, because if a demon attacked Tanjiro's family to devour their flesh... Why is no one eaten? I will ask readers who are ahead of me in the series not to provide spoilers, please. (Supposition: The demons don’t eat the flesh, they’re eaten in other ways. Or the demons could be after something else entirely. Dun. Dun! DUN!)

Now Tanjiro isn't the only survivor, his sister Nezuko survived but was grievously injured. Not seeing any other choice Tanjiro picks her up and starts moving down the mountain as fast he can in the snow and cold, and it's here that our story begins. Because Nezuko didn't entirely survive or at least she didn’t survive as a human being. Instead, she has become a monster or as it's translated in the series Demon. Tanjiro realizes this when she wakes up and promptly attacks him, although his pleas do seem to be getting through to her. I'll admit to being picky here about the whole thing because being a Westerner and a Christian for me, it's not a bloody Demon until it's a fallen and corrupted divine servant that is literally crawling out of the bowels of hell (Well yes, but this is a Japanese demon.). These demons seem more comparable to the Oni of Japanese folklore (creatures that feed on humans who have a wide variety of magical powers and massive physical strength) or vampires that eat flesh instead of drinking blood; given that they were all once human and will die if exposed to direct sunlight. Although I should note that the demons here can survive in direct sunlight. That said I'm willing to give it a grudging pass based on translations issues. Now Tanjiro learns all of this when he encounters Giyu Tomioka, a demon hunter who tries to take Nezuko's head.

This is a great sequence because we manage to learn things about all three characters and Ms. Koyohara does this very economically while still being very entertaining. In a brief confrontation, we learn Tanjiro is intensely devoted to protecting Nezuko and has an equally intense faith that she can restrain her darker urges. We also learn that when pushed he is capable of violent action and tactical thinking.  To the point of being willing to embrace tactics that have a high chance of injury or death if it will bring him the best chance of victory. We learn that Giyu is a cold but not uncaring or unreasonable man. He confronts Tanjiro, questions and roughly tests him but in the end, encourages him in an aloof and rather cold kind of way. Additionally, when Nezuko breaks free and throws herself between Giyu and an unconscious Tanjiro, to protect Tanjiro instead of attacking her helpless brother, we learn about Giyu and Nezuko. Giyu's reaction tells us that he will react to the situation in front of him instead of the situation in his head, being willing to take his observations without layering his preconceptions on top of them. That said, he will test his observations and just doesn’t accept things at face value. Which are enormously valuable and rare skills. We learn about Nezuko that having gotten past the initial trauma of her transformation she can and wants to control the urges that come with being a demon. Another rare and valuable skill. This leads to Giyu deciding to spare Nezuko and giving Tanjiro directions to a trainer to become Demon Slayer and begin his quest for a cure for his sister. Of course, the trip isn't free of dangers but I'll let you see for yourself what Tanjiro and Nezuko have to deal with.

The rest of the manga covers his rather brutal and difficult training under the masked Sakonji Urokodaki. Over the next two years, Tanjiro is trained in swordsmanship and a martial art focused on using his breathing to enhance his speed and strength so he can fight demons on more even terms. This isn't an uncommon idea since learning to breathe effectively is part of many training programs but Ms. Koyohara does do a good job of using it as the central pillar of the Demon Slayer arts and as an explanation of why her characters can do the crazy stuff they will be doing later. That said, I do think Urokodaki's training program has an issue since Tanjiro needed a pair of ghosts to show up and help him achieve full mastery of the skills he was taught but that's a discussion best dealt in the next volume I think. The manga ends with Tanjiro being sent to the final selection process, which I thought was honestly insane. My first thought was that the final selection process would be an advanced training course that weeds out those unsuited for the Demon Slayer life gradually while teaching such skills like how to investigate or find a hiding demon. Instead, Tanjiro is sent up a mountain where several demons have been imprisoned and being told he needs to survive up there with the demons for 7 days. He's not alone but none of the others are working as a unit so it's kinda everyone for themselves against the magically powered, man-eating horrors. This test is not graded pass/fail. This test is graded survive/horrible death! This is honestly the equivalent of having Marines who just finished their training have to storm a beach against live fire before they can actually join the armed services (I mean… D-Day was kinda like that with promotions to Specialist. {I can’t agree considering everyone in D-Day went through a lot of training specifically for D-Day and was already a member of an Allied military}). It kinda tells me one reason why there don't seem to be a lot of Demon Slayers and I'm sure the series will show me more.

That said, I enjoyed this book. Tanjiro is a great character, he's kind-hearted but still capable of action. His loyalty to his family doesn't override his beliefs or thoughts. Giyu and Sakonji are interesting characters as well even if we didn't an in-depth look at them. At this point, I can't say we have a lot to work with when it comes to Nezuko but I'm sure that her time will come. The fact that Ms. Koyohara can communicate so much about characters without long monologues or asides but through their interactions with each other and the world around them is the sign of someone who believes in showing, not telling. She does this not just with the confrontation between the Komado's and Giyu but in the opening sequence when she tells us everything we need to know about Tanjiro's life and family to understand the depths of his tragedy. The combat style that Tanjiro learns is also interesting, being water-based but more as the basis of the art's philosophy and style which gives it a distinctness. I also really like the art style of the series and will be discussing that more in-depth when we look at the anime. This is a great way to start a series and I'm very excited about it. That said, I'm not thrilled about ending on a cliffhanger, I know it's likely unavoidable given the roots of the series as part of a weekly release but it still irks me. That said that's my biggest complaint (the translation issue isn't an issue with the story, just how it's been transcribed to English so won't be affecting the grade) besides thinking we could have more from Nezuko. So I'm giving Demon Slayer Volume I by Koyohara Gotoge an A-. Come for the sword fights and violent murder, stay for the characters and good storytelling.

So tomorrow I'll be posting a review of the first 4 episodes of the anime.  Next week, my patrons voted for a military science fiction month and we will provide.  Based on their votes your editor and I have decided that this November will be the Women of Military Science Fiction month, where I will review a military science fiction novel written by a lady author.  First up as requested by our patrons, Warriors Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. Thank you for your support and keep reading!  

Traitors, Thieves, and Liars by Rick Griffin

Traitors, Thieves, and Liars 

By Rick Griffin

It's only been about 3 reviews since I reviewed Argo, another story by Rick Griffin. So I won't repeat another thumbnail biography of the man. I figured since my biggest frustration with Argo was that it was honestly too much story for its small page count, I should give Mr. Griffin another shot to see what he could do with some actual room to let his characters develop and his themes unwind. Traitors, Thieves and Liars is that work, a 300-page rewrite of his short story Ten Thousand Miles Up. Now I haven't read Ten Thousand Miles Up, so I'll be approaching Traitors, Thieves, and Liars as a completely new work. Mr. Griffin published this work through Amazon in February of 2019. I will note that this book is set in a universe shared with Greg Luterman

This novel is a space opera featuring anthropomorphic aliens, or rather, aliens that look like earth animals (Excellent the furries are back. Privet tovarisch). This is honestly a recurring theme in science fiction and fantasy although usually, you have a host of human-looking aliens with a few creatures that look like Earth animals thrown in for flavor. The most popular animal to be turned into an alien race in science fiction is cats as far as I can tell (In Deathworlders it’s raccoons.). In the universe of Traitors, Thieves, and Liars, there are no humanoid alien races, however, although not all species are one-to-one matchups to earth creatures. Case in point the Geroo, who are a kind of kangaroo/otter mix in their looks only they are bipedal and stand about 5 and a half feet tall. Most of the book is told through the viewpoint of Geroo characters, with the main characters being Captain Ateri and his chosen successor SubCommander Gert. Before I discuss them, let me discuss the situation of the Geroo species.

The Geroo's homeworld was destroyed generations ago and the Geroo exists mostly as refugees with many enslaved by the Krakun, a massive reptilian species that is incredibly advanced in technology, but brutal in its morality and their treatment of pretty much everyone else. The Krakun destroyed the Geroo's homeworld while trying to terraform it into a copy of their own (Jesus. They are dicks. Terraforming an already inhabited planet is messed up.{Oh the Krakun elite class is made up of monsters, no excusing it}). Since the Krakun are sulfur breathers and the Geroo breath oxygen this would have genocided the Geroo by default (Generally, if you need to terraform a planet, you’re going to kill the inhabitants except for some hardy bacteria {Wouldn’t introducing Terran plants and animals to a different planet, even if had the same atmosphere set up as Earth count as Terraforming though?} Kind of? I’d call it soft terraforming). However, deciding that they could be profitable the Krakun enslaved a number of the Geroo population. As will no doubt excite my editor's prejudices, the Krakun seem to practice a form of crony capitalism. The corporation that Ateri and Gert are owned by a company named Planetary Acquisitions which receives massive government support and aid. The Geroo live scattered across the galaxy in small colonies providing disposal labor, in remote stations and outposts or vast generation ships surveying the galaxy for more worlds for the Krakun to terraform (Krakunform?) into copies of their homeworld. Many of these communities are completely unaware of the other Geroo and are not allowed to interact. They have no say in their own affairs. Down to the Krakun dictating how many Geroo may be born in any generation and even when the Geroo will die because they execute any that reach the age of 60 years (Holy shit). They have no rights (Well yes, that’s what a slave is.{Being a slave is always a bad thing, but slaves in several cultures had rights, some could even own property, testify in court and leave property to their heirs. Not the Southern US of course but the slave code practiced in the Americans was an extremely harsh and inhumane one even among slave codes} Leaving Marxism aside for a moment, without due process, it cannot be said that someone has rights, because the ability to arbitrarily kill or beat someone into submission rather puts the kebash on all the others.{That’s just it, under some codes, masters didn’t have the right to put their slaves to death. They were still slaves so their lives sucked and enforcement of such laws were always a problem but we have trouble enforcing a vast number of our own laws. I’m not arguing in favor of slavery, I’m saying their position is pretty bad even compared to historical slaves}), as the Krakun can execute them for any reason without any sanction or even eat them if they feel like it. The Geroo on the generation ships have the closest thing to freedom in their lives as they can go years without even seeing a Krakun. However, the ships are remotely powered through stargates via a device called the Trinity. Any tampering or any detected research on the Trinity can lead to extreme punishments. For example, the story opens with a Krakun slave master declaring that he will turn off the power to a ship caught researching their power source... Unless the Geroo present him with the skins of 200 officers when he arrives on their ship in a few hours. He also broadcasts what happens on the ship in question to every other generation ship.

The broadcast was especially terrifying for Captain Ateri because he had been running his own conspiracy to study the Trinity that he dubbed the exit plan. Which was fairly bold of him since he was already in disfavor, having lost an eye and been whipped for some unmentioned prior act of defiance. Faced with the possibility that if his plan is found out, that his crew won't be so lucky as the last... He gives up... Or does he? When a group of alien pirates approaches him with a complex but barely possible plan to steal a piece of secret Krakun technology and offer in exchange a way to power his ship without ever needing the Krakun again, Ateri can't help but say yes. With his 60th birthday weeks away, who can blame him? Especially since the plan involves making the Krakun think they've found a viable planet for Krakunforming and Captain Ateri knows an obscure company rule that states no one can be killed while investigating a viable planet, no matter how long that takes. Of course, there are complications. First of all, they're going to have to hack the computers surveying the planet to make sure that it reads as viable, no matter what. This means bringing in a bunch of aliens while keeping it a secret from his 10,000 strong crew and his masters, who are going to be paying closer attention to him given the new planet. Too close for him to devote any time to working with a bunch of pirate aliens whose very presence could get everyone killed. Everyone is in danger of being killed as well because their new master is the daughter of the CEO and can't wait to order the entire officer corps of the ship executed so she can be sure she's properly feared (...Wow. I mean, she could just do it arbitrarily, right? Just go full Belgian Congo on a ship. {She is subject to company rules just like everyone else, company rules state that as long as there is a possibility that the planet is viable, No One Gets Killed}). Captain Ateri simply can't afford to place one foot wrong with her. So he's gotta tap the one Geroo besides his mate that he can trust to do this job. That would be SubCommander Gert.

SubCommander Gert is a good guy, fairly honest, good-natured and straightforward if a tad naive. At first, I was seriously struggling to see how he was in the running for Captain, he has next to no command presence, is kinda socially awkward and can be honestly a bit of a doof at times. However, Captain Ateri points out that Gert has never failed at anything major in his life, being able to succeed through a combination of natural talent, determination and pure luck. This would be a case of telling and not showing but the book does make a case for Gert subtly, showcasing that he's very brave, able to choose a course quickly and commit to it in a crisis and able to do what it takes to achieve an objective even when things keep getting worse. Which they do. Elements of the plan go wrong from day one, from their genius alien hacker screwing up her first covert insertion, to needed equipment explosively malfunctioning. Course this is when the two other traits that Gert has come into play. Gert is lucky. A lot of that luck comes from his determination but some of it is just the sheer dumb luck that can separate insanely successful leaders from failures and object lessons. The second is in the grand tradition of space captains, most famously Captain Kirk (And G’Kar). Gert is really into alien girls and it seems alien girls are really into him (Oh Dear God.). Gert is going to have to summon every scrap of wit and talent he has because he's operating alone and unafraid with no support from his unknowing crew and his Captain only really able to cover for him after the fact. Of course, there's the question of whether or not Gert can stand up to this stress test from the acid bowels of hell or is he going to finally break and fail during the most important mission of his life?

Mr. Griffin does a good job fully illustrating the many problems the Geroos face living under a frankly merciless and brutal regime that doesn't even value them as sapient but as self-directing cogs in the vast machine of profit and expansion (I mean, that’s how the average corporation sees its workers, just look at Amazon.). By keeping the story from their point of view we are forced to experience the universe the same way they do, a dangerous, uncertain place where any safety is an illusion because it can all be snatched away at the whim of a reptilian sociopath. The one Karkun we do see in the story openly sneers at “mammalian emotions”, just as an example. Which does bring up one flaw, that every Karkun we met is an utter monster. I mean that may be due to the isolation of the Geroo from their masters, they only met rich and powerful Karkun who profit massively from their labor but I would have liked some indication that the Karkun weren’t entirely made up of the kind of psychopaths who think eating sapient creatures is a wonderful hobby. Otherwise, I’m asking how did these manics avoid fucking each other over before they ran into aliens to exploit?

Mr. Griffin also does a good job keeping the Geroo from being too human but human enough that a reader doesn't have problems empathizing with them. When you're writing nonhuman viewpoints you do have to be careful to walk that line. Make your characters to human and readers begin to ask what's the point of having them be aliens, make them too alien and most of your readers won't be able to stay interested. Mr. Griffin also does a good job of giving us hints through dialogue and action that there is a wider universe out there but since most of our characters don't have a lot of contact with it, he preserves the mystery just enough to encourage the reader to want to find out more. That said Gert carries the story on his furry back, a lot of whether the story works for you will depend on your opinion of Gert. Because in the end, this book is about Gert and him becoming an adult and officer, which means finding out just what it’s like to make decisions that impact a lot of people quickly and on imperfect information. His naivety and general stumbling about can be a bit wearing at times. Additionally, there are times when it feels he only succeeds on pure luck or plot fiat. On the other hand, I do like his honesty and bravery. He's willing to literally step between his people and danger and pay whatever that costs. So I can see both sides here and I can't say I'm a full-blown fan of Gert, just that he doesn't irritate me. Also while Mr. Griffin tries to tell a complete story and stop at a natural stopping point in the story, it still feels kinda abrupt as an ending. I do also want to note that this is an adult book, there are characters that very clearly engage in sexual relations, although there are no graphic of explicit scenes (honestly you won't see me review books that are graphic or explicit enough to edge into erotica, as that's just not where I'm wanting to take the review series). Either way, I wouldn't hand this book to the kids. I also feel that a lot of the plot hinges on Gert's dumb luck which detracts from the story. Still, I found the characters and the world interesting enough and Mr. Griffin’s willingness to inflict rather drastic and meaningful setbacks to make up for Gert's luck balances it out to a point. I do hope that future books tone Gert's luck down a tad and give us more of him succeeding based on his wits and talents, however. All things considered, this is a great improvement over my last experience with Mr. Griffin’s work. I’m giving Traitors, Thieves, and Liars by Rick Griffin a B-.

If you enjoyed this review consider joining us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads, where for as little as 1$ a month gets you a vote on what books will be reviewed. Additionally, vote for theme months and for 3$ see the behind the scenes brawling between my editor and I. Next week with Holloween is coming up, let’s celebrate with a treat. Join me for Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge and we’ll review a bit of the anime as well because why not? Keep reading!

Factotum by D.M. Cornish

Factotum

By D.M. Cornish 

So here we are at the end of the series: The Monster Blood Tattoo. Factotum by David M Cornish, an Australian born illustrator, was published in 2010. The entire series was born out of a set of illustrations and notes of a fantasy world that Mr. Cornish had been writing down for ten years before his editor found out and demanded he write some stories set there. Mr. Cornish wrote and published three novels (all reviewed here), a book with two short stories, and some additional stories on the internet. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any other work in this world coming. In the unlikely event that Mr. Cornish reads this review, I would encourage him to return to this world and grace us with more stories set in it. Before I get started there is no way to review this book without spoiling Foundling or Lamplighter which are the first and second books of the series. So I would encourage you to seek out those books first and give them a read.

Factotum takes place on the Half-Continent, a setting that can be best explained as merging Oliver Twist with a Dungeons and Dragons game where the Dungeon Master is either a genius or a drug-fueled mad man (Warum nicht beide?). Of course, speaking from personal experience there are times where there doesn't be much of a difference (Indeed!). On the Half-Continent, the most powerful state is the Haacobin Empire; a sprawling Holy Roman Empire like state of semi-independent cities, feudal domains, and princely states, with a powerful Emperor and a weak central government (Hang the parasites, all power to the workers!). I will note here for upcoming writers that a Holy Roman Empire style state is a fantastic setting for many stories and allows for a lot of variations of government and traditions within the same country (Communism aside, this is definitely true.). The Empire is beset by enemies within and without, not just human enemies but a vast array of creatures called monsters. The various creatures that are counted among monsterdom are wildly varied in size and form, but many of them are dangerous to humanity and see them as a simple food source. Meanwhile, there are those monsters who would live in peace with humanity but the humans of the Empire have decided better safe than sorry. That said, I do have to point out that humanity has its own array of sins to account for (Well...yes). Such as trying to create their own monsters through dark experiments (to be fair, these are illegal but that doesn't stop a lot of people) and using captive monsters for fighting pits against specially bred dogs or in some of the more twisted places human fighters. As you can imagine a sense of grievance and righteousness is common through humanity and monsterkind meaning that it's hard to get anyone interested in peace.

Our main character Rossamund Bookchild is a citizen of the Empire and in Lamplighter just managed to avoid being tried for the crime of being a monster. I found the charge a bit ironic since one of the arguments his accusers used was that he was to good at killing monsters to be anything but one of them. Rossamund was saved by this when Europe, aka the Duchess of waiting of Naimes, invoked a feudal privilege to simply cancel a trail on account of her being one of the most important people in the Empire. This is on top of Europe being a professional monster hunter and a lahzars. A lahzar is a person who through having a set of artificially created organs implanted gains powers and abilities beyond that of mortal men. This doesn't come without a price, as they must at regular intervals drink fairly complicated potions called treacles to keep their body from rejecting the organs in question. On top of that Society's relationship with Lahzars is a complicated one, on the one hand, lahzars make the majority of professional monster hunters and without them, settlements outside of massive fortress cities might not even be possible as they roam the land slaying monsters who prey on humanity. They are paid handsomely for their labors as well as often being the stars of stories and plays. That said, they are often looked down upon as living beyond the bounds of polite society and many prefer that they do the dirty work and move on quickly. I'm honestly pretty sympathetic to the lazhars here, as I've had some experiences like that myself. Europe manages to dodge a lot due to being heir to what is practically a head of state however and can rub elbows with Arch Dukes, Barons and the vastly wealthy whenever she feels like it and she feels like having Rossamund serve her as her factotum. Europe isn't Rossamund's only ally, as his old teachers from the orphanage where he was raised reappear, determined to protect him to the last. They're both old retired sailors and honestly, I enjoyed reading their dialogue as it is full of salty sailor nonsense. Despite being in their old age, they're both rather talented and skilled men and are willing to make sacrifices to protect Rossamund. Which honestly adds to the burden Rossamund feels about his situation, it's all worked together rather well.

This book picks fairly quick from the end of Lamplighter, with Rossamund serving as Europe's factotum, which is a catch-all term for the men and women who handle the affairs and supplies of wealthy lazhars so they can focus on killing monsters. Among his duties is brewing and serving Europe treacles, something he proves to be rather skilled at due to his prior training as a Skold. A Skold being someone who makes and uses various potions and chemicals for healing and warfare. Before the creation of Lazhars, Skolds did most of the monster hunting but they can't match the sheer killing power of someone who can shoot lightning from their fingers. A good chunk of the book takes place in the city of Brandenbrass, where Europe makes her headquarters much to the dismay of the current city's Duke. Rossamund finds himself having to navigate an unfamiliar society as he's been elevated to new heights while fending off rumors that he is a monster birthed from magical mud pits in the image of man. The problem being, what if the rumors are right? Even if Europe decides she doesn't care that one of the people she's closest to is a monster, can she fight the entire world to keep him safe? While Rossamund makes friends and enemies of his own while trying to find out the truth of his origin, he increasingly has to ask an important question. Is staying with Europe worth the price she'll have to pay? Because while he is growing into abilities of his own, he is not a fully grown man yet and it is Europe who will have to fight, be it socially, legally or with her amazing abilities to keep him from literally being thrown to the dogs.

Brandenbrass is fairly interesting but the first part of the book where we are introduced to the setting is honestly the slowest. Much of it is set up for the plot and main conflict of the book, which is well done but I honestly found myself wanting to get to it. I don't think this is a failure of the book but I do think it's because we have an unfinished conflict boiling from Lamplighter that I wasn't that interested in more set up. Brandenbrass, a large powerful walled city with an ancient forest that no one dares go into at its very heart is a great idea and Mr. Cornish does labor to give a good view of it. Additionally, the most interesting characters in Brandenbrass are the ones we see the least of. For example, a fellow aristocratic woman who is also a monster hunter that only gets about 2 scenes. Much here is hinted at but given the book's complete devotion to only showing Rossamund's point of view, we don't get to explore these characters or their relationships to each other. That said D.M. Cornish does give us payout for all this build-up and hinting. When Rossamund enemies decide to make their move the result is an explosive and deadly fight. Additionally, we get to see Europe at work when she takes Rossamund out on a monster hunt and it's there we learn that not every human has set their hand against monster kind. Some would live peacefully with them whenever possible and some outright worship monsters. Those who worship monsters are no friend to their fellow man and you can imagine how they feel about monster hunters. So when Rossamund and Europe find themselves the focus of such a cult while monster hunting in addition to other enemies circling them. It makes for a dramatic confrontation, I am somewhat disappointed that some of the villains from the last book are handled off-screen in favor of dealing with new enemies but the battle that we do get do make for that.

This book is the end of Rossamund's story in a lot of ways and I don't want to spoil it. I will say that it's in this book that Rossamund learns who he is and what that means. It's here that he also decides his place and relationship to society at large. While his childhood has been over for quite some time at this point, this book really does mark his final steps into adulthood and because of that and the decisions he faces there is a bittersweet tone to it. Europe and he share real admiration and affection for each other, an unlikely friendship that makes both of them better people in the end. While I would love to see more stories set in the half continent or even other foreign lands away from the half continent, I do think this book ends Rossamund's story fairly convincingly. The entire series is set in an incredibly well-realized and vividly imagined world, helped with illustrations and a formidable appendix in the back of the book (where appendixes belong I remind you). While it started slow, it finishes well and brings everything together fairly decently. I'm honestly glad I read this series and I'm sorry to see it come to close. If nothing else D.M Cornish joins writers such as Garth Nix in making a strong argument that Australia can produce some very good fantasy writers. Factotum by D.M. Cornish gets an A- from me.

Factotum was one of the novels voted for by our patrons to be reviewed in October. If you like to take part in the vote, or suggest new books or vote for theme months, discuss the reviews and more. Please join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads where you can vote and comment for as little as a dollar a month. Join us next week for Traitors, Thieves, and Liars by Rick Griffin.

Thank you for your support and as always, keep reading! 

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

Conan Omnibus Vol II: City of Thieves By Kurt Busiek

Conan Omnibus Vol II: City of Thieves

By Kurt Busiek 

“Where is the worst of the cities of men? Where is the lowest cesspit of civilized wonder this world can offer?” Conan page 27.

We return to Dark Horse's run of Conan the Barbarian. Now, I did discuss Mr. Busiek and the origins of Conan in the last review and I hate repeating myself (No he doesn’t.{Oh good, my editor is here}). However, just in case you have no idea who Conan the Barbarian is, let me give you a brief rundown. Conan the Barbarian is the creation of the Texan author Robert Howard, who left us too soon. Conan was born in the hill lands of Cimmeria, a metal-rich but wild land on the edge of civilization. While capable of metalworking, his people still lived in tribes and clans riven by constants feuds and raids, in fact, the only things Cimmerians agree on is that it’s pointless to ask the gods for help (A sentiment they share with your editor.), and that everyone should drop everything and rally to kill outsiders if they cross into Cimmeria. It was after joining in one of these battles that Conan, for a variety of reasons, decided to leave Cimmeria. He became one of the greatest adventurers in his world's history and even one of its greatest kings but that is another story. In this story, Conan is young and grapples with understanding civilization at its worst.

The story picks up pretty much the morning after Volume I ends. Conan, having partied hard with people he just met, has been robbed and stuck with the bill. As you can imagine this leaves him outraged and after escaping the inn, he sulks by camping out on a hill that all the townsmen are terrified of. This isn't his wisest decision, as it turns out that hill is haunted and Conan spends the night fighting for his life. Conan staggers back into town the next morning convinced he needs to learn the lowest and vilest tricks of civilized men if he wants to avoid a life of fighting monsters beyond the understanding of mortals just because he's broke. Those of you who are passingly familiar with Conan's life can take a moment to laugh if you like (Look, having to do anything because you’re broke sucks. It’s okay to do those things for other reasons.). It's here that he is pointed to the city of Zamora, the city of thieves. If it sounds like I'm dropping major spoilers, folks this is the first thirty pages of a four hundred page graphic novel, all we've done so far is discuss the prologue. Buckle up, this is gonna be wild.

One of the things that makes Conan so interesting is that he's a flawed character without going overboard into tragic character territory and this volume gives us a show of those flaws and the virtues paired with them. In Volume One we saw that Conan's refusal to restrain himself lead to tragedy for his friends and family. While Conan still struggles with the practice of self-restraint, he accepted the necessity of it. That's not his only flaw though. Conan's pure bullheaded pride in this Volume will lead him into one disaster after another. In Zamora, Conan resolves to learn how to be a thief and how the corruption that plagues the civilized world works. His pride gets in the way, as he can't just unbend enough to humble himself and learn from men that he sees as inferior to him (“Teach me, you effeminate worm!” “Um. How about I not?” {You joke but that’s basically what happened.}). Additionally, it’s not enough that he be a thief. It's not enough that he be a great thief. Everyone has to know he is and has to know exactly what he stole and who he stole it from (Oh god. It’s like trying to be a viking assassin…). Now to be fair, some of this arises from Conan coming from a culture where you trumpet your deeds far and wide and in places like Cimmeria stealing from your enemies is something to be celebrated. In fact, if you were clever and sneaky enough, even your enemies will grudgingly respect your ability. In a civilized society, telling everyone what you stole and who you stole it from is a great way to get crowds of armed men after you. Especially since Conan never really bothers to make friends or allies of the other thieves around him (Oops). Additionally what Conan seems to have problems grasping is that the thieves and guards aren't opposing tribes locked in a cycle of raid and counter-raid but two groups within the same tribe, one trying to uphold the laws of their society and other determined to break those laws. Because of this Conan is constantly a target for the wrath of the law. I'm sure some folks would feel sympathy for the thieves but this is where I point out the virtue wrapped up in Conan's pride.

The vast majority of the thieves in Zamora feel no qualm at victimizing those weaker than them. Whether it's a starving girl who steals some bread out of desperation or beggars whose bowls are a little too full, the thieves of Zamora are brutal towards anyone they believe can't defend themselves. Conan, because of his pride as much as any moral code that’s still slowly pulling itself together in his soul targets the powerful and incredibly wealthy (Fight the power Conan! Taking their stuff and buying things you need with it is the only way that wealth will ever trickle down to the masses - unless you simply kill the wealthy that is! {I suppose tavern keepers and the sellers of jewelry for Jiara do kind of count as the masses}). There are good practical reasons for breaking into their fortress homes and robbing them, after all, they have all the bloody money! So Conan will break into the temples of dreaming pagan gods, the fortresses of judges, princes, and priests all to pillage their treasuries and laugh into the night. Of course, what happens the next morning is forces he can't fight (whether it be monsters from beyond the stars or just hordes of armed men) are unleashed after him but being in his late teens at this point, planning for the future isn't among Conan's strong points.

Of course, Conan isn't alone in this venture. The first companion he picks up is Jiara. He met Jiara when she partied with him, slept with him and then stole everything he had (What a wonderful way to meet new people…). Finding her a second time, Jiara convinced Conan that it wasn't her idea to steal from him and promptly decides to hitch her wagon to him (Phrasing?). This is for a couple of reasons. For one, Conan is strong and skilled enough to kill anyone who comes looking for Jiara over her own thieving. Second, Conan is a big, strong and very not ugly man who hates wearing clothes (I cannot blame her). To be fair, most of the ladies in these comics are wearing very little clothing, suggesting to me that Zamora must be rather warm so I suppose Conan could be wearing a breechcloth and nothing else out of solidarity with the ladies. Thirdly, despite Jiara robbing Conan of everything they had, when they met again Jiara was broke and Conan was flush with cash. Suggesting to her that Conan could be counted on to make more gold no matter the circumstances. Conan stays with Jiara because she's smart enough to take care of herself, she's a very good looking lady and she can even be helpful in scouting locations and gathering information. The relationship is interesting to read in the book as both of them are clearly in the relationship for what they can get out of it and neither one really spends any effort trying to understand the other person. As a result, you watch as Conan mismanages his relationship with Jiara to the point that when it hits the endpoint, you can't say Conan didn't get what he deserved. Of course, you can also say the same about Jiara. For example bragging about sleeping with a Magistrates new young and pretty wife, while your girlfriend is sitting on your lap is a pretty bad idea on so many levels that it's honestly not a shock what results (Oh dear. Cultural differences rise again? {I don’t think so, from what I can tell this would get him in trouble in Cimmeria as well. It just seems that Conan is pretty good at convincing women to sleep with him and being a randy teenager doesn’t take it very seriously. To be fair, Jiara isn’t the most loyal girl either but she doesn't flaunt that right in front of him and seems to expect him to do the same}).

Another major character that shows up is Nestor the Gunderman, a mercenary turned thief. Nestor is both a foe and an ally to Conan depending on the situation and over time Conan is forced to respect Nestor. This makes Nestor one of the few civilized men that young Conan has brought himself to respect but it is a major step for the young man as he is forced to admit that civilization can make formidable men that he can't treat lightly. Nestor for his own part starts out loathing Conan as a loud jackass who is going to bring trouble down on everyone's head but comes to see Conan as a capable if wild young man who is just in the need of some seasoning. Nestor is a bit older than Conan and while not as physically capable is wilier in the ways of the back alleys and courtyards of civilization and even teaches Conan a trick or two. The relationship here is pretty different from one that Conan has with Jiara. For one thing, it's pretty clear that Conan doesn't respect Jiara as much as he does Nestor. While I do think her gender plays a part in it, I have to point out that Conan was pretty respectful of Janissa the warrior woman in Volume One. So I think the main thrust is that Conan simply doesn't respect people who are dependent on others to commit violence for them. His disrespect for men who can't fight is more evident and aggressive but his disrespect for women who can't fight is still there in visible ways. This is another flaw of his, that at this point in his life he believes that respect comes from your ability to kill and it comes back to bite him as much as his pride does.

In this volume, Mr. Busiek and his team continue the same practice of making original Conan stories to support and serve as a bridge between adapted stories by Mr. Howard. In this case, there are three of these stories in the graphic novel, Tower of the Elephant, Halls of the Dead, and Rogues in the House. If I'm going to be honest, Tower of the Elephant is the most important one of the three to me and I'm pleased that they adapted it skillfully. The Tower of the Elephant is one of the must-read stories of Conan I would point anyone to, because of that I'm not going to touch on the details of the story. It's a story where Conan walks in determined to simply rob a place that everyone has told him is untouchable because he wants to prove them wrong. However, an encounter with Yag Kosha, the long-lived alien being imprisoned in the tower changes all that. Conan goes from being a thief here to someone determined to help right a wrong and correct a miscarriage of justice. I don't want to overstate this but its a step forward in Conan's growth as a character and person where he begins to grasp that some things aren't about wealth, pleasure, or glory. Not that Conan ever develops into a righteous paladin or anything but as he grows Conan does develop a moral center and a belief that there is a role for his abilities beyond just crashing through the world trying to do whatever or whoever catches his passing fancy and this is one of the seeds of that growth.

City of Thieves also continues one of the elemental themes of Mr. Howard's work, civilization vs barbarism. In this volume, we see an argument for the virtues of Barbarians, whereas the last work argued fairly convincing against barbarism without trying too hard. Here we see that even as a thief Conan doesn't prey on those weaker and more desperate than him and we see the dark side of civilization. As men prey on each other even in the streets of their own homes and lies become just as dangerous as lions. Of course in this same volume, we see that civilized men are just as capable of the same virtues has Conan even in the face of torment and death. This feeds into another theme that runs throughout many of Mr. Howard's works that of human decency and justice vs the law. In many of Howard's work, the law works to uphold the powerful and wealthy over the poor and this creates a conflict when the protagonist's sense of honor and decency runs directly counter to the law.  Nestor, for example, displays honorable behavior more often as a thief and a lawbreaker then he does when he's anything else. There will come a time when we explore and fully discuss Mr. Howard's themes but it's not yet. I do also want to say that the art in this volume is fantastic but I should note that the number of people who are practically naked or just naked means you might not want to hand this book off to some of the younger set. That said I really enjoyed this and Conan Omnibus Vol II: City of Thieves gets an A from me. If you enjoy fantasy or think you might go ahead and give this book a try, you honestly don't really need to read Volume One to follow what's going in this book so that's a plus as well.

This week's selection was voted for by our patrons.  If you would like to vote on what books get reviewed you can join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a 1$ a month.  In November our patrons have voted to make it military science fiction month and we are in a poll to determine what work will be our cornerstone.  It's neck and neck so please feel free to join us and cast a vote.   Next week we come to the end of the Monster Blood trilogy with Factotum by DM Cornish, which was also voted for by our patrons!  Until then, thank you for your support and keep reading!