Yggdrasil introduces a near-future world (this volume was originally published in 2006, the story takes place in 2010) in which the Leaves operating system is hugely popular. Wood Soft, Inc. bundled Leaves with a free-to-play MMORPG, Yggdrasil, which likewise exploded in popularity. Some players' avatars have even become popular in the real world.

However, something strange is going on in the game. Monsters have been spawning in areas they're not supposed to. The Phantom, a powerful avatar whose player is rumored to be a professional programmer who created nearly 30% of all of Yggdrasil's magic spells, often appears whenever these strange monsters do.

This volume introduces four major characters: Koki, a high school student who spends too many hours playing Yggdrasil; Haruna, one of Koki's friends/classmates, who is nursing a secret crush on him (so secret she won't even admit it to herself); Gyoku, an annoying Yggdrasil player who types with an accent and hits on all female avatars; and Aoi, a Yggdrasil newbie.

To be honest, this bored me. I've seen this kind of setup before, complete with the same types of characters. Of course Haruna has a crush on Koki. Of course Gyoku is a lech. I correctly guessed the real world identity of Teal, a famous singer who built her fanbase via Yggdrasil. I came close to guessing the real world identity of the Phantom (or one of them, at least, since there may be more than one). The only reason my guess wasn't quite right was because I thought “it couldn't be that simple.” Yes, it could.

The story was an unfocused mess. First, there's the larger story of the Phantom and the hacker who's messing with Yggdrasil. Second, there's the issue of the players of popular Yggdrasil avatars freezing under pressure – Teal's player is reluctant to release more songs now that she's so popular in the real world, and the Phantom's player disappeared after he became popular. Third, there's Haruna's not-so-secret crush on Koki.

All these things could potentially have worked well together, but instead I felt like they were all fighting for story space. Haruna's crush, in particular, took up more pages than I thought were warranted. There I was, wanting to know more Yggdrasil and Koki's part in it all, and instead I got Haruna's friends teasing her about Koki and the size of her breasts (“They say [breasts'll] get bigger when a man massages them!” Wtf?).

The artwork wasn't to my tastes, either. Sometimes it looked fine. Sometimes it was so sketchy and dark that I had trouble figuring out what was going on.

I'm not interested in reading any further – maybe a good thing, since the third and final volume appears to be somewhat hard to get.

Extras:

A 2-page "Yggdrasil Official Terminology" section, a 2-page comic-style author's postscript, and a grand total of four translator's notes. The official terminology section turns out to be very useful for clarifying details that were a little confusing in the story.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Worthy but dull.

Picking Bones from Ash is one of those subtle stories that has more depth than a reader initially realizes. Not just a ghost story, this is ultimately a story about family - what brings one together and what tears one apart. For those unfamiliar with Japan and their culture, Ms. Mockett introduces the reader to the intricacies of Japanese families, the beauty of its geography, and the grandeur of its religious sites while bridging the gap between East and West with a story that resonates no matter who is reading it.Told in three distinct sections, the strongest of these belongs to Satomi as a young girl. As a girl who is desperately seeking love and acceptance by her mother, whose main goal is to see her daughter succeed, the reader's heart goes out to this conflicted narrator as she struggles to determine whether her fate lies with piano or elsewhere. My mother always told me that there is only one way a woman can be truly safe in this world. And that is to be fiercely, inarguably, and masterfully talented. (pg. 3)Love through talent - this drive on the part of Atsuko can resonate with readers who have been pushed down career paths or into after-school activities that they may not want in an effort to live up to their parents' expectations. Satomi's plight takes on greater resonance when she experiences life in the West and the pull of another way of life.Rumi's story, as she unravels bits of her past, is not quite as compelling. Her relationship with her father is not as angst-filled or torturous, and Rumi is not as spirited or as willing to defy tradition and her family as her mother was. This makes for a less intriguing narrator. The Gothic feel of this section is a bit jarring as well, as it is out of place from the rest of the novel.The two sections come together quite nicely during the denouement, as the reader understands the symbolism behind Satomi's and Rumi's stories. As they come together and meet face-to-face, the reader gets a clearer picture of the complexities of the Japanese culture and how the two main religions have created this unique landscape. More importantly, the reader gets the chance to delve into the ideas behind parenthood and the sacrifices that being a parent may or may not entail. Atsuko is quite a different mother than Satomi, but is either one right or wrong? Ultimately, it is up to the reader to decide.Picking Bones from Ash was a great introduction to the nuances and beliefs behind the Japanese culture. Satomi is a strong character, and her problems finding her path in her world resonates well with the reader. The rest of the cast is not quite as strong, and the story itself loses steam as Ms. Mockett deviates from Satomi's quest. Thankfully, the stunning descriptions and flawless prose balance these minor concerns, and the overall story is one that is poignant in its simplicity but lingers like a fine wine upon one's palate. For a reader who is looking for a way to broaden his or her horizons and become acquainted with another culture without straying too far from the familiar, Picking Bones from Ash is a great novel to accomplish this.

I picked this one up at random and found it surprisingly good, with believable characters, broad emotional range, insight into cultural boundaries, and just the right level of narrative tension to keep me interested.

This novel uses a story about three generations of women to explore Japanese culture and its differences from Western culture. Using the three perspectives of the grandmother (born and lived in Japan), the mother (born in Japan but exposed to Western culture), and the daughter (born and raised in the USA) the book explores the differences in culture viewed from the inside looking out and from the outside looking in. The story is filled with unanswered questions--the mother never learns who her father is, and the daughter is told that her mother is dead but can’t get clear answers to where she is buried. It is the daughter’s premonitions that lead her to travel to Japan to seek answers. Will her questions be answered? You’ll need to read the book to find out.

I disagreed with many of the editorial reviews of the book that say that the best part of the book is the first part. I thought the early part of the story was a fairly flat coming-of-age narrative. It wasn’t until the first person narrative by the daughter later in the book that I felt like the story was getting interesting. I wanted to know what had happened to the mother. The questions kept getting piled up until near the end we learn some of the answers. The daughter never learned to speak the Japanese language so her trip to Japan came close to being that of a typical American tourist.

I thought it was a good book. It’s an informal way to learn about Japanese culture, their burial customs in particular. Toward the end of the book the differences between Shinto and Buddhist practices are described. Along the way there are many informal differences in cultural attitudes that are mentioned such as how one should use the hands to point when explaining directions. This book also describes the world of buying, selling, and (in some cases) stealing oriental antiques. Parts of the story take place in Japan, Paris and San Francisco, so it has a bit of an international flavor.