When I was younger, I used to read manga all the time. In fact, it was the only thing I read for many years of my youth. However, getting older, I have fallen out of the habit of reading manga on a regular basis. It has been a very long time since I've read manga and I've been trying to get back into it. So when my partner came home with the first volume of The Earl and the Fairy she borrowed from work, I decided to give it a read. I have to say it's not a bad read.

 

I liked the simplistic feel to the story. You can literally just pick it up and fall into the story quite easily. The story is not convoluted to the point you don't understand what the fairies's roles are or how the myths of these fairies are interwoven into the actual plot of the story. And even though not everything is revealed from the get-go, it's not difficult to follow along with the characters.

 

Speaking of characters, I do feel like they were on the weaker side. The main character, Lydia, falls under a lot of tropes you tend to find in shoujo manga. She's supposed to be "tough" and takes "no nonsense" from the male lead, but she ultimately ends up doing whatever he tells her to do because she's "sweet and naive." The male lead, Edgar, tries to come off as charming and caring but he still manipulates Lydia every chance he gets. Mind you, he DOES acknowledge that what he's doing is wrong, but that still doesn't excuse the behavior. And even though I feel like the characters were not this manga's strongest point, it did leave me feeling that there's room for growth and I do think we shall see that growth in later volumes. I do have hope for that.

 

Lastly, the art wasn't anything special. It's very typical "cutesy" style with Lydia having pretty flowing hair and big eyes, whilst Edgar is all "broody" and "mysterious" and has darker tones to his outfits. I will say the outfits to the characters are very beautiful. It's not a bad art style, it's just a style I've seen before.

 

All-in-all, it was a pretty good read. It's harmless fun with interesting lore that, I'm sure will get explored more along with the characters' growth. I really did like what I read and I'm not opposed to reading the next volume. However, I won't go out of my way to read it right away either. If this sounds like your sort of manga, then go right ahead and pick it up. It's a pretty fast, simple read.

I read five books this month...sort of. Manga aren't really books but they count towards the reading challenge...so...whatever. 

I'm actually pretty proud of how much I read. Carry On and Days of Blood and Starlight took me way longer to read then I thought they would so I'm glad I had a chance to read three manga as well. Here we go with a brief, non spoilery, review of each book:

 

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

I LOVED this novel so much. Simon and Baz make me so happy and give me so many feels. I read 200 pages of this book in one night waiting for something to happen. I couldn't go to sleep until it did. Did you know that this is not Cath's Carry On from Fangirl? Cause I didn't, I thought it was. But, no. If you look in Fangirl all the 'snippets' from the fanfiction never happen in the novel. I checked. And in the note from Rowell at the end of Carry On she says that this novel is her take on Simon's story, not Cath's. 

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

This novel....it was amazing. I loved the first book of this trilogy so much. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the second one as much...but I did, so much. I won't spoil anything but it did involve kickass Karou who never let me down throughout the entire novel. I love Karou so much, she's probably in my list of top 5 favorite character of all time. 

The Early and the Fairy Vol. 3 & Vol. 4 by Mizue Tani and Ayuko

I decided to combine these two into one paragraph because they're from the same series. This manga series is only 4 books, so I completed it. Sure, the ending didn't really sum things up but that's what manga does. So...whatever. This series was so cute and I loved the fantasy in it. And oh yeah, the hot guys helped too. 

Bloody Mary Vol. 1 by Akaza Samamiya

This manga...its so gay...I love it. I bought it when I went to Barnes and Noble and they were having a buy 2 get 1 free manga sale. It looked so gay and beautiful...it's so much better then I originally thought. Ugh...I love the gay. I can't wait until March when Vol. 2 comes out. I need it so badly. Bloody is a cinnamon roll. 

This will be a pretty basic post my TBR (to be read) for Janurary! Hopefully with my plan to read one novel a week I can get this done! 

 

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

• I'm really excited to read this book! I'm already on page 200 something! It's so amazing and I love Baz and Simon already! If you don't know what it is it's the main character from Rowell's other novel Fangirl fanfiction. But it's so much more then that. You can read it as a stand alone as well. It's a kickass fantasy read with gay love! What more could you want? 

 

2. The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

• I cannot believe that this book is out and that I haven't read it yet. After reading it's precessor, the Iron Traitor, way back in summer of 2013 I needed the next book. At that time there was no news on the book. No title, no blurb, no release date. And then, magically early in 2014. Everything appeared on goodreads. I have been waiting long and hard for this book and maybe it's taken me so long to finish because I don't want to say goodbye to the lovely characters of the Iron Fey. 

 

3. Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes

• This series holds a special place in my heart. I believe that I was one of the first fans of this series, buying the book way back when the very first one was just released. Then no one knew of the series and there was no fanbase. Now, everyone is reading these books and they deserve the love. Morgan Rhodes writes an amazing fantasy series! With the fourth book already out I decided it was time to pick this beautiful copy off my shelf and read it. 

 

4. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor 

• I read the first book of this series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, a few months back and I didn't immediately go to this one because I had new releases coming out (namely Magnus Chase and Carry On). I cannot wait to get to this novel. The last book left me wanting to read this so badly. Laini Taylor is an amazing writer of high fantasy and if you haven't picked up this series yet I suggest that you do. 

 

5. The Earl and the Fairy Vol. 03 by Ayuko and Mizue Tani

• I started reading this manga series in the summer of 2014 when Barnes and Noble was having a buy 2 get one free manga sale. The first book was one I picked up. I loved the first one so much so I knew I had to buy the second one. And then, as I loved that one as well I bought the third. It's only a four book series so I'm pacing myself a bit. I don't want to miss it too much.

 

So that's pretty much my TBR. It doesn't seem like that much but a couple of the books are really long. Wish me luck on completing this TBR!  

The Earl and the Fairy is a short four volume series and while some series go on far too long this one ended leaving you feeling there was more that could have been said.

Set in 19th century England, Lydia Carlton is a fairy doctor-one of the few people who are able to see fairies. When she is rescued from kidnapping by Edgar Ashenbert, Earl Ibrazel, he claims to be the descendant of the Blue Knight Earl, human ruler of the fairy kingdom. But he needs Lydia's help as a fairy doctor to claim his birthright. But is it really his birthright to claim or is he lying?

The artwork was lovely but the story felt incomplete. We have a wonderful back-story set-up without the follow through. We have the Earl and his servants sold into slavery from England to the States as children with the hint that the Earl may be from an upper class family but why aren't we pursuing his potential family. And our villain never makes an appearance except in name. These would have made such interesting story lines.

Reading The Earl and the Fairy is like eating Cotton Candy--very sweet but not very filling.




Buy this title at Powells Books.