or at least it is as far as Jak and Leander are concerned...except when those dragons are being created to use as weapons in a war.

When Jak and Leander formed their partnership to create enchanted pets for people neither of them ever envisioned a dragon being among their creations but that's exactly what happened in "Mages & Mechanisms" book one of Devin Harnois's series "Jak & Leander" and now here in "Weapons & Wonders" Jak and Leander find themselves tied to a military contract to create not one but six enchanted, mechanical dragons and they also soon discover that not only do others want their plans for the dragons but the limits that they'll go to in order to stop Jak and Leander from creating them are not only dangerous but could be down right deadly.

I definitely enjoyed this second book in the 'Jak & Leander' series more than the previous book and I think for me it was due mostly to the fact that at times the story seemed to be a bit more focused on the mystery and intrigue surrounding the dragons that Jak and Leander have been contracted to create for the military and at this point in Jak & Leander's relationship having the focus off of their personal relationship for a bit just seemed right. I honestly felt like it would have been like watching a lot of gears spinning if this hadn't been the case...however, there were still times when the focus of the story clearly shifted to bring Jake and Leander back into the spotlight for a bit and I very much enjoyed those times as well, especially towards the end when the changes and growth that they were each making individually and as a couple was more evident.

Along with the intrigue of stolen dragon plans and sabotage to their workshop where they were creating the new dragons there were some minor plot lines that created a bit of additional interest in the story without taking the story over or making things unnecessarily confusing.

The dragons are definitely one of my favorite things in these stories. I admit it I'm quite enchanted with the idea of a magically enchanted, mechanical dragon and I really, really like how Jak goes about finding a spirit to enchant the dragon. This along with the glimpses of each dragon's unique personality...which I think would readily lend itself to a story or two that was maybe a bit more dragon focused...just a suggestion from a dragon loving reader.

So, while I may not be quite as enthusiastic about this series as I had expected to be. Neither am I anywhere close to wanting to give up. The writing is good and there are still so many things that could be explored in this steampunk world that I've got my fingers crossed that the author has at least one or two more stories planned for Jak & Leander.

After all I did like the first story and I've enjoyed this one even more so I'm thinking that things are getting better and it's too soon to give up on Jak and Leander or their  enchanted mechanical dragons...especially if there're more dragons to come.

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An ARC of " Weapons & Wonder" was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Kazuhiko, a former government agent, is roped into doing one last job for General Ko, one of the heads of the government. She tells him he must deliver a package, which he soon learns is actually a young girl named Sue. In the first two volumes of Clover, Kazuhiko does his best to take Sue to her destination despite opposition from multiple sources. He gradually learns who Sue is, why people don't want her going free, and how she's connected to him. The third volume of Clover is a flashback to the time when Sue and a beautiful singer named Ora first met, the beginnings of Sue's desire to leave her cage. The fourth volume of Clover is yet another flashback, even further back in time, to the days when Ran escaped his own cage and met Gingetsu, a friend of Kazuhiko's.

Clover's biggest strength was that it was very beautiful. It came across like an art experiment on CLAMP's part - lots of negative space, interesting things done with panel placement and usage, etc. And since this is one of those tragic CLAMP series, there are lots of beautiful people looking sad. A few of them get to be happy for a little bit, but it fades into bittersweetness at best.

Unfortunately, this series is style over clarity. Scenes felt disjointed and didn't always transition in ways I could easily follow. The first couple volumes technically had quite a bit of action in them, but it didn't always feel like action because of the way CLAMP drew things. It was weird, and I struggled to follow everything that was going on. The end of the amusement park portion was especially confusing, and instead of giving me more of that story, volumes 3 and 4 turned out to be flashbacks. The story never returned to its present.

One thing I didn't know until after I started reading was that this series was originally intended to be longer. I don't know why it was halted, but it was, which explains why, after two volumes of flashbacks, the story just...stopped. It was immensely frustrating.

The story had song lyrics repeated frequently throughout, at least two or three different songs. I did my best to pay attention to any lyrics the first time they showed up, but I generally found them difficult to read (in a fancy font, often white text on black backgrounds). Also, song lyrics are just disjointed text to me - I can't even vaguely imagine them put to music unless I've actually heard that music before. After a while, I just skimmed any lyrics that came up, which was probably not what CLAMP was aiming for.

I was left with so many questions. On the one hand, the government acted like Clover power was a simple matter of math (a two-leaf plus a three-leaf would equal five and therefore be too powerful to oppose). On the other hand, it was clear that some Clovers' powers wouldn't be a problem not matter how many of them got together, so it really wasn't just a matter of adding up the total number of leaves. And did people like General Ko technically count as Clovers? The world-building didn't make much sense to me.

All in all, this is one of those series that I'd probably only recommend to CLAMP completists or comics creators. As much as I liked the visuals, the story itself was more difficult to follow than it needed to be and didn't have a proper ending.

Additional Comments:

Supposedly each of the different levels of Clovers got a different tattoo, but the one character who was a one-leaf Clover had a four-leaf tattoo. Was that a mistake on CLAMP's part? It confused me.

Extras:

A few pages of full-color images at the beginning of each volume in the omnibus, as well as a full-color bonus gallery.

Rating Note:

I struggled with rating this. The story is probably more 1.5 stars - it's unfinished, will likely never be finished, and is structured oddly for something that stops at the point it does. The artwork, however, is lovely, more in the 4-star range (the clarity issues make me reluctant to rate it higher).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I love Iain Banks as an author and as a human being (may he rest in peace) and it is only my usual dislike for science fiction (with a few feminist exceptions) that discouraged me from picking up this book earlier.

I should not be surprised that it's a book about weapons, war and masculine pursuits - it says so on the tin. It took me a while to become engaged with the story, but the narrative achieved an unexpected result - I cared about the barbaric soldier at its centre and I empathised with his feelings of guilt and regret.

The full extent of the chair and warship images doesn't become clear until near the end, and the time shifts frequently threw me so I had to work hard to keep abreast of the action. The payback was worth it and although I may not grab any more of Iain M Banks' sci-fi, I am glad I read this one.

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