A Song of Crows (Bloodborne #3) - Ales Kot, Illustrated by Piotr Kowalski

This is the final graphic novel in my box set.

Honestly, I don't know how to describe this one. It's the story of Eileen, a hunter from the game, but it's a lot of confusion and "When is this?" She's remembering her friend who died, but she also sees him all the time.

Comparing it with the other two, I'd have to say this is my least favorite - story-wise. But! I loved the artwork in this one. The normal dark tones are brightened with lighter colors that I didn't expect. The result was a dark beauty that I can't really put into words. Many of the pages had few or no words, and it was a very visual journey.

Even though I had to look up the meaning of the story, I would still give this a Good Book! review. The art was really good, and I still liked the story. It may not have been my favorite, and I may have needed some help with it, but I still liked it!

The Healing Thirst (Bloodborne #2) - Ales Kot, Illustrated by Piotr Kowalski

I finally finished my Kindle book, so as a reward, I pulled this one out to read. I'd been looking forward to it.

A "doctor" and a priest are both working on trying to discover the source of the disease and why it's affecting different people different ways. They end up meeting in the sewers and end up trusting each other...but not entirely.

I liked the back and forth in this one. The story was dark and sad. The art, again, was wonderful. I don't have much more to say. It was a Good Book!

Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days - Karl Dönitz

As the father of the wolfpacks, Karl was admired by his men and feared by his enemies. It was ten years as U-boat commander and twenty days as President of Germany. This book was written in 1958, so he didn't have all the information of what happened during the war.

The book is very thorough when it comes to the U-boats. It gets really dry after a while. It seemed like a significant portion of the book was "U-boat 123 (Lieutenant Soandso) found a convoy and sunk 10,000 tons." And it felt like it was that over and over and over. There were little parts sprinkled in there that were a bit interesting, but then it was back to convoys and tonnage. I stuck with it because I wanted to find out about what happened after the war when he was President.

Toward the end. I was interested in the story, but it felt pretty sugar-coated. He claimed he didn't know anything about what was going on in the camps. He was on his boats and isolated to the point he couldn't have heard anything. By his own words, he was summoned to Hitler's presence more than once, and that wasn't on a U-boat. Other sources are claiming Karl was a dedicated Nazi and anti-Semite. These are things he didn't really address, and when he did, he acted like he was on the fringes of it. I've found that in a few of the German autobiographies I've read. I also found it interesting how he'd bring up attacks by the Allies he felt were inappropriate, but he wouldn't acknowledge the loss of life created by the war in the Atlantic. It was all about the tonnage.

The book was rough for me. I stuck with it mostly to read the recollections from postwar Germany. The problem is, when I feel like I'm slogging through a fairy tale from an unreliable narrator, I feel like I've wasted my time. I actually think I fell asleep three or four times while reading this. I don't doubt the accuracy of the submarine information at all. But once I got past that, I ended up being disappointed. I can't deny that he was a genius naval tactician, but I can't praise him for his regard for Hitler. If you're interested in the details of wolfpack tactics and the chaos they wrecked on shipping in the Atlantic, I think you'll get the information you're seeking here. Otherwise, you might want to skip this one.

The Death of Sleep (Bloodborne Vol. 1) - Ales Kot, Illustrated by Piotr Kowalski

I've always had a soft spot for the Bloodborne franchise. That might sound kind of strange, considering how dark and somewhat enigmatic the overall story of it seems to be, but I yam what I yam. I can't even really pinpoint what exactly draws me to it.

I've had my eye on these graphic novels for a while, and when Amazon had a buy 3 for 2, I got the box set that contains volumes 1-3. It sounds like they're all separate stories, so I'm going to review them separately.

The story of the first volume revolves mostly around the hunter and his internal fight against the dream. He is aware that he's dealing with the same things over and over, but he isn't really aware of how, or what to do about changing his situation. A small child may provide the answer, but they're going to have to escape the city of Yharnam.

I really liked this novel. I need to make sure to give the illustrators more credit when I'm reading these graphic novels. The art in this was 100% amazing. The book brought back elements of the game and gave them an interesting story. I loved it. Next up is The Healing Thirst. 

I'm still trying to muddle through my Kindle book, but I am making progress. My goal is to reward myself for making progress in that book by reading one of these. On the surface it sounds like I should give up on the Kindle book, but you'll have to wait for the review on that one to find out why I'm hanging in there. Anyway, this graphic novel easily earns a Good Book! review. My only regret is not buying it sooner!

Akira (Volume 6) - Katsuhiro Otomo

This is the end. The story of Akira comes to an end with the sixth volume where we learn the fate of Akira, Tetsuo, Kaneda, Kei and many others. I won't go into details.

I'm not going to lie. I had no clue what happened at the end and had to look it up online. When I was scrolling through the results, it looked like I wasn't the only one who had that issue. I really did enjoy the entire story, even though on the surface, it isn't really the kind of story that sounds like it would appeal to me. It was just at the end, everything went all strange, and I got confused. In that respect, I'd usually take many points off, but for some reason, I still enjoyed this a lot. It was unique and something out of the norm of my usual genres. This particular manga was instrumental in spreading the artform beyond the shores of Japan, especially in France and America. I think that's pretty cool.

I watched the movie a while back, and apparently it was different from the manga. I mentioned that I'd like to watch it again, so I'm going to have to track it down again and give it a watch. I can't really remember the end, so I'm wondering how it compares.

Overall, it's getting a Good Story! review. I didn't understand all of it, but I was able to get some clarity from the internet. I read a couple different views, and it was interesting to see how people interpreted the story. If you're interested in a good, cyberpunk manga with some cool themes, you might want to check out Akira!

Akira (Volume 5) - Katsuhiro Otomo

Next up, Tetsuo is gaining more power. It's beginning to be too much, but he doesn't seem to realize it. He's able to teleport and ends up showing his power on the American ships off shore.

The children are back together, and Lady Miyako convinces Kei she needs to be the conduit for all their power. It's the only way they will have a chance against that power. Kaneda isn't keen on that idea, so he goes off on his own to try and take out Tetsuo. On the flip side, they're trying to bring all the people together to witness the power of Lord Akira to keep up morale. At the end, we're getting ready for the showdown.

The cliffhanger in this one was pretty brutal, which is why I didn't wait long to read the next one. I also read the last one in a single day, so there's that. This one was really good, and I liked the time taken on the arc of Kei and Kaneda. Good Book!

Akira (Volume 4) - Katsuhiro Otomo

I'm up to book 4 in this series. It's just so convenient to read these on my tablet!

The two remaining kids, Kiyoko and Masuru are being hunted down by the new ruling power of Neo Tokyo: Akira and Tetsuo. Lady Miyako tells Tetsuo the pills he's basically eating for meals are inhibiting his true power, but he just can't seem to stop eating them. Some guy with great hair can't really get through to Tetsuo, so he eventually takes over and decides to storm Miyako's place. The two kids are trying to meet up there, but it becomes a bloodbath. Eventually, Kaneda appears as well. I've missed him.

I was getting a bit confused at the end. Things were ramping up, and I couldn't figure out how there could only be one more book, but guess what? There are two! Anyway, sometimes when these people are fighting, I can't tell who is who. And where did the weird person with the eye and super sight come from?

I'm happy Kaneda appears to be back, and I'm ready for the next one. It's waiting for me, and I'll be getting to it soon! Good Book!