The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff

The Gale family is an interesting one. Things seem to work in their favour more often than not, you could even call them special... Or witches, same difference.

Alysha Gale is a 24-year-old who, after losing her job, is forced to move back home with her extended family. Her family is large and in each others business and runs on something of a coven-like structure. The women rule the roost, and power increases with age. Things are normal, if depressing for Alysha, until the day when she receives a letter from her eccentric grandmother, stating that if she is reading this letter, her grandmother is dead. This is concerning news because it takes a lot to kill a Gale woman, and if you attack one you attack them all. Her grandmother's letter instructs her to go across the country to manage a store she was running there, and to settle any affairs she had outstanding. When she makes her way to her grandmother's store, she finds that the store is not as ordinary as your normal junk shop may be, nor are its patrons, and not is the town. On top of the everyday weirdness, she discovers that a sorcerer (not a friend to witches) has sent his apprentice to keep an eye on Alysha to make sure she doesn't interfere with his... plans. There's a big threat coming to town, and if the sorcerer's afraid, it's definitely something powerful and not good. What will Alysha do about the apparent danger in the city, not to mention some... interesting characters she comes across.

I enjoyed this novel, though it took a while to get off the ground. The author sort of just throws the reader into the culture of this family without really taking time to explain the rules or behaviours. In a way it's interesting because that is how a stranger would approach a culture like that, learning bit by bit along the way. On the negative side however, a more effort is spent at the beginning of the book guessing at what's happening and trying to figure out just who this family is and what they are than your average book requires. This writing technique also subliminally adds to the clannish nature of the family and the difficulty one would have actually getting to know them as an outsider. That said, once you are introduced, the family culture it is pretty intricate and fun. I liked Alysha as a main character. She was lost and unsure of who she was or where she was going pretty much throughout the entire book, but despite that, she always took challenges head on and ultimately had the spirit of a leader and a fighter. That spirit grew stronger as the novel progressed. There was good character development throughout the book. Most of the main characters and even some of the minor characters showed various levels of growth over the span of the story. Both the plot as well as the character development were well thought out and provide the reader with a lot to pay attention to. She also has a lot of fun with the dialogue, letting her characters be both bitingly sarcastic and comfortable with some puns, which can be fun in moderation. Overall this was probably not the best contemporary fantasy I have ever read nor the most gripping, but it is a fun read with interesting characters and an engaging plot.

The author is Canadian and the story takes place in various Canadian cities, so there is a bit of Canadiana that the author plays around with throughout the story, so if you know something about Canadian culture you'll be slightly entertained or annoyed, but if you don't then you might be slightly confused at times.  A disclaimer for younger readers is that there is suggested sexual content. There are no explicit scenes but there is plenty of suggestion, and sex is linked to how the witches manage their power and how the family dynamic works. It's a good in between books book.

I Dream Dragon

I have loved dragons all my life. Here are some fictional books that have enhanced my love and have helped to paint the world in which they live.

Harper Hall of Pern Trilogy - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums- great trilogy about a young girl who lives in a place where music is forbidden to girls and dragons are only for dragon riders, until one day she runs away from home and stumbles upon a clutch of small dragons that bond with her.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles- Dealing with Dragons, Seaching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Talking to Dragons- amazing series about a princess who was captured by a dragon... and doesn't want to be rescued. Instead she befriends the dragon and they go off on adventures. The old covers look so much better than the new ones.

The Dragons Chronicles- Dragon's Milk, Flight of the Dragons Kyn, Sign of the Dove - a collection of books about girls who can speak with dragons in a time when dragons are being hunted down and killed. These girls try to save the dragons.

Song in the Silence - story about a young woman who falls in love with a dragon. Not as cheesy as it sounds.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader- chronicles of Narnia. book 5. One of the selfish children gets turned into a dragon.

The Ice Dragon- story about a girl who loves the cold and because of her inhuman tolerance and love of it, creates a bond with the legendary ice dragon.

The Book of Dragons- great collection of short stories by E. Nesbit, a classic children's author.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher- a young boy escapes some bullies by running into a magic shop and comes out with a dragon egg.

How to Train Your Dragon- story about a viking boy who isn't very good at being a viking, but his strange dragon training techniques may just save his town.

Kira (Shadow of the Dragon)- after the capture of their family, two sisters befriend a dragons and go about fulfilling a prophecy about bring down an unwelcome kingdom.

Dragon Slippers- Taking a few notes from Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, this is a story about a girl whose aunt offers her to the local dragon so that a prince will come to save and marry her. When the prince comes she blows him off and goes her own way, but takes a pair of shoes from the dragon's cave. She meets with another dragon later on and befriends it.

Dragon's Blood- boy tries to train a dragon

Dragonhaven- boy takes care of a dragon. Not as good as her other books, but not horrible.

The Paper Bag Princess - classic story book about a princess who goes off to save her prince from a dragon. After she outwits the dragon and saves him however, she realizes that he's not worth the trouble and leaves him in the dust. All of his stories are better when you hear him read them, so look up the audio... it might be on his website.

Tell Me A Dragon- This book doesn't really have a plot, it is more a collection of different people saying what kind of dragon they have, and by dragon I would assume they mean imagination. It goes through many different kinds of dragons, fire breathers, ice dragons, big dragons, etc. and is more a kind of book to inspire you to take pride in your own imagination than it is taking you through someone else's.

Eragon- farm boy finds a dragon egg and forms a bond with the dragon when it hatches, they go on adventures.

Dragonheart- Great movie about a dragon who gives his heart to save the life of a prince.. and it backfires. Two words. Sean Connery.

Pete's Dragon- An orphan and his dragon friend, who is invisible unless he so chooses, meets a nice lighthouse keeper and his daughter.

Fairy Wings by Lauren MIlls

Fairy Wings is a story about a fairy named Fia who was born without wings, and because she isn’t flying around with the other fairies and instead plays with frogs and rats and crows, she is ridiculed and outcast. One day while she’s playing along the river, a boy fairy finds her and asks her to play. He tore one of his wings and is grounded for the time being. Fia tells him that she can fix his wing and they play together for a while. when Fia returns home that evening her family tells her that the royal family has come and is throwing a ball. Her sisters don’t want Fia to come because of her winglessness but her father says that she could attend. The night of the ball her friends frog and rat bring her a chair floating on a lily pad with wings on it and pull her to the centre of the ball. as it turns out the her friend who happens to be the prince sent over the chair to her (and her friends added the wings). He lifts her out of the chair and dances with her, but when he lifted her everyone sees that she doesn’t have wings, especially the king and queen and they are outraged and they send her away. Right after this happens however, a troll comes by and captures all of the fairies at the ball in a net and walks off. Fia scrambles around to find help and comes across some woodkins. Normally woodkins don’t like fairies because fairies are mean to them, but they like Fia because she doesn’t bully them. They do not go with her because they feel that it’s bad luck to help a fairy, but one of them tells her a riddle about trolls that will help her. And the riddle goes like this, the old troll’s home is a rat like place. his greed is a frog like thing. but when crow wakes, troll hides his face, or gather moss not wing. Fia then goes to save the fairies with only her friends rat, frog, and crow and solves the riddle, turning the troll into stone. Then all the fairies fawn over her and the royal family want her to marry their son.

This story is somewhat predictable and almost feels a bit overplayed because of the every popular Cinderella story line, but I do like this story because unlike many stories these days, Fia doesn’t gain wings at the end of the story. The fairies just accept her as she is, she doesn’t have to change her form to become acceptable, which is where the story deviates from the Cinderella idea. The prince takes time to notice her and like her when she is playing in the mud and being herself, and the rest of the fairies only accept her after she saves them even thought they’ve treated her so poorly, but no ugly duckling transformation takes place. This is really rare in children’s books, and adult books too, and is really discouraging to people with disabilities or differences. There are very few stories saying that you don’t need to change your physical state of being to be accepted. She still ends the story getting married, not so great, but it’s still really refreshing that she remains wingless.

The Hollow Tree by Janet Lunn

I really enjoyed this book when I was younger, and read it more than once.

It is a story about a girl named Phoebe in the time of the American revolution. Phoebe's father was a rebel in the war and was killed, so she had to go live with her loyalist relatives. Her elder cousin was fighting in the war as a loyalist, but was caught for being a spy and hanged. As children, Phoebe and her cousins were close and they would play games or send messages by leaving each other notes in a hollowed out tree. After her cousin's death, Phoebe goes to this tree and discovers an undelivered mission that her cousin was unable to complete, so she takes it upon herself to deliver the message. She sets out on her own and travels over a mountain, picking up a stray cat and a bear cub on the way. After she got across the mountain she meets up with a group of loyalists traveling to Canada so they won't be killed for supporting the king. She travels with them for a while before going to complete her mission.

I'm not sure whether or not this person actually existed in history, but if she didn't, this story sort of mimics the Laura Secord story. It's a fast paced novel with action, adventure, and a bit of romance. It's well researched and overall, and enjoyable read.

Where the Spirit Lives (1991)

This is a movie about residential schools in early North America. Residential schools are essentially schools set up by christian churches in early North America with the sole purpose of purging Native Americans of their language/ heritage/ pride/ what have you. Children were taken from their families and forced to attend these schools wherein they were forced to conform to the European way of life. Many children were severely abused and sadly the last residential school was closed down only 10 or 20 years ago, so this is by no means an issue from the distant past.

I first saw this movie in late elementary school early/ high school (on my own time) and it really opened my eyes. Up until that point I'd enjoyed a much happier view of Native American people, relying more on fiction than anything else. And while fiction is based on fact and there are some very good aboriginal fiction books out there, the one's I read were set in the past and painted a proud, concrete glorification of the culture and didn't really mention the current state of Aboriginals in North America. And in school we don't learn too too much about this aspect of history (history as told by the conquerors I suppose) just that Nunavut was created as a territory solely for the use of the aboriginal people, which is nice, but in elementary school they don't tell you why that step was necessary, or not in much detail anyway.

The story here is about an aboriginal girl who, along with her younger brother, were kidnapped by a white pilot and brought them to a residential school to live. We are given the pg version of the story and more of the abuse is suggested rather than shown, but several reviewers of this movie stated that it is an accurate depiction of residential school life, speaking from their supposed personal experiences. The girl in the movie does end up escaping from the school, but not many children were as lucky as this, and keeping movies like this around is an important step in remembering the wrongs of the past to ensure they never happen again.

The heroine of this film was very strong and resilient and she didn't loose her culture to the one being forced upon her in the residential school. Overall this was very well done.

Blue Girl by Charels De Lint

This was a really good book. I picked it up on a whim having heard good things about it, and it lived up to its expectations. I was kind of hesitant to get into it because it's about some street tough girl who has a run in with faeries, and I suppose there is a huge potential for this story line to destroy itself with cheesiness. But I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was put together.

Imogene's a bitingly clever, strong, mature heroine. The book starts with her family moving to a new town and her attending a new school. She was with a rough crowd in her old town and was raised by hippie parents who gave her space to live her life. So as a result she's seen enough of the world to be comfortable with who she is when we meet her and has a kind of inner calm, not getting too caught up with the appearance of things, like social status. So she befriends a solitary girl named Maxine.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, it was full of adventurous energy and I wouldn't have minded if it continued on without any supernatural interference. But she meets a ghost who unintentionally brings her to the attention of some unfriendly faeries. Even though faeries are introduced to the story, the mood doesn't go all whimsical and light spirited. This is a great dark faerie tale for teens.

Imogene tackles all of her problems by herself, which I found refreshing. She didn't go running to her boyfriend or family or friends for help, though she recognizes that they are there for her and her friends don't let her go into trouble by herself, she doesn't cling to them and finds strength within herself. I've read many stories trying to achieve this character or this mood and they always fall short of success. This is one of the few teen books I would recommend to someone without commenting on what I found unsuccessful about it. It was just really well written. I recommend.

Clever Katya: A Fairy Tale from Old Russia by Mary Hoffman

 This story is about a girl who uses her head to help out her father who gets himself in trouble over a donkey. A man gave Katya's father a horse and that horse had a baby with the father's mare, so the guy who first gave the horse wanted the foal, so he took the case to the tsar. The king gives out a riddle to the two men and says whoever answers the riddle gets the foal. The riddle is 'What is the fastest thing in the world, what is the fattest thing in the world, what is the softest thing in the world and what is the most precious?' The other guys asks a neighbour who owes him some money and the father asks Katya. I won't tell you the answer, but I'll say that Katya won. The tsar was interested in these answers and asked the father who told them to him, to which he replied his daughter. So the king asked the father to bring Katya to him, but he said that 'She must come neither on horseback nor on foot, neither naked nor dressed and neither bringing a present nor empty handed.' So she goes to him in the way he asked, and at the end of the book he marries her because she was the most clever person in the kingdom.
 
This was a nice story based on an old Russian folktale. The pictures are beautiful and colourful with nice traditional, colourful borders surrounding them. I first heard this story in grade 3 or 4 and it was one of those that I remembered to this day. It's one of those odd books you'll find where the girl gets the guy because of her brain, not her beauty. a beautiful story. I recommend.

Mollie Whuppie and the Giant by Robin Muller

 Mollie Whuppie is a strong and smart heroine that courageously goes about accomplishing tasks others fear. In this story she and her sisters are lost in a forest and make their way to a giant's house. This giant has caused a lot of trouble for travellers and people in the area because he's so vicious. The giant plans on killing them but mollie outwits the giant to get herself and her sisters to safety at a nearby castle. The king asks mollie to go back to the giant a couple of times to get some things the giant has stolen and each time she's successful one of her sisters marries someone in the king's court. At the end the giant dies and mollie gets engaged to the prince, but doesn't marry him as she goes off to have adventures.
 
This is a great story with a strong, proactive heroine. Mollie never hesitates, she's always confident and courageous and charges head forward to get things done. This book is great to read out loud as well as there are catchy rhymes that break up the prose, though that's pretty easy to read as well. The pictures were expressive too. A fun book.

Chronicles Of Faerie by O Melling

 I believe I first read this series is grade eight for a book report... and boy has it stuck with me since then. This ranges as one of the first 'adult' fairy books I've read and inspired me to further my fairy obsession. And when I say adult I don't mean 'adult', I refer to the fact that this story isn't about the fairies we use to entertain children. Stories like this one draw their content from the fairies of mythology, from Irish/ British myth and legends.
 
In this book there are three stories, there is a fourth and concluding story, but that's not in this edition of the book. Basically, the series focuses on different girls and their interactions with the fairy world. 

In the first two, The Hunter's Moon and The Summer King, there are two girls and one get taken away by the fairies because she has caught the eye of a fairy king and we the readers are left with the girl left behind, who goes in search of the missing girl. The girl the reader is with eventually comes into contact with the fairies (which takes a lot of work as we might imagine) and she discovers that there is a problem. 

In the first it was the Hunter's Moon, a monster that demanded sacrifice (which they fought) and in the second the problem's focus is on (you guessed it) the Summer King. I won't go into a lot of detail because it's been a while since I've read them and I don't want to spoil anything. The third story is a bit different than the first two it's called The Light- Bearer's Daughter and there's only one girl in the story... the light bearer's daughter (the title's are really helpful). The girl in this story is half fairy (that would be the light- bearer side) and she goes in search of her fairy mother. This story is continued in the final installation, or I should say expanded upon because there is something of an appropriate ending in this book.
 
All of the stories have strong, proactive heroines and are rich with fairy lore, making the possibility of fairies come alive for a new, younger generation. A good thing about the series is that the characters from the previous books will make an appearance later on in the series as a minor character, kind threading it all together.
 
I strongly recommend this series. I have very fond memories of it when I was younger and have actually purchased it not that long ago. It's a great intro to faeries for those who are unaware, and for those who are, well its a fun ride. It's aimed towards a late elementary school, early teen audience, but can be enjoyed by anyone with a like interest. It's pretty well written and doesn't take much time to get through. I recommend.

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen

This story was somewhat reminiscent of the Alanna series, what with the cross dressing to fulfill a dream. I'm not all that well versed in Arabian culture, but from what I know of it this story seemed to be a valid representation. Buran is one of seven daughters, and of course in a patriarchal society this is not the best of luck as your daughters can't work or (in this case) even go out into public. She was her father's favourite and as there were no sons, her father taught her to read and write and play chess, basically educated her, and spent time with her in place of the son he never had. When Buran's father gets sick he realizes that his family will be in trouble if anything happens to him, and as a result he allows Buran to go out into the world, as a man, to try to better their family's fortune. She's a clever and courageous heroine. She comes up against several obstacles and approaches them with her strength of will and sharp wit. The story was set up well and the characters were discussed in sufficient detail, or enough so that a reader of the target age wouldn't be left wondering anything. It was well written.

The Sacrifice by Diane Matcheck

This was an amazing story about the development of inner strength and the overcoming of inner demons. The heroine of this story was very strong, the reader could track her development as the novel progressed. I won't go through the whole plot as that would probably take some time, but suffice it to say that the heroine approached all of her problems head on and gave the reader the impression that she was sure of her actions (though maybe not the driving motivation in the beginning). She resolves to do something and then carries it out to the best of her ability. as the story progresses she becomes less obsessed with the past and gains a more... present (for lack of a better word) grasp on herself. In the beginning she sets out on this journey to prove herself, and by the end of the book she reaches a place within herself, where the most important things in life are not society's perception of her or her material possessions or status. The most important thing is not that she is the great one (never in the story does she doubt this, but at the end it is not her focus any more), the most important thing is that she live her life as best she can.
 
I think that this story was told well for the level it was targeting. There wasn't really any gore in it, though it was implied that the characters partook of such activities, and it portrayed the heroine's overcoming of obstacles effectively. It doesn't present the most detailed methodology, but the concepts will be understood by those who read it. The story provides a decent, though again not very detailed, look at earlier native american lifestyle and society. It is more a story about inner struggle than about Native American culture, so it doesn't really focus on that aspect too much.
 
The heroine of this story was a great character to follow. She was strong and smart and passionate. I recommend this book to pretty much anyone with the capability of reading it, no matter your age you'll definitely get something out of it.

Cardcaptor Sakura by Clamp

The anime for this was on all the time when I was younger and I really enjoyed watching the show, but the manga differs from the anime a bit, which isn't a bad thing.

The story is about a girl named Sakura who finds a magical book, and is assigned the task of capturing magical cards.

First off, the first series is only 6 books, the second one is only 6 too, and this kind of surprised me at first because the first season of the anime had something like 50 episodes, and after reading the manga I saw how much filler was in the anime. The card captures in the manga are all major cards (none of the cheap cards like the move card...) and the captures all meant something. Meaning they either developed plot or developed character, so if it was not for plot development it was a capture that required some effort and allowed Sakura to grow as a character, like the water card. On top of this, the manga also has homosexuality in it, which is not in the anime. Nothing explicit, just a character implying that he/ she has a crush on someone of the same gender. People might make a big deal about it here, which is probably why they took it out of the anime, but it's so subdued and platonic that taking it out is kind of pointless.  By doing so they lessen the intricacy of the plot development and the connection between the characters, so I'm glad I read the manga for that reason (among others).

Sakura is a great heroine. I've read over 100 mangas, and I'd say that Sakura is one of the strongest heroines I've read about in manga form. It's kind of ironic that it's for kids, but great I suppose. It's hard to find proactive females in manga. Even in the shoujos, the ones focused on girls, the 'action' is still left to the guys and the girls are for the most part withering, weak, delicate, know nothings; or if they do fight well they are portrayed as kind of heartless. It's rare to find a happy medium. Cardcaptors would be an example of the girl getting some action.

Overall its a cute manga, I mean those who've watched the anime already know the basic story line, it's a good one. It's an original story and its well told, and the manga is better then the anime. I recommend.

                

Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson

I think my teacher read this book to me in grade 3 or 4. It's the Cinderella story, but 'Cinderella' doesn't wait around for prince charming doing nothing. She goes through the Cinderella story but finds practical solutions to problems cinderella does nothing about or complains about. I can't remember if Cinderella is in the book or not as a foil for Cinderedna, but it was an amusing read and a enjoyed it at the time. 

It thankfully isn't a bra burning approach to feminism, but a 'you can do things on your own' book. It's Cinderella without the idealism. Of course we all love the idealism, that why such stories as cinderella exist, but for every Cinderella there must be a Cinderedna... because a person can't be entirely practical or entirely idealistic, but a balance of both must be achieved. Unfortunately there aren't as many 'Cinderenda' books on the market as there should be for young girls, so I guess this one is good!

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

This book about about a girl who was born with the mark of a god on her and the story basically follows her life and the trouble she faces because of this mark.
 
The girl is intelligent and she uses her intellect as her weapon. I'd classify this series as an adventure, but Phedre doesn't 'fight'. In fact when she's in physical trouble someone has to go save her and she can't really help herself, but that's not to say that she's a wilting heroine. She earns her own respect by acting on her own and overcomes situations by using her brain. quite the odd heroine by the norm's standards.
 
The author's pretty good with words and has done a bit of research (winning combination). Many things in the novel have a real world reference.
 
It's adventurous, erotic and suspenseful, and I'd say one of those stories you'd call epic. It's around 900 pages, but you'll get through it and be grateful you went through the trek.

The Song of the Lioness Boxed Set by Tamora Pierce

Alanna want's to be a knight more than anything in the world, but girls aren't allowed to be knights where Alanna lives so she switches places with her twin brother and pretends to be a boy. She then goes off to knight school where she makes some friends and enemies and learns how to be a knight.

Alanna's a pretty strong heroine. She stands up to whatever or whoever her adversary may be with all that she is and doesn't let anything stand in the way of what she wants, which is to be a knight. She does go through some tough times though. She doesn't rely on anyone for fear they might think that she's weak and she does doubt herself quite a bit, but I guess that makes her a bit more realistic. Overall a pretty good series.

The books in order are; Alanna, Hand of the Goddess, Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant

Sisters Of The Sword by Maya Snow

This book was surprisingly good. I wouldn't say that I was surprised by the material, because you can get a pretty good idea of what to expect from the plot by reading the summary, kind of a Mulan/ Alanna series (Tamora Peirce) story about a girl who rises out of the stereotypical female role and sort of blurs the boundary we so readily assign to gender association. And this story is a good one, but because it's so over done there is a huge potential for failure. This book however, did not fail.
 
First off I have to say that I'm somewhat impressed. This is a story about two young girls dealing with the death of their father and brothers, and there is actually evidence of violence. It is a children's book so of course there is nothing too graphic, but it is no max and ruby! You fear for the characters and the suspense your fear creates because they could actually get hurt really increases the anticipation. The story makes you want to feel things basically :P but again, this is a novel for children. I picked it up in the 9 - 12 section of the book store and I'd say the subject matter is handled in a way appropriate for that age. More often than not, though danger is close at hand, the girls are spared what would be a scary scene (and what would have been added in the adult version of the novel with more gore and blood) leaving only a handful of actual encounters wherein they are confronted with an unpleasant confrontation.
 
The main characters Kimi and Hana were great as well. The story wasn't so much about how they 'beat the system', how they showed everyone that girls can do whatever boys can. It was a better story, side stepping that superficial attempt at feminism. It was about inner strength and fighting your own demons with what you've got. And yes, Kimi wants to be a samurai like nothing else, but the focus of the story is on how she reacts with strength and courage when such a bad thing has happened to her and her family. She uses her desire to become a samurai to move forward, to avenge her family, but her reason of existence isn't to prove that she can. She knows she can. Her purpose is acknowledge her ability, nurture it, and then use it to best accomplish what she desires.
 
The book ended... like a beginning, so I assume this is the beginning of some sort of series. And this is a novel written for children, but that I'm 20 yr old university student and still enjoyed it says something, I think, about the author's talent for storytelling. It was a well written book with a good story and great characters. I look forward to a continuation.

 

The Legend of Chun Hyang by Clamp

This manga is based off of an old Korean folk tale about a girl who stands up against the corrupt leaders of the villages she goes to, kind of like a Zorro idea.

It's only one volume long, which kind of sucks. The story has a lot of potential and the characters could definitely been expanded upon, and the ending is somewhat unsatisfying because it ends with the mother hinting at and a possible continuation of the story, one that we'll never know about. Also, Chun Hyang and the guy only went up against two corrupt village leaders, and it was stated in the beginning of the chapter that they would later get married, which was mentioned because she was a peasant and he was some higher up the social scale guy, but that relationship was barely touched upon besides a mild flirtation. The story could continue in so many ways, and should because what they give you is a beginning to a story, an introduction, but it doesn't follow through with the substantial plot it hints at becoming. But then again there are many manga plot lines that drag on and on... so I guess it could be seen as an OK thing that they didn't let that happen...

Overall, a good story, but an unfinished one in my eyes.