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Lenni Reviews: “The Search for Sadiqah” by Greg Burnham

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

At 13, Sadiqah is a teacher’s pet, but her life is thrown into chaos after the Tulsa Massacre. Her family gone, she embarks on a quest to find her ancestral home.

While I love me some historical fantasy with awesome Black protagonists, I feel like the pacing of this book is off. There are places where I can tell it would be so much more impactful if a moment were allowed to stretch or a scene were a bit longer. I totally understand how much work goes into creating a graphic novel. It’s not like a novel where you can sink deep into a scene with a few more sentences. Instead, you have to add multiple panels and pages. But, even still, I have to say some parts felt a bit too rushed, and I wanted more. Wanting more of something isn’t a negative here, really, since I think the book is good. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Mujina Into the Deep” Vol. 4 by Inio Asano

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is suggested for mature readers.

With Terumi in the hospital, Ubume is out for revenge.

Yeah, this expression is the only real response to Tenko.

Now we learn more about Ubume, and it’s not the book’s fault that it’s a bit on the nose to current events. (spoiler)

A lot of stories have the sooper seekrit experiment conspiracy, so… Now what? Is the endgame to expose all this and reinstate the mujina as actual people so anyone faces consequences? Will there be any antidote for whatever they’re being doped with? I’m enjoying the series but I’d rather more plot than watch Tenko fuck some random dude and say weird shit. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Mao” Vol. 24, by Rumiko Takahashi

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Mao and company heal with the Tazuru family, cursed by the seed of Haku. Afterwards, Mao investigates cursed beauty products and the “Box of Monstrocity.”

We’re back to what may feel like a ‘villain of the week’ format, but the Goku Clan’s artifacts are a consistent throughline. Aside for them continuing to just be the worst, it’s so cool to see Mao and Nanoka working together. Yeah, you can see the romance building, but I can see he respects not only her abilities but her drive to improve them. They have a great dynamic. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Battle Royale: Enforcers” Vol. 5, by Koushun Takami & Yukai Asada

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

As the planning stage becomes conflict, the squads strategize in order to survive.

Most of this is the teams monitoring and taking time to go into more backstories. The action doesn’t kick in until the end. It seems like there was much more action in the previous series. It’s weird to be like “where’s my horrific child slaughter?” but… Yeah, where is it? Don’t get me wrong, the intrigue and suspense are decent, but what are we even doing here? 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Star Brighter than the Sun” Vol. 5, by Kazune Kawahara

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

The closing of the school festival is a fireworks show, an ideal setting for Sae to confess her feelings.

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say if you’re familiar with this genre at all and you’ve read through this series so far, (spoilers) that you know they’ve both had feelings for each other the whole time, right? So, with everything out in the open, where do we go from here? Will there be more drama, will we have more flashbacks to their past, or will we just bask in their awkward cuteness? I dunno about the flashbacks but it’s all sweet enough either way to enjoy this volume and look forward to the next. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Colette Decides to Die” Vol. 7, by Alto Yukimura

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Now that feelings are confessed, the skeletons and the underworld are all in a tizzy. Meanwhile, Aries and Athena continue a long-standing rivalry.

While Ares and Athena’s duel takes up a good chunk of this volume, it’s a fun bit of comedy. I think including Colette in it was a bit forced? I get that she’s the main character, but I would have liked to see the competition without her involvement, more than there already was. Just to get more of the gods interacting, maybe a bit of backstory about this rivalry from Athena’s perspective. Something to widen the world a bit now that Hades and Colette are officially a couple. It’s not bad, I was just hoping for something a little different. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Centuria” Vol. 2, by Tohru Kuramori

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

After washing ashore with Diana, Julian is taken in by Angvall and Titi, acquires a job, and is living the peaceful life he’d hoped for the baby. But a prophecy about the king’s death brings trouble, threatening Julian’s idyllic found family.

I love how this series has these awesome human characters and these horrid abominations of nature.

It’s a credit to the artist and the style, in my opinion, to handle both and impact my senses in such a way that I’m both cringing and smiling. So far, the characters are so interesting, the prophecy and powers are cool, and I can see so much potential for some epic dark fantasy fun as this goes on. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Hirayasumi” Vol. 9, by Keigo Shinzō

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

After Natsumi’s call from the roof, she’s recovering from a broken wrist as the rest of our cast continues to make some progress in their relationships.

This series just keeps being awesome and wholesome. Shin and Yamada are hanging out, Hiroto actually makes friends with Ishikawa, the Art Festival takes place, and Yomogi finally takes a break. The series scared the crap outta me by ending the last volume with Nastumi falling off a fucking roof, but it made it up to me by being so cozy in this volume. 5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “My Special One” Vol. 11, by Momoko Koda

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

Emika and Kanato have been dating for 4 months, and despite being madly in love, they still don’t quite communicate properly.

This volume also goes back to Sahoko and Kouta (finally). In my opinion, the confession between them towards the end is kinda flat. It did not feel natural to the characters, more like it was to entertain the reader rather than make sense for who we watched them grow into. Kinda like Friends, where a character will do something to make the studio audience laugh. It’s okay but I was a little let down. Still happy for the good ending, though. 3 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “Choujin X” Vol. 12, by Sui Ishida

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*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.

The Yamato Mori are still battling through the Tower of Mourning, and during the fight, Azuma loses complete control. Tokio faces Zora and must decide whether or not to take the mark.

Since killing Zora would kill anyone with her blood (this is not a spoiler for this volume; it was revealed in the last one), they were going to have to make a decision about carrying on with the battle and sacrificing them, or come up with something else. I won’t spoil what they come to, but I will say that it fits with Tokio’s character. I am so interested in what happens next. 4 out of 5.

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