Been awhile...So sorry for the absentence

Apologies, my dear readers, I haven't been on since I'm not sure how to speak on the matter, but I"m going to be posting in the next few months some book reviews.

Manga

Natsume's Book of Friends

***** Stars

Imagine growing up being able to see spirits and ghosts, not having the ability to turn it off and having everyone you are supposed to trust think you're crazy. That's the problem that poor Natsume Takashi has, after the death of his parents, he's bounced from one relative to another, until he's a teen and moves to his grandmother's village. There he finds out that his gift has a terrible price, his grandmother had the same gift and she used it to beat up the local spirits, and make a book a friends, which is wanted by nearly all in the area, now Takashi must have the task to return the names and also deal with his gifts.

This story started out slowly,  I began trying to read this and started to fall in love with the tale, it spun into a magical world where the modern and the old Japanese beliefs seemed to conflict a bit. Takashi has to deal with respecting the old and having to act as the in between for some spirits. He learns that some of his gifts have an advantage and he isn't a freak after all, because he finds others like himself. 

I would say go with reading it, and watching the anime if you can, but the manga is WAY better than the series. The artwork is beautiful, the characters are really compelling and you kind of relate to Takashi and his friends in many different levels.

Books

Magic's Pawn

Mercedes Lackey

***** Stars

Vanyel has grown up being very lonely life, misunderstood and soon sent to live with his aunt in Haven. His aunt is a famous herald and teacher to many great mages and Herald's in training. Vanyel at first believes he's hated by all who come in contact, which isn't the case, he learns something about himself and about who he is from a rather friendly Herald named Tylendel. When a terrible price is paid and Vanyel learns the truth of some of his actions and the actions of someone he cares for, he finds out he is something more than what he appears.

This is one of my favorite books, truth is I love the characters and I love how the story takes place, it starts out with a character who is famous in the first book of the series written in the late 1980s called Arrows of the Queen. This gives you a historical prospective, and if you have never read any of her books before, this gives you a good place to start out if you're new to the series.