A Bride's Story

Still going through my Christmas presents! But don't worry, I will get to every one's recommendations eventually!

It is exactly as the name implies: it's a bride's story. Set in Asia, 19th century comes the tale of an old bride who marries a boy from another tribe. The bride is Amir and she is extremely skilled in archery and horse riding but upon reaching the age of 20 her tribe sends her off to 12 year old Karluk of a very different tribe. This book is more educational and informative than a story as instead of any particular plot the book focuses on the daily life of the tribe members portraying many traditions and different ideals. There's a whole chapter about wood carving that's really exciting and points on fashion, medicine and food. There's also lots of marriage traditions throughout. In the afterword the author does say that she done a lot of research of this time period, so we can assume it's accurate. But there is a bit of plot which I assume is going to be carried on in the next book: so basically Amir comes from a semi-nomadic tribe but they need to marry into another tribe in order to claim land for winter (or something like that). But the only woman they have to offer is Amir, since they never got anything Karluk's tribe for their marriage so they insist that Amir be returned. However, Karluk's grandmother lies saying Amir is pregnant and as such can't leave putting a certain amount of strife between the two families. But this is an extremely under-developed plot that's completely overshadowed by all the every day life stories.

Kimchi

So another one of my Christmas presents today! I don't think I mentioned I got food for Christmas did I? Well it certainly was a surprise! Kimchi is Korea's national dish and Koreans eat kimchi with pretty much anything. It's basically pickled vegetables, usually the main ingredient is Cabbage but there's many other varieties. Mine was a cabbage and was seasoned with radish, red pepper powder, Korean leek and fermented anchovy and fish sauce among other ingredients (full list of ingredients here) to give it a rather alarming red colour. I done a bit of research and came to the conclusion that kimchi can be cooked with pretty much anything so I just gave my dad free reign on how he wanted to present the kimchi to me. In the end I got to try it three different ways!

Oh! Edo Rocket

"It's a show about fireworks & aliens!" says the large font on the back of my complete series box set. Not a combination I'd ever put together but I guess it works. Edo (Tokyo's former name) is under strict  rule by a magistrate who has banned practically anything that's fun, that includes fireworks. Which is a problem for Seikichi, firework maker. As he tries to create the best fireworks in the his life is bombarded by the sudden appearance of Sora. She comes to Seikichi to request that he builds a firework that can reach the moon. Why would she request this? Because Sora is actually an alien and wants to return home, almost reminiscent of E.T now that I think about it! Meanwhile Ginjiro is in cooperation with the 'men in black' trying to fight the mysterious 'Sky Beasts' who are killing young women by sucking out all their blood. Hard to see a connection between these to stories but what ever. It is definitely odd, and also quite hard to keep track of but I wouldn't necessarily call the plot bad. Thing is, I can never tell if they are trying to serious or humorous  there are jokes and there are serious bits but they kind of blur together so I end up not taking any of it seriously. But then, I never take aliens seriously.

Young Miss Holmes

Have you seen the links I've added along the side? As my number of reviews increases I figured I should make it easier to navigate around. Please do have a click around and tell me if you found them helpful! Anyway, it's been a while, but I'm reviewing a manga today!

I'm sure you've already worked out that the manga is connected to Sherlock Holmes, famous Consulting Detective of 221B. The manga is from the point of view of Crystal "Christie" Hope, 10 year old prodigy from a privileged family and Sherlock Holmes' niece. Having being left in the care of her maids while her parents are in India, Christie's curiosity leads her from one dangerous adventure to another. She has deduction skills greater than Watson but diminutive next Sherlock's. So Christie tries to increase her knowledge by trying to solve her Uncles cases and assist him in catching the criminal. It takes much of it's story from the original Doyle books just with added characters and some plot twists. The book starts with Sherlock solving the case of a stolen diamond when Christie comes by for a visit. This gives her a chance to show the readers her deductive powers, courageous personality and kick-ass maids. It was a perfect introduction to the story! But unfortunately  it didn't really go anywhere from there. The addition of new characters has to actually add something positive to the overall book for it to be worthwhile but Christie is just another person with skills in deduction. There is also no added plot, underlying or side! Or, at least for now, no character development. The characters introduced do not really add anything to the original book. So, yes the plot is brilliant, it's essentially Doyle, so I can't give author Kaoru Shintani any credit for it really.