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.

The whole concept of this book is to get across every day life in a tribe in the 19th century, as such, the characters are almost stock. Certainly Karluk seems to have no character at all! And although Amir's different up bringing essentially makes her an eccentric in Karluk's tribe, she's not really all that exciting. She's pretty cool because she's so strong and a good hunter but that's (I think) is quite natural for some one from a hunting tribe. But really, I think that having all these plain-janes works in this story, because it wouldn't as informative if the characters were abnormal. Also, because their personalities are so normal and the tasks they are performing are normal too it's really realistic  It's so well written that you really feel like you're part of Karluk's tribe.
But ultimately the best part is the art. Just look at the front cover! All the characters have been dressed extravagantly as people from their time and Mori (artist) has drawn in all those details. I really wish there was more colour art in the book though because I just love those clothes and all the colour is just so pretty! It's not just the clothes either; everything is so detailed and has such depth. Her drawings of the wood carvings were so detailed and perfect that I almost forgot I was reading and she draws some incredibly realistic animals. I could go on forever about how perfect her drawings are, but I think it's better that you just read the book yourself!
It's a manga unlike any other and approaches History in such an easy manner. We never study Asian history in school, so this story was really like a whole new world to me. But it is very reliant on that and I think any one who already knows about this time period may be bored by the lacking plot and characterization as neither really develop at all. However, don't misunderstand me. I don't think that this manga should be viewed as a historical reference because it's a good manga in it's own right and you don't need to be interested in history to enjoy because all the time you are just exploring this new world. Although it's totally outside my usual type of cliched filled manga, this is a good book, even though I'd enjoy a bit more excitement.

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