Camilo Moncada Lozano

**Received from the publisher as an advanced copy

Change the mythology, but a manga style story is still a manga style story! I was hesitant about entering into this book, which combined classic manga stylings (from the artwork to the base plotline) with South American mythology, but I was surprisingly impressed with the author/illustrator’s unique perspective. We have familiar visuals with large eyes, chunky hair, and splashy action layouts, but with a distinctly Mayan colour palette, costuming, and totemic forest setting we’re quickly brought into a unique world that is far steps away from what we initially expected. Centred around an independent girl in search of her father (a classic trope) and a crow-powers wielding outcast (a fun twist on the magical male companion), the story sets the groundwork for an epic adventure. The pair encounter their fair share of challenges in this first novel, everything from being robbed by a kind of well meaning thief to facing an oversized demon creature, that fans of classic manga will revel in the familiarity of narration but still have fun with the cultural twists that introduce a new mythology. The language may not be familiar, but any good otaku will quickly jump on board and adopt a new lingo so that they can follow along as our hero’s grace their way through the mountains of South America meeting gods, kings, and villagers. This is only the initial volume in what could potentially be a lengthy series (even when Donají finds her father, there are infinite ways to spin off more quests for our protagonists), so it’s a bit hard to judge whether this one is going to be a hit or not. A lot of these manga gained traction because of their weekly/monthly drops as part of a set of stories in volumes like Shonen Jump, so the invest in a particular story is low before gaining a following and legit grounds, so we’ll see if fans are intrigued enough by the trapping of a new mythology to stay tuned.… (more)