Mozan is a fantasy novel aimed for a target audience of very young teenagers; an audience left craving a magical power fix. I would never encourage someone not to read, but I would encourage readers to find a different book than this one.

The quality of writing was a little sketchy. The cover was catchy, but was perhaps the most exciting portion of this book. The book could have benefited from more careful editing; multiple simple errors could have been caught and eliminated before print. Pacing was a little jarring, bouncing from slow, predictable fantasy background to vibrant, comic book-like action scenes. The primary problem: the main characters were flat and almost universally irritating, causing me to dislike them almost from the start, and my opinion of them failed to change throughout the book. Supporting characters received worse treatment. The most interesting, promising premises of this book did not receive enough attention, leaving you to trudge through the book hoping for some further word of them. The villain was dastardly and evil, but not particularly interesting. The effort was sadly rather lackluster.

This book made me sad. I WANTED to like it, but there was nothing to like about it. For a young teenager, desperate for some magical sparkle, there are other, better books. Sadly, I can't recommend this one.

This is one of the most truly chilling books I have ever read. I found myself jumping at every small noise in my house for at least a week after I completed this novella and found myself scared of the dark for the first time since childhood.

If you are a fan of psychological horror, such as I am, this book is HIGHLY recommended.

Memoirs of an Antihero was a unique read. It accomplished perfectly what the author set out to do... to read like a comic book. Maybe not a comic book, actually, but perhaps something a bit more mature, like a graphic novel with an official looking warning on the cover. The cover captured the spirit of the book; it was relatively safe to judge whether this book will appeal to you or not based on it.

It's a pretty straight-forward read... and that straight-forward is done in a sports car with a jaunty emblem on the side, a dark super-hero behind the wheel, and the gas pedal smashed flat to the rug. It's not overly complex; it's not meant to be. It's not a real moral tale; there's not much wrestling with guilt or hours spent awake, pondering the ramifications of shady actions. It's just plain old-fashioned comic book fun, without all the flashy pictures.

The author has some skill, a bold, blunt wordcraft, akin to be hit with a pipe that emits a "BAM!" when you use it. It's not poetry, but it gets the point across. His characters have moments of solidity, a tricky thing in a book like this, but they don't always manage the illusion. Sometimes their camaraderie comes off a little flat; conflicting personalities that shouldn't mesh well, but do. It's a little thing, but even at the pace that the book moves, you notice it. The characters are the landscape in this book. You love them, but they could have used a dose more of realism to bring them even more to life. The story and show more plot are fun, light, not super-serious, and left me waiting for a possible return to these characters with another adventure.

It's almost a certainty after all... in comic books, a hero's (or anti-hero's) work is never done for long. show less

I read this book about a year ago, shortly after my own father had died following a long Illness.

Phillips' empathetic treatment of aging and of the challenges facing the caregivers of elderly parents moved me. I found reading this book to be a meditative process. It unfolds slowly as it reveals different faces of aging and death through Kuan Yin.

This book helped me to put the death of my father into perspective and was a large part of the healing process.

I recommend it to anyone who is caring for an elder or working in a hospice situation.