Quarantine continues, and we all need stuff to distract us!

I finished listening to Word of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. I’m off to listen to Edgedancer, a novella that bridges Book 2 and 3. It’s far, far shorter. It is buried in a short story collection (that’s really great in of itself).

It’s about Lift, a young and budding Knights Radiant who doesn’t take anything seriously but food. She’s an interesting character. In some ways she’s a lot of fun, in other ways she’s too “charactery.” She doesn’t feel like a real person. An eccentric person. A fun person. But not anyone grounded in reality. But that’s some of her charm. A lot of her is an act, to begin with, someone who wants to be a certain way and doesn’t to change.

I’m reading through Elfen Lied Omnibus Volume 3. There are few manga (or other fiction) where I feel true fear for characters’ lives. This is a strange series mixing a slice of life harem tropes with some of the most violent scenes in the manga. Characters get dismembered. Killed. The diclonious are insane.

The manga is way passed the anime at this point. If you don’t know about Elfen Lied, it’s about Lucy. She’s a mutated human with psychic powers. If you get too close to her, she can rip you apart. She’s being held in a facility under extreme guard when someone brings a pen within range of her power.

She escapes, killing many. When she gets shot in the head on the way out, she gets amnesia and goes from this jaded killing machine to a cute and innocent girl who is in need of help. But at any time, Lucy could come out. This tension pervades the series. It’s was a rather shocking opening back in the day, and the manga continues that.

Things are getting crazy. I have no idea what the end game of the manga is. I just hope it’s a better ending than the anime.

I started reading Altina, the Sword Princess Volume 3. This light novel is such a fun read. It’s a tactical fantasy series with Regris struggles to overcome his own doubts while advising Princess Altina as first her military tactician on the frontier and now in court.

Altina is rising in politics and is a threat to her older brother. I’m intrigued to see how the manga balances the battlefield shifting to court. How will Regris’s cope with this new situation? I’m interested in seeing where it goes.

This is one of the light novels series that I’m always pleased to read.

For this week’s winner on iStrippers is definitely Eva Elfie’s Sweet Smell of Spring. Eva is always a delight to have perform, and she has something whimsical and naughty going on in this show.