Reviewing the Mail: Week of 1/4

For the third week in a row, I have only one book this week to write about. And, once again, I am not complaining, because even one free thing is really nice. (And not having to write more here on a Sunday morning when I need to get out to a gala birthday lunch for Thing 2 is not to be scorned, either.)

As usual, I have not read this book yet -- haven't even removed the protective shrink-wrap -- but here's what I can tell you about it anyway.

BTOOOM!, Vol. 4 -- the bang is part of the official title, as are the three Os and the all-caps -- continues the manga series by Junya Inoue from Yen Press. (It's from what seems to be a "games" imprint at Yen -- the Japanese editions has a fake "DXBox 720" logo on the cover, to make them seem even more like actual videogames, but the US edition is somewhat more restrained.) I did a quick review of the first volume in a round-up post last May, if you're interested.

This is one of the descendants of Battle Royale -- a bunch of random people are kidnapped to a remote island and forced to play a live-action version of a kill-everyone-with-bombs videogame for purposes that were obscure in the first volume and probably don't really matter anyway. Our hero, as is traditional, is a diffident young man with no social skills, job, or prospects, but who was really, really good at that game. (One could wish that manga broadened their pool of protagonists, because That Guy is a bit wearying after a while.) This fourth volume is available now, but I'd recommend beginning at the start; you don't have far to catch up at this point.