Book-A-Day 2014 #91: Bloody Cross, Vol. 2 by Shiwo Komeyama

See Day 33 for my review of the first book: in very brief, it's a chase-the-plot tokens supernatural adventure crossed with a I-hate-you-so-much-we-will-have-sex-very-soon character tension, all wrapped up in worldbuilding that will seem blasphemous to a lot of Westerners. (The plot tokens are the accouterments of God -- the one, the only -- and the central plot is that several characters are battling over those tokens -- both ones already existing and the ones that pop into existence at regular intervals, like extra men at an over-the-top WWF event -- until one of them becomes the new God.)

Book one was all about our squabbling you-know-they'll-be-lovers-eventually, Tsukimiya and Hinata, who are both "half-bloods" with mixed human and fallen angel parentage. For Bloody Cross, Vol. 2, creator Shiwo Komeyama widens out the scope a bit, gets deeper into his created mythology, and starts cranking things up for the hoped-for long run. So this time out, it's mostly about the two main combatants for the celestial throne: Tsuzuki, for the Angels, and Satsuki, for the other team. (Though I would not be at all surprised if other claimants show up eventually; that will depend on how long the series runs.)

Each of the two main combatants has a sycophantic assistant -- the angel has a "dog" (man) and the devil a "cat" (girl, naturally). And each of those two eventually enlists one of our original two main characters to be another agent, because this series is about those two fighting and throwing smouldering glances at each other.

So this book is scene-setting and background-building, with a sideline in the beginning of the battle for the next godly artifact to emerge. It's a little too programmatic and obvious to be really engrossing, but it works as an adventure story, and the blasphemy gives it an extra frisson of fun for Americans. All in all, I'd give it a 7: it's got a good beat, and you can dance to it.

Book-A-Day 2014 Introduction and Index