Yomiko and Nancy team up against the powerful Dokusensha! Finally! As you’d expect sparks fly, walls are phased through, paper is flung…and it’s not quite as excellent in book form as it would be animated.

Yomiko, if you recall from Book 5, has inadvertently handed the Guttenberg paper over to Dokusensha’s paper user, Ou-en. To correct this mistake, she has taken on the task of traveling to China to retrieve the item. In China, she almost immediately runs into British Library agent Nancy Makuhari.

As R.O.D. Volume 6 opens, the two of them sit down to enjoy excellent tea and pastries and be held at gunpoint by a disgruntled client of Nancy’s. When Yomiko shows off her skills, Nancy, who had had a hard time seeing past the goofy, book-obsessed facade, is very impressed. But that quickly turns to surprise and maybe a little fear as Yomiko’s bibliomania exerts its influence over her character and Nancy gets a quick glimpse into what madness looks like. Nancy’s no fool, she knows what she’s looking at, and backs off quickly.

And then, they run. They run in and around Shanghai, through stores and underground tunnels and buildings. And eventually, the come face to face with Dokusensha’s agents.As Yomiko’s skills with paper are mirrored by Ou-en, Nancy’s abilities to change the density of her body and things she touches are mirrored by a Dokusensha agent who can do that too. Which, although the bulk of the book is super-charged action scenes, ultimately was not great reading. There are a few reason why that may be:

First and foremost, I am a character person. The parts of these novels I like best are the characters interacting with one another. The quiet moment at the beginning, where Yomiko and Nancy size each other up over tea was more “fun” for me than the later action scenes.

Secondly, the writer, while usually quite competent, just wasn’t getting me really hooked into the action. I don’t know if he had a hard time writing protracted action scenes (which is totally understandable, as writing action is much harder than showing it) or whether he was rushed and just didn’t have energy to manage it.

Thirdly, having mirror-matched enemies was kind of…boring. We don’t get to see Nancy shine because, in the way of all good sci-fi novels, the bad guy is actually slightly better/more powerful than we are, and ahead of us in the game. You know how it goes. So we barely get to see Nancy kick ass, because she’s being thwarted at every turn. Bleah. What we like in our action is Yomiko and Nancy blowing the bad guys away, not running in second place. This sort of sucked the fun from the action for me.

Fourthly, I have come to realize that I like Yomiko best when she is with Nenene. For the duration of this book, they are apart. Nenene does have some quality time with Wendy, though. When Wendy prepares an excellent lunch for them, Nenene comments that, if she were a boy, she’d take Wendy as a lover, to which Wendy replies, “But, if you were a boy, wouldn’t you already have taken Yomiko as a lover?” Nenene flips out at the insinuation, but Wendy is firm in calling it like she sees it.

The other stand-out scene for me was when Yomiko saves Nancy and, when Nancy (who is clearly not used to be valued by anyone) asks why, Yomiko replies simply, “Because I like you.” These words repeat in Nancy’s brain through the remainder of the book, like a refrain. I felt the cloister bell of future anime series ringing in this scene.

The upshot of the action is that Nancy escapes, but Yomiko is captured by Dokusensha. In the final scene, the traitor Faust appears and gives Yomiko a devil’s bargain – either she must marry Faust, or be killed. Dum~dum~dummm~

Ratings:

Art- Typically ugh – 5
Story – Atypcially ugh – 5
Characters – The saving grace here – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 7 for Nancy’s leather suit alone

Overall – 5

Tune in next time to find out when/how/if Yomiko escapes a fate worse than fate!

Read or Die, Volume 5 continues the story from Volume 4. Indeed, it begins the very next day after a giant paper dragon has swum up the Thames river only to be defeated by British Library Agent Yomiko Readman.

Dokusensha has upped the ante for the Guttenberg Paper – they have kidnapped the Queen and are demanding the Paper in return. And they demand that Yomiko be the one to make the exchange.

Joker decides that Ziggy Stardust, British Library boffin and Faust should create a fake to make the exchange with. Faust disagrees strongly and is put under house arrest as a result. Ziggy also disagrees, but the fake is made. Just before Yomiko leaves to make the exchange, Faust goes out on a “date” with her in the British Museum, where he says that he is troubled, but doesn’t say why.

In the meantime, author Sumiregawa Nenene is also under house arrest in Yomiko’s apartment. Because Yomiko cannot explain what is going on, she simply confines Nenene to her room, sets Wendy to watch her and doesn’t return for days. Nenene moves past sulking into depression and eventually abandonment, all of which is quickly shaken off when Yomiko returns…to say goodbye. Nenene tackles Yomiko in an embrace, then proceeds to yell at her for keeping her locked in a room! Yomiko apologizes, but insists she stay there for her own good. Yomiko leaves after promising to return, soon.

Yomiko heads over to Picadilly Circus, where she once again encounters Ou-En, the young Asian man she had met in Hay-on-Wye. As the police and army close in, he uses his Paper abilities to cut down all of the surrounding military. Yomiko can only watch, stunned, as it happens too fast for her to even respond. Ou-En takes the Paper but, as they part, they each take a slice at the other. Yomiko manages to make a pretty severe cut on Ou-En’s neck, but he contents himself with a lock of her hair, and tells her that he’ll “see you again in China.”

When Yomiko returns to the British Library, she learns that the Paper had been switched and she had handed over the real Guttenberg Paper…and that Faust is missing, presumed to be a traitor. Yomiko reminds Joker that he mentioned they had an agent in China. She asks to go there to get the Paper back. He agrees.

In China, Yomiko leaves the airport and finds herself in front of a book store, where she purchases some books – only to have them stolen from her. As she gives chase, the thief is stopped by an attractive woman who identifies Yomiko immediately, then introduces herself as the British Library agent in China…Nancy Makuhari.

Meanwhile, Wendy and Nenene settle into Yomiko’s apartment in Tokyo, where she has asked them to wait for her. Nenene wonders why the nameplate says “D.N.” and suddenly realizes that they are in Yomiko’s late lover, Donny Nakajima’s, apartment. Wendy is shocked to learn that Yomiko had a lover at all, but something shifts in Nenene and she decides to spend the time writing a new book, since that will make Yomiko happiest. As she clears a space to write, she finds an old, dusty diary with the name “Donny Nakajima” on the inside cover. …

In an epilogue, we meet a man named Joel who lives in an apartment on Baker Street in London, who can hear Nenene yelling at Yomiko through the walls. And boy, if they weren’t two women, he’d be sure they were lovers, because that’s *exactly* what Nenene sounds like – a jilted woman yelling at her missing boyfriend.

Volume 5 was not as riveting as some of the previous volumes, but it had a lot of story-building. We hear a story about Yomiko’s father from an ex-colleague in MI6. We get a deeper look at Dokusensha, Faust’s story is expanded – as opposed to Gentleman’s, which is where I supposed it would go. And the betrayal by Faust guarantees that he’ll be back. Volume 5 also introduces Nancy, something that will change this series forever.

While the beginning and middle were a little weak, man does this series have awesome endings. I read 200 pages for the last 20, every time. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 2

Overall – 7

Gee, Yomiko and Nenene sound like lovers to an outside listener? I’m shocked. For the record, even Wendy can see that Nenene doesn’t just like Yomiko. In a scene that echoes a similar scene with Anita from ROD The TV some years later, Wendy asks Nenene if she loves Yomiko and Nenene has the exact same problem with answering honestly. From *our* perspective (and Joel’s) it’s obvious that she does.

There are some inevitable things in the universe. If a conversation covers used books, then one of these inevitable things must surely be the town of Hay-on-Wye. It’s a lovely town, by the way. (Yes, of *course* I’ve been. Do you not know anything about me yet? I’ve been a bibliophile for many years more than I’ve been an otaku)

And indeed, the inevitable happens at the beginning of the fourth Read or Die Light Novel. Yomiko is let loose by her caretaker Wendy for two hours in Hay-on-Wye. And of all the books Yomiko wants most, the only copy is in the hands of someone else. He’s a nice-looking Chinese man, perhaps a little older than Yomiko. He genially suggests that they play rock-paper-scissors for it…and they do. Minutes pass into hours as they keep tying on “paper.” When Yomiko wins by suddenly switching to “scissors” he asks her flat out if she is a Paper User. They discuss her love of books, but she doesn’t tell him why she wants this particular book – one especially beloved by her mentor and lover, Donny.

Upon returning to London, a thin plot about a piece of the original paper that the Guttenberg bible was printed on is wrapped thinly around three things: 1) The guy Yomiko met in Hay-on-Wye is a member of the nefarious “Dokusensha,” an evil organization that is trying to do the exact same things the British Library is trying to do – but for the bad guys, which is to say, not us. 2) Dokusensha has a Paper User too, and this allows us to have wonking great battles on the North Sea and then over London (in which references were made to H.G. Wells) and 3) Nenene.

Oh, yes, although this entire novel takes place in the UK, Nenene decides to arrive just as Dokusensha invades the British Library and take her hostage. This gives Yomiko the opportunity to not just have a wonking cool battle over London – she on her paper airplane, Dokusensha with their paper dragon that comes up the Thames – but to rescue Nenene and be her hero. Nenene’s hero. With hugs, and tears, and protestations of “don’t scare me like that” and “I don’t ever want to be apart from you,” and “I want to be with you forever.”

A new character is introduced by the way…and no, it’s not Nancy. Not yet, hold your horses. She comes in the next novel. This time it’s Faust. Like Mr. Gentleman (a name that makes me think of Lewis Carroll every time I read it,) Faust is very old. 400 years of very old. Unlike Mr. Gentleman, he’s lived every one of those years in a 10-year old boy’s body. He looks, honestly, like Junior with his hair cut short and a “I know something you don’t” smile. He was a nice addition to the team, because while his abilities are strictly in the not-dying capacity, he’s a good strategist and a fast thinker. That leaves Yomiko and Drake to carry out the tactics, which works well.

I definitely like it best when Nenene and Yomiko are together and I’m very much hoping that that will be pretty much the rest of the series.They make a very cute couple, whatever they think they think about one another.

Ratings:

Art – 5
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 4
Service – 2

Overall – 7

Nenene and Yomiko are together for less than 10 pages and every last one of them filled me to satisfaction.

Meet Wendy Earhart. She’s working at the British Library, mostly because her Best Friend Forever Karen is, as well. Karen is working to pay the hospital bills for her mother who is in a coma. Karen is driven, focused and determined. Wendy’s just sort of there to be there. She likes working at the British Library, but she has no passion about it. She’s there to support Karen.

Until Wendy and Karen interview to work in the Special Weapons Section. They meet Joker, who asks them a question with no right answer: If you were on a boat with a famous author and his priceless manuscript and the boat went down, which would you save – the author or the book? Wendy says she would save the author, because people are more important than books and the author might create more great literature if he is alive. Karen says she’d save the book, because it is irreplaceable and who knows if the author would ever write something good again, but the book can be reproduced and bring joy to everyone. Joker tells them that they are both wrong.

Joker offers the job to both Karen and Wendy, but Karen turns it down. Wendy, who wants both the job and to support her friend, is roundly scolded by Karen who tells her to get her own life. Karen says goodbye to her ailing mother, cuts the life support, then leaves the Library for good, leaving Wendy to find her own way.

Wendy’s crisis starts when she tries to interrupt someone reading in the Library late at night and almost dies for her trouble. And so, Wendy Earhart meets Yomiko Readman, who ultimately tells her that she would save the book AND the man. But you can only save one, Wendy says, to which Yomiko replies, “That’s why I would save both!” Wendy goes back to the Library and accepts the new job.

Meanwhile teen author Sumiregawa Nenene is doing a book signing in Tokyo and she is not having any fun. And to make it all worse, Yomiko is late. In fact, she’s so late the book signing is over when she arrives. And she’s filthy and smelly. And someone is trying to kill Nenene.

Nenene and Yomiko, having defeated the bad guys, head out to Kyoto for the next book signing where Nenene is once again attacked – apparently her new book appears to have been plagiarized from the best seller by Clive Cussler. Cussler fans are not happy at all about this. But Yomiko – and the pelicans of Kyoto’s landmark tower – save Nenene once again. In a moving scene, Nenene asks Yomiko if her book does seem like she lifted the plot and Yomiko admits that not only does Nenene’s book seem like a ripoff of Cussler’s, Cussler’s was better overall. Nenene is very thankful for the honesty and realizes that she needs to grow and mature as a person in order to mature as a writer. She has a lot of fun at the next book signing as a result of her insight.

The final scene is why Yomiko was late. In short – she was stranded on a tropical island – with no books. It was a rather disturbing short with a bitter look at the difference between liking books and being an obsessive-compulsive bibliomaniac.

As with all the ROD novels, the beginning of Volume 3 was a little slow, the action was a little silly and Yomiko didn’t get to be quite cool enough to slake our thirst. But, the time she spends with Wendy and with Nenene she is so charming, that it’s easy enough to forget the bits where she’s freaking out for lack of something to read.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 2
Service – 2

Overall – 7

Nenene and Yomiko’s reunion and their subsequent heart-to-heart make everything worth it.