Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 11 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 11 by Yukito Kishiro-165 pages

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis: Yoko, Erica, and Keun are all taken back to Grünthal for further examination. Erica is tasked with proving herself an asset before she can be allowed to learn the ways of Panzer Kunst. To do so, she and a crew travel to the Canyons of Despair, where she faces off against Zoe with the Great Treasure of Mars on the line… FINAL VOLUME!

Thoughts: I enjoyed reading this final volume of Yoko, Erica, and Keun's story on Mars. This is Alita's (Yoko) origin story. To be honest, it's been a little while since I last read any volumes in this series, so it took a minute for me to remember some details of previous events. Overall, I continue to enjoy anything Battle Angel Alita. 

Lion of Mars By Jennifer Holm

Lion of Mars by Jennifer Holm 259 pages Bell is a kid raised on Mars who learns that he can't be held back by the fears of the grown-ups around him. Bell has spent his whole life - all eleven years of it - on Mars. But he's still just a regular kid - he loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the US colony are keeping. Like, why don't they have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It's up to Bell - a regular kid in a very different world - to uncover the truth and save his family ... and possibly unite an entire planet. Mars may be a world far, far away, but in the hands of Jennifer L. Holm, beloved and bestselling author of The Fourteenth Goldfish, it can't help but feel like home." -- ‡cProvided by publisher. I am not a fan of science fiction, but this book kept me intrigued and wanting to read more. The tie to a pandemic, truly made an impression. It was a very good fit for 4-6 graders.

Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle Vol. 7 (Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle) by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle Vol. 7 (Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle) by Yukito Kishiro-162 pages

I have previously read through vol. 6 of this series and this is the latest. I enjoyed this volume just as much as the previous ones. I continue to hold anything "Battle Angel Alita" in high regard. If you've read any of the previous "Alita" works, then I would recommend this. 

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order Omnibus 1 by Yukito Kishiro

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order Omnibus 1 by Yukito Kishiro-672 pages

 

I have enjoyed reading anything Battle Angel Alita thus far, so I expected to enjoy this. I was not disappointed. It is a dystopian manga that somewhat reminds me of several dystopian works and films, including Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Battle Angel Alita is my favorite manga that I have read so far. 

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 6 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 6 by Yukito Kishiro-200 pages

The story continues with even more shocking revelations. Yoko's origin is not what is previously thought. No, she was a Masketoma of someone else who was given life and a mechanical body to go along with her living brain. She was not a Masketoma of Lady Kagura and, therefore, she can't be named as Lady of Cydonia since she is not of that line. Erica continues down a dark path and Baron Muster's plan of vengeance comes to its epic conclusion. I await volume 7 which, alas, will not be published until next spring. 

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 5 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 5 by Yukito Kishiro-176 pages

We learn how Baron Muster came to be the villain he is today in this volume. Also, we learn how he was betrayed by the Lady of Cydonia and those who he thought were his friends. We learn how Muster used to be called Itall and how he got the Masketomas. Additionally, the reader learns that Yoko was a Masketoma of Lady Kagura of Cydonia and that is why she needs prosthetics for much of her body. We learn the utter depravity and pain that Itall endured to ultimately become Baron Muster. This volume is mostly back story of Baron Muster. I eagerly await reading the next volume. 

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 4 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 4 by Yukito Kishiro-200 pages

In this volume, Erica continues under Baron Muster's tutelage. They continue their search for the Great Treasure of Mars, which Baron Muster thinks is the immortality potion. Muster needs the potion because he is mortally ill. The reader also learns more about Baron Muster's origin and how he came to be in possession of the Golden Cane. Baron Muster and Erica find the treasure and thwart a plot to kill them by a supposed slave/captive. However, is the treasure really the immortality potion or is it something else? Meanwhile, Yoko/Alita and her mother are in Cydonia and someone powerful wants to install Alita as the Lady of Cydonia, but only so he can take the power for himself. 

Battle Angel Alita:Mars Chronicle, Vol. 3 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita:Mars Chronicle, Vol. 3 by Yukito Kishiro-176 pages

In this third volume, the story goes back in time and shows how Yoko (Alita) and Erica get separated. The doctor who took Yoko and Erica in has found where Erica's parents live in Curie Stadt. However, they find a burned house when they arrive and Erica's parents are dead. It's revealed that Erica directly and indirectly killed her parents because they were mean, bad people. They find a book that her father had in his possession at his death that plays a key part in the story. Erica's father was a treasure hunter. A bit later, after it's revealed that the doctor has found Yoko's mother, he and the girls meet her mother. Yoko goes with her mother and Erica feels abandoned. Erica is then kidnapped by a villain named Baron Muster after an altercation with a group of bandits/bounty hunters who are searching for Yoko. Baron Muster takes Erica to his secret hideout. I am eagerly awaiting the next volume in this series. 

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 2 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 2 by Yukito Kishiro-210 pages

This is the second volume of the series. It is a pretty dark story, but I am enjoying it so far. The story jumps ahead 200 years from the first volume. Erica has been turned into a Necro-soldier, which is someone who has died but has been re-animated as a soldier to do the bidding of the one who re-animated him/her. Yoko is now going by Alita (her full name is Alita Yoko). She has apparently been many places in the last 200 years and is very secretive about what she's been doing. Erica and Alita are now enemies and they fight at one point in the story. I am looking forward to volume 3 (and the subsequent volumes). 

Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 1 by Yukito Kishiro

 Battle Angel Alita: Mars Chronicle, Vol. 1 by Yukito Kishiro-208 pages

While I wait for copies of the next volumes of Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization I am reading this. It caught my eye on the shelf because I have seen the film "Alita: Battle Angel" based on the manga. This is not the story line explored in the movie. However, this is a captivating story on its own. Yoko (Alita) is a young cyborg girl who is taken to live in an orphanage with Erica in the town of Mamiana on Mars. At first, Erica and Yoko are bullied but then they almost sort of become friends with some of the other girls. However, an army faction (one of 3 at war on Mars) slaughters all the girls except Yoko and Erica. They are the only ones who escape the slaughter. They are rescued by a different army faction. This is pretty much how the first volume ends. I am now reading the second volume of this series and plan to read the third, as well. As I said in an earlier post, I plan to read a lot of manga and graphic novels for this month's challenge. 

Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

1) Red Rising - 382 pages

2) Golden Son - 464 pages

3) Morning Star - 544 pages

Romans in space!  What more do you need to know?  This epic scifi trilogy takes place when society has been stratified into color castes that dictate your place in the world.  Deep in the mines of Mars dissent is brewing that will shake the foundations of the caste system and attempt to remake society into a meritocracy where everyone has a fair chance to succeed.  Fans of Roman history and dystopian fiction like the Hunger Games will find much to enjoy here.    

The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian by Andy Weir - 387 pages

I know I'm late to the party on this book but I finally picked it up as a late night read from the library's MOLIB2GO eBooks service.  I really enjoyed this book.  It even sneaks science in as part of the narrative so you learn along the way.  For those of you who missed the bestselling book and feature film, the basic story is that an astronaut is accidentally left behind on the surface of Mars because the crew mistakenly believes him to be dead.  This book covers his quest to stay alive long enough for NASA to attempt some kind of rescue.  The bulk of the narrative is in the form of mission log entries so it isn't jarring for the stranded astronaut to be talking to himself for the bulk of the book.  Think Tom Hanks in Castaway.

Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed by Ray Bradbury

Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed by Ray Bradbury, 62 pages

This was a very interesting short story by Ray Bradbury about Earthlings who have to Escape the war on Earth by rocket to Mars.  Harry Bittering is one of the Earthlings who moves his family to Mars.  Not sure if he likes life on Mars, Harry builds a rocket to return to Earth.  But what he doesn't realize is how him and his family are adapting to life on Mars.  Will Harry survive on Mars or will he return to Earth when the war is over?

Mars v.9 by Fuyumi Soryo – 200 pages

Mars v.9 by Fuyumi Soryo – 200 pages

Rei thinks it’s too much of a struggle for he and Kira to stay together.  He goes out and parties into the night while Kira sits up by his apartment, waiting to talk to him and try to get him back.  Rei realizes he’s been acting stupidly, and catches up to Kira on his motorbike after she’s started home, and been bothered by thugs.  Rei and Kira are able to get back together.

Kira’s stepfather confronts her about Rei, and tells her not to see him.  When he grabs at her, she panics and bludgeons him on the head with a clock.  Thinking she’s killed him, she flees to Rei’s apartment.  Her father survives and asks to apologize to her for overreacting about Rei, but Kira decides to start a new life with Rei, and moves in with him.

Kira’s disturbed behavior and what she tells Rei sheds new light on her character, and it was a dramatic jump ahead in the story to get a better look at the feelings she’s been keeping hidden, and how they will manage together from now on.  I’m ready to pick up the next volume in the series.

Mars v.8 by Fuyumi Soryo – 200 pages

Mars v.8 by Fuyumi Soryo – 200 pages

Kira tells Rei she was raped by her stepfather in middle school.  She had horrible thoughts about killing him and also other people; she hates men, and kills people in her mind.  She wonders if she isn’t like Masao, but asks Rei not to hate her.  She’s never hated him as a man, because as she tells herself, “It’s because he knew despair.  He knew the pain of a wound that can’t be healed.”

Rei feels like he doesn’t understand, and can’t do anything, but he takes her on a motorcycle ride to the beach.  They help some kids who had their sand castle knocked down by others build a new, bigger one.  Rei tells Kira he’d build them over and over together with her.  Rei feels like Kira needs him, and that gives him purpose.

Kira’s mom is released from the hospital, but without a job or money, she and Kira move back in with the abusive stepfather, who apologizes on his knees to Kira.  Rei is angry that Kira would go back under her dad’s roof, and not come live with him instead, and he breaks up with her, leaving her at the school lunch table in tears.

I’m disappointed that Kira’s story has taken a back seat to Rei’s until now and doesn't seem to be getting as much treatment, and that he left her after she stayed with him through his difficulties.  But the ways of love take twists and turns, and this volume sets things up for them to spend time apart, and maybe get back together.

Mars v.7 by Fuyumi Soryo – 198 pages

Mars v.7 by Fuyumi Soryo – 198 pages

Rei breaks his chokehold on Masao, and Masao tells him they are the same kind of dark, destructive person.  Kira’s mother collapses from overwork, and has to recover in the hospital.  Rei returns to Kira, and his warm side is on display again as he takes care of her while her mom recuperates. 

Rei does a lot of thinking about his nature; while he wants to protect who he loves, he questions whether he is really as dark and destructive on the inside as Masao wants him to be.  Masao decides to get rid of Kira and her good influence on Rei.  Masao tries to kill Kira on the roof of the hospital, but Rei stops him in time, not, however, before he experiences the impulse to kill Masao.

Masao pushes some people down an escalator, is taken in by the police, and is expelled from school.  Rei questions whether he could really be like Masao, and sinks into a withdrawn mood.  Kira visits him, but when they embrace, she suddenly pulls away in distress and fear.

While this is a thoughtful entry in the series, with Rei considering questions of justice, right and wrong, and human nature, I’m not a fan of the Masao character, or the current storyline.  Masao makes the usual evildoer's mistake of talking too long while trying to do something bad, giving Rei more than enough time to stop him from murdering Kira.  It wasn’t really a smart move to get expelled from school, either, if he wants to work his machinations on Rei and Kira.  The character helps propel changes in Rei, and Kira’s troubled past is finally starting to surface, but I’m ready to move on from this part of the story. 

Mars v.6 by Fuyumi Soryo - 198 pages

Mars v.6 by Fuyumi Soryo - 198 pages

A feminine boy, Masao, has a crush on Rei.  Rei brushes him away rudely, but Kira befriends him and lets him join the art club, and Rei’s attitude softens a bit.  On the way to Rei’s apartment, Kira and Masao have an altercation with some neighborhood toughs, and Masao freaks out and beats them nearly to death, until he is stopped by Rei, who inflicts some punishment on them himself.  Kira sees Rei’s violent, ugly side, and it scares her.

A cop lets Rei know that two years ago, Masao killed a gang-member friend who used to beat Masao.  Masao reminds Rei that he saved Masao in a fight a long time ago, and believes Rei is his savior.  Rei warns Kira to stay away from Masao, but he follows her around, and eventually shows Rei and Kira his scars and tells them about the killing.  When alone with Rei, Masao begins to show a much darker, twisted personality.

Rei and Kira have an argument over Rei betting on pool and not telling her about Masao’s past.  Rei accuses her of trying to be his mother, and they part ways.  The volume ends with Masao confronting Rei with his twisted personality, and Rei grabbing him in a chokehold.

Mars v.5 by Fuyumi Soryo - 198 pages

Mars v.5 by Fuyumi Soryo -  198 pages

Rei and Kira undergo simple everyday experiences as a couple – Rei getting sick and Kira taking care of him, cooking, kissing, Rei teaching Kira how to ride a dirtbike.  Through their conversations Rei tells Kira more of what life was like with Sei and their father, and their family quarrels, and he is able to come to a better understanding of himself and his motivations. 

“I don’t know how- how to protect a kid like a mother does,” Rei tells Kira.  “I’m not a mother, or a father.  I don’t know how to protect anyone.”   Kira replies, “You wanted someone to protect you, too.  You needed to be supported even more than Sei.”  Rei finally breaks down in a cleansing act of grief.

Rei is finally able to tell a devastated Shiori goodbye.  “Shiori,” he tells her, “They say there’s always someone you can’t live without.  You go and find that person.  I already found mine.”  We are left wondering if Shiori will finally be able to let go of Rei and move on.

At the last part of the volume, a man who may be Rei’s father admires Kira’s painting of Mars in a gallery, and Kira wonders if she should get more serious with Rei when she likes things exactly as they are now.  While very much a middle chapter of the story, Rei’s healing was an important factor in being able to move forward in life, and it’s interesting to see how the characters develop.

Mars v.4 by Fuyumi Soryo - 176 pages

Mars v.4 by Fuyumi Soryo - 176 pages

A complication in the form of an old girlfriend, Shiori, emerges to challenge Rei and Kira’s relationship.  Shiori is determined to get Rei back, and when Rei plays along with her manipulation, Kira has difficulty standing up for herself.  Shiori first dated Rei’s twin Sei, but Rei stole her away from him.  More details and more questions come forward about Sei’s motivation to commit suicide.  Shiori and Rei both feel responsible for Sei’s death.  But, Rei’s missing memories from the time of the event return, and he can tell Shiori the truth to absolve her guilty feelings.

Kira reminds Rei of Sei, but he makes it clear and reassures her that she isn’t a substitute for Sei.  Kira, by having Rei pulled away by Shiori, learns how to better voice her needs in the relationship.

“Please don’t get fed up with me,” Rei asks of Kira.  “I’m not a good, nice guy…  I’m reckless, I have no integrity, and on top of that, I’m a player and I’m stupid…  But please be with me.”  Kira is beginning to know Rei better than he knows himself, and it’s likely that their romance will last for a long time to come.

While there was more typical romantic goings-on in this volume than action, it did reveal important details about Rei and Sei’s past, and introduced new characters to broaden the range of storytelling.

The Martian by Andy Weir - 387 pages

The Martian by Andy Weir - 387 pages

Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after an unfortunate impaling, and has to figure out how to survive being the first man to do nearly everything on the red planet.  Mechanical failures, food shortages, and physics debacles abound in this story of one man against absolutely no actual martians.

This book was full of wry humor, sarcasm, near death experiences, and ultimately an uplifting (haha, a little astronaut humor) message about maintaining a constructive attitude in the face of severe potato shortages and explosive decompression.  Sometimes veering into near-techno-speak, it was the kind of believable sci-fi that made me feel smart and space-saavy even though I'm not, and had me rooting for Watney all the way.