04 Oct / A Bride’s Story (vol. 5) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan
Get ready to linger: every panel – and I do mean every! – is a wonder to behold, inducing that slack-jawed ‘gawwww, how does she dooooo that?’-sort of reaction!
If you’ve picked up this volume without first reading the previous others, I would definitely recommend going back. Following the narrative in full will surely enhance your appreciation of the superlative art. If nothing else, you have to know the sweet love story that inspired the wedding with which this opens, and why all the preparation is just sheer agony for these entertaining (albeit hardly entertained) twin brides!
After bearing witness to quadrupled happy beginnings (twins marry twins), our odd-(English)man-out Mr. Smith continues his journey westward: next stop, Persia, with an ultimate destination of Ankara, Turkey. As he turns back once more to gaze upon from whence he came, we’re given just a glance of a mysterious stranger in profile … ooh, such the teaser! Volume 6 – wherefore art thou?!
Meanwhile, back at the village, Amir and Karluk’s domestic (not yet) bliss continues, with Amir impatiently waiting for her little man to grow up (he still doesn’t even reach her chin). The threat of a Russian invasion looms, but Amir – ever the agile, fierce warrior – still braves the open plains to hunt alone. She discovers a wounded hawk, and attempts to nurse him back to flight, growing so attached to the regal bird as to make her gentle young hubby jealous.
Life – and death – continues on the Silk Road, 19th-century style. And, wow (!!), does creator Kaoru Mori capture it all with impeccably detailed, breathtaking magnificence.
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 2013 (United States)