Bound Beauty

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>Review is based on the first book in the series


I’m a big fan of Her Majesty’s Dog, so when Bound Beauty (also by Mick Takeuchi) came out last September I went to buy it. Unfortunately, if this first volume is any indication of the rest of the series, I won’t be buying the rest.

Bound Beauty starts off by introducing us to the main character, Chiyako, who can see a person’s “Red String of Fate”. You know, the threads that tie you to your soul mate? Chiyako is making a killing with her “Love Fortunes”, and it turns out that some people don’t like that. It’s ... never satisfactory explained why theses people don’t want her fortune telling, only that they don’t. The important part of this is that her confrontations with the trio of men (Hirotsuna, Akeo, and Aya) lead her to discover a special spool of thread in Akeo’s basement.

Through an illogical bunch of twists and turns, Chiyako ends of the master of another mysterious power: she controls the white thread Shirogane. But for every gift there is a price: the thread that tied Chiyako to her “most precious something” is broken. Conveniently, Chiyako wanted to grow up more than anything else. So, for the rest of the book we get chibi-Chiyako.

Except, of course, when she uses Shirogane. Suddenly she’s back to her normal size (and also naked), which begs the question: If Chiyako can be reunited with her “most precious something” when she uses her power, then why don’t the other guys get that chance?

This book annoyed me with the plot holes and a confusing story. I found myself flipping to the back for footnotes almost constantly, which really hampered the reading experience. Chiyako herself was puzzling because she was OOC half the time, or reacted in ways no normal human would. I wouldn’t recommend this book.

Story - 9
Art - 9
Characters - 9
Enjoyment - 10
Overall = 9

Please do take time to actually READ this story.

Sure, it's somewhat confusing in the beginning but it only gets better, IMHO of course. I found myself engaged almost immediately - my habit of flipping the book open in the middle to see if it can draw me in halfway, even without knowing how things started, had never failed to find me an interesting read.

The story starts out rather lightly, but bad things are afoot and scheming. It gets progressively darker as you go on. Argh! I shiver just remembering some things - not necessarily ... out of fear, mind you.

I found characters to be engaging and rather dear - somehow it feels like I've knowns them for a while but forgot I did. Rather like an old worn book you were fond of as a child that you've read again as a grown up.
The story is engaging and author's notes are interesting (for me). The art is really good.

Why 9? Well, because I'm biased, I suppose. =P