Reviews for Challenge (Wicked Lovely Desert Tales Series #2), Vol. 2

The average rating for Challenge (Wicked Lovely Desert Tales Series #2), Vol. 2 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-28 00:00:00 Allen Underhill Man, am I glad I continued on with this series. This volume was a lot better than the first, in my opinion. I thought it was a lot more organized and put together than the last. It seemed more cleaner... more smooth. I know there are times when I am reading manga and it seems to only get worse and worse with each volume. However, with this one, it just went from being okay to something good. I think there are still some areas that needs improvement on but it is nothing compared to the first volume. I wonder if maybe Melissa Marr took what was lacking and just worked on that more? Or maybe it was because this volume focused a lot more on my favorite character so I'm just being a tad biased. Either way, I really think this volume was good and I just want to let out a sigh of relief because I thought it was going to suck. XP Melissa Marr did a great job with this volume. But do you see what I meant when I said in my last review that I had a love/hate relationship with her? Sometimes I just can't stand the work that she writes. Other times, like this time, I just love it. It's such a strange relationship to have with an author. I usually love an author's work all the way or hate it all the way. Obviously, that's not the case with Marr. I think she did a lot better with telling the story this time around. Mind you, it still starts off confusing but I think that's the point. Later on in the manga things are revealed to you so you know what's going on. However, you still will need to have read the books to know EXACTLY what's happening. The only thing that I did not like about this volume was that there was a lot of mush towards the beginning of the manga, not enough action. I know some people like having romance in their manga... I'm not one of them. Sure, I can appreciate a good love story, but if that's the only thing that's going on without much else... just proves to be boring after a while. So when all I saw was Rika and Jayce being all lovey-dovey... I wanted to hang myself. There was literally nothing happening between those scenes. All the good stuff starts taking off towards the middle of the book, which is better than no having anything happen at all. I just wish it wasn't so forced down your throat. I'm also not a fan on how Marr portrays women (more on that later). Everything else was pretty good, however. The story started to feel like what Wicked Lovely is all about. I quite enjoyed myself with the manga's plot this time a lot more. Xian Nu Studio did it again with it's amazing art! I just really like this art style. It's so cute! Despite the main guys looking like girls still, it's just beautiful! I noticed that when they were drawing the henchmen of Maili, they looked a lot like men. Maybe it was just the way they were told to draw the male leads... who knows? Point is, I don't really have any complaints towards the art. I like it. It suits my tastes and I feel it goes well with this type of manga. The scenery is another favorite of mine. I'm like the character designs, especially of the faeries, but the scenery to a lot of the panels are just gorgeous. I might be the only one who thinks so since a lot of it is wasteland so it's plain and barren... but I don't care! I like the simplicity of it all. Just love it! I can't wait to see more art done by this group. Character time! Rika annoys the hell out of me. She's the main character and I will have to deal with her but sometimes I wish I could just smack the stupid out of her. As I said in my previous review, I love that she can fight. She knows how to hold her own when push comes to shove. The only thing that really gets to me about her is how weak she seems to be with men. (And this is where I have issues with Marr's portrayal of women.) She doesn't seem to know which guy she wants. Sometimes she wants Jayce, others Sion. There are points where she lets Keenan, the one she has no interest in anymore, get the better of her. What? Pathetic much? Girl if you're strong enough to kick some ass, then you are strong enough to not lower yourself to a bloody man. I hate how she seemed to boy hop a lot in this volume. From Jayce to Sion to back again. It was disgusting. -_-" Jayce is not the best character. I find him to be very bland. I thought he might have improved int his volume but he didn't. He's nice and all... but I need a little bit more out of my leading man. There's just something missing from him. Like... a personality. I don't hate him... I just find him boring. Keenan... he's a douche. Moving on. Maili appeared again! Yay! The one with the BEST character design! I just love her look. Her attitude is pretty good, too. She's a bit of a weakling but that's to be expected. She was created like that. *Shrugs* I still like her, though! She has so much fire to her~ My favorite character is Sion! He's just too cute! He's a fox faery for crying out loud! (I don't think that's a spoiler seeing as how you can see his ears on the cover of the book.) I love his personality a lot! He fun, courageous, intelligent, witty, manipulative, strong, hilarious, sweet, cute, he's everything I love in a man! I love how he himself tells people how he's not a nice person and he will deceive you if he had to. Just seeing someone have the balls to say that makes me feel really happy. In fact, he tells Rika that he's not good for her because he's not the type to go for long-term relationships. I respect that in a person. He cared enough to let her know instead of doing what Keenan did and played with her emotions. (It's probably the only reason why Rika hasn't thrown herself completely at Sion in the first place.) In short, he's awesome and I'm glad I was able to see more of him in this volume. Seriously, guys... if you are a fan of the series, pick this up. You will enjoy yourself a whole lot. You get to see a little bit more between what was going on in the Summer Court as well as the rogue faeries. Mind you, there are still some minor flaws with this manga series but I don't feel they are big enough to hinder you from enjoying your experience with it. Give it a try! I have a feeling you might enjoy it quite a bit. Whoo! I am off to check out the third and final one to this manga. I'm both excited and bummed that this is coming to an end. I was enjoying myself. XP

Review # 2 was written on 2011-10-08 00:00:00 John Leonard Volume two of Desert Tales, Challenge, introduces the series conflict, and that's when things get really interesting. The best part of the Wicked Lovely series has always been the faery politics, so I was glad to see that it, not romance, would be the focus of Desert Tales. Rika is unwillingly sucked into a power struggle in the desert that she's spent her entire post-Winter Girl life trying to avoid, and it's rather fascinating to see how she deals with it, to see the choices that she has to make because of it. Choice and freedom have been common themes throughout the Wicked Lovely series, and Desert Tales is no exception. For once I'm not going to spoil the rest of plot, because part of Desert Tales' fun is the surprising turns it takes. The story takes place sometime between the events of Ink Exchange and Fragile Eternity, I believe, and there are cameos from other familiar characters besides Keenan. But the spoilers for the series proper are kept to a minimum, and it's not completely incomprehensible if you haven't read Wicked Lovely at all. The art, done by Xian Nu Studio, is a worthy stand-in for Melissa Marr's elegant prose. It's clean and professional, and the character designs are uniformly, well, cool. My single favorite thing, aesthetically, about Desert Tales has to be Rika's hair. I love it, it's awesome, I would steal it if I could. I'm sure some people will have complaints about Keenan, and admittedly I didn't quite picture him as a tall, lanky bishounen, either, but you know what? It works. Marr's the writer so of course he acts like Keenan, and his expressions are so arrogant and absurdly perfect that after a while, the long golden mane, willowy frame, and sweater-duster (wut?) didn't bother me... Read more at You're Killing.Us.