Customer Reviews

Red River, Vol. 28

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Chie's graphic novel series Red River had me reading ravenously from book to book, until the final volume. Up until this point, the series was full of gripping plot twists, romance, capture, political intrigue, magic, princes, history, and everything you could look for in the perfect Shoujo. At the end of volume 27, I couldn't have been looking forward to the final volume more than I was. I was really expecting some great things. After all, it was the longest series I had read at that point in time.

Well, when the book finally arrived, it wasn't a worthy finish. The story ended 20 pages into this volume, and the rest of it was taken up by comic strips about a day in the life of particular characters I didn't even care about. I was really hoping to see more about what happened after the marriage we all expected, but instead we just got, "Yuri and the King were married, and it was a happy marriage, and a time of prosperity and peace. But then catastrophe came to the land, and the once great civilization disappeared and has been left in a state of decay. Now all that remains is ruins, and the only thing that can be heard now is the whisper of the wind." This is a horrible, convenient, thrown together conclusion. It just sums up things, and moves on as if the journey we have been on for over 20 books was nothing.

What I wanted to see was something about the family that Yuri left behind, or if something about her continued into the future. The future she left behind, never to reenter. I know that she is Ishtar in the story, but I would've liked to see some implications of her travel back in time on the rest of humanity. Especially the people that knew and loved her. We assume that her family thinks she disappeared, but we don't get anything more about them. If not that, something about Yuri's children or family (if she had any) in Anatolia. But we get none of that. All we get is a rushed summary and destruction of everything.

The 28th volume was such a waste of paper, that I wish they would have just made the 27th one a bit longer and ended it there. No reason to get my expectations up for a volume that is less then what came before it.

This series is good, but if you're going to read it, check it out from the library. Save yourself the money.

I have read the 'Red River' series about three times over. I bought this book right when it came out. What a mistake. Volme 27 had us lulled into a false sense of an acitonpacked end; not so. Its pretty much 'They had a happy marriage' and then it tells us about Kikkuri's day (Sad to say, I don't really care about Kikkuri) and the other short story one was better. But what about the action? The romance? The complicated love hexagons!?!?! (haha)..

I had high hopes for this book. I literally cried when (SPOILER ALERT!!!!)
it said That (Queen) Yuri Ishtar died of an unknown disease and (King) Kail died as if to be with his dead wife. That was horrible. That was like a punch in the stomach. THEY DIE!? Yes; they die. Of old age. The greatest duo EVER dies- of old age. Let them die in battle or something!! I was so upset; It was a horrible ending to the amazing Yuri and Kail.

And then a years pass; we have the story of Yuri (No, not the main character Yuri), this is a random chick who pretends to be a dude- Literally. I really don't remember how she ties into it all. She hooks up with some dude whose a spy or something. This Yuri girl is supposed to marry Ramses Grandson. But she escapes with whats-his face and Yuri's granddaughter end marriying Ramses Grandson instead (which was cute <3) But other than that, this was the WORST of the Red River series, hands down.

Hopefully, if they ever make a Red River anime (WHICH THEY SHOULD!!!!!), they will either:
- End it with Kail and Yuri's wedding
- Make a different ending.

The ending was good, because the got married and lived happily , until the hitite empire disappeared and nobody knows what happened to them... (>.>) I would've liked to see what happened to them after the marriage... It was such a good series and the ending was such a letdown.