Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales, Volume 1: Sanctuary
Grade 7&ndash;9&mdash;This first volume in a manga trilogy features characters from the novelWicked Lovely(HarperTeen, 2007). Rika now maintains a solitary existence in a Mojave Desert cave. She spends her days painting the landscape, invisible to mortal Jayce. Then, she becomes visible to him when she moves beneath his body to break his fall. Mutual attraction fuels this flirtatious dance between faery and mortal. Complicating the plot are appearances by Summer King Keenan, Winter Girl Donia, and interested friends, both human and fey. In the style of manwha, the book reads left to right. Black-and-white illustrations depict the angular bodies, realistic faces, extraordinarily attractive boys, and slim girls not found in traditional manga. While it is possible to read this title without prior knowledge of Marr's faerie world, it is considerably easier for fans of this series to understand its characters, action, and flashbacks.&mdash;Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NYCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.