Land of Silver Rain: Vol. 1

by Mira Lee

Synopsis(from the back of the book)
Abandoned in a cabbage patch as a baby, Misty-Rain is saved from certain death by a witch who brings her up as her own. Far from the company of humans, she is raised as one of the Dokebi, a magical race from Korean myth. Among them she is happy and content, until one day she loses the trust of her protector, causing the enchantment that had keep the secret of her true identity to be broken. She is case out to the world of her birth and must find her place among her own kind. Land of Silver Rain is a captivating tale of love that is often regarded as a classic.

Review
I really wanted to like this book. It has an interesting premise and some of the characters are really likable. Unfortunately the main character, Misty-Rain, is incredibly annoying. She's mean, bitchy, selfish, and thoughtless. She can be sweet when everything goes well for her, but when they don't (which is often, and will be more often later in the series), she is horrid. She takes revenge on others without thinking about the consequences, she lies instead of telling the truth at a prudent time, and she has a short fuse, and gets ridiculously angry over the littlest things. Even after she has lost the trust of her protector, Sirius (prince of the unicorn dokebi), the only person who'll be friendly to her, is constantly rebuffed, yelled at and has things thrown at him. I don't get why he keeps coming back. Probably something to do with the "fates" that he ran into. Blah.

I must say the artwork is extremely beautiful, and I just love to look at it. I wish it hadn't been marred by weird, goofy, cartoony faces (at funny moments). In fact, I wish this story had been a lot more serious, like the synopsis makes it sound. As it is, with the main character hard to identify with, and harder to like, I'm not sure it's worth it. I'm curious what happens, but afraid that Misty-Rain won't be any more likable, and that Sirius will keep doting on her, even though she doesn't deserve it.

Maybe my real problem is that I feel lied to. I went in expecting one thing, and got something completely different. Like I said, the synopsis is interesting, and cover is so beautiful, I just thought it was going to be something deep and wonderful. I'm disappointed.

One good thing about this book is that the publisher left a few pages in color. For translated graphic novels, that is extremely rare. I have to say that I really appreciate that, and I wish other publishers would do the same. Colored pages turned black-and-white usually doesn't look good at all. I know it's expensive, though.

Final thought: Maybe I'll get more, if I can get a deal.