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Book reviews for "Vazakas,_Byron" sorted by average review score:

Eat Away Diabetes: Beat Type 2 Diabetes by Winning the Blood-Sugar Battle
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall Press (30 May, 2002)
Authors: Kristine M. Napier and Byron J. Hoogwerf
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Highly recommended for EVERYONE desiring good health!
Eat Away Diabetes is extremely well researched and superbly written! Taking complex subject matter, the author uses practical explanations and analogies, thereby making diabetes much easier to understand. The information is current and extremely useful for people with Type 2 diabetes and those working to prevent this potentially devastating (but preventable) disease. Numerous charts and sidebars are used throughout which serve as excellent references in my practice as a registered dietitian. The author emphasizes the importance of exercise at length and explains the roles of fiber, fat, carbohydrates, protein, vitamin/mineral supplementation, and herbs. Ms. Napier also provides 28 days of menus and their accompanying recipes (which are healthy, creative, and tasty). This book will remain a useful resource in my professional practice and daily life! Thank you, Kristine Napier!

Easy to understand advice about diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a national epidemic. Lifestyle changes, including diet and exercise, are necessary to prevent complications (heart disease, stroke, vascular disease, blindness) in those with Type 2 diabetes and prevent the disease from occurring in those at high risk. Medical advice regarding diet often leaves patients confused and therefore unable to follow their advice. Kristine Napier defines Type II diabetes and the steps needed to control this disease in a way that is easy to understand. She provides advice and examples to help the reader incorporate her guidelines into their everyday life. Her 28 day guide of menus will help those get started and as always, Kris's recipes are easy to follow and delicious. Last, but not least of importance, is that all of Kris's advice is based on scientific evidence and conforms to national guidelines.

A book to live by
Kristine Napier is obviously an authority on diabetes as well as a nutritionist-- and we could probably cure a national epidemic (Type 2 diabetes) if we would all follow the advice in this book. But this isn't like one of those health books that preaches all kinds of impossible advice. It's filled with really simple recipes. The ones I've tried are easy to make, and taste delicious. It's food for kids as well as adults. At last, we've got a book on the kitchen shelf that we can trust completely.


Have Mercy!: Confessions of the Original Rock 'N' Roll Animal
Published in Hardcover by Warner Books (1999)
Authors: Wolfman Jack, Byron Laursen, and Wolfman
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Have Mercy Baby, He's Howling in Rock-N-Roll Heaven
Wolfman Jack "was" the ultimate D.J of all time. No one will ever fill his shoes. This book defines how his career got started, but it's too bad it wasn't accompanied by an "audio". You can't learn about or know "Wolfman" unless you've heard one of his shows. I was stunned that the entertainment world never gave him a tribute! But he "did"it in the way he lived his life! HAVE MERCY WOLFMAN. (insert a HOWL here!)

HAVE MERCY! Relives the era but fails to capture THE VOICE.
HAVE MERCY! takes a wild ride through an important era of broadcast history. HAVE MERCY! captures the renegade spirit that led a few pirates and pioneers to take risks for entertainment sake. HAVE MERCY! does a superb job of describing the times and painting a picture of what those who ventured into early rock were up against. HAVE MERCY! helps us to better understand what made one white boy howl in the night - and others sing the blues. HAVE MERCY! makes clear the impact of radio in the early days of rock-n-roll. Its a classic expose' on pop culture. HAVE MERCY! shows the drive and determination and focus and endurance and high energy it took to succeed in a highly competetive industry. HAVE MERCY! catches the gimmicks and the glamour. HAVE MERCY! drops all the right names in all the right places. HAVE MERCY! doesn't shy away from revealing the hazards, the hardships, the dirty deals and the difficult decisions either. HAVE MERCY! is a roller coaster without seatbelts - a wooden one with plenty of bumps and sharp turns and deep drops along the way. HAVE MERCY! chronicles the life of a street tough kid with a dream - someone least likely to succeed - who beat the odds and made it. HAVE MERCY! relives the roots of rock as told through THE VOICE that spoke for a whole generation. HAVE MERCY! grabs onto the craziness of THE VOICE but doesn't see the flip side. Nothing is revealed about the inner stuff the Wolfman was made of. HAVE MERCY! tells the what, when and where of Wolfman's story but fails to communicate the why well enough for reader's know who the Wolfman really was. Its as if the author is writing from a distance - on the outside looking in when a more compelling biography would be told from the inside looking out. HAVE MERCY! recants the making of the personality . . . but fails to see beyond the legend the Wolfman had become. If I hadn't already known the huge impact Wolfman had on my generation, I'm not sure I would've comprehended it from the book. The author tries, but fails to show the true connection between THE VOICE and his listeners. HAVE MERCY! gets the facts but not the feelings. Its like when a record company measures the quality of a song by its sales instead of its message or craftmanship. HAVE MERCY! records details but never gets the big picture. The author never catches the vision. He rides with the Wolfman but never contemplates the reason. He notes the Wolf's charisma but never understands it. Its clearly too overwhelming to describe and so its treated almost like an after-thought. Not a lot of effort goes into getting to know Wolf's fans or measuring his impact on the world around him either. HAVE MERCY! never sees the Wolfman as a wholistic being - the author never gets into his soul the way I, the reader, wanted him to. And so, the Wolfman came across as a wild, but somewhat packaged, entertainer with a well inflated ego - rather than a dedicated spokesman whose main mission may have been just to spread some joy. What if the radio was nothing more than a vehicle to enable the Wolfman to accomplish that goal? HAVE MERCY! only suggests such honorable motives - instead the author dwells on stereotypical indicators that suggest the Wolf was mostly after fortune and fame. The Wolfman is depicted as a relentless industry climber willing to do just about anything to claw his way to the top. HAVE MERCY! had me asking whatever happened to Robert Smith? Did he completely disappear whenever the Wolf came out to play? If HAVE MERCY! were an instruction manual on how-to develop a strong stage personality the author would succeed in covering the steps and listing the most sensational ingredients needed - but he'd fail to give a clue as to what makes the recipe work. The author wasn't able to make me feel the fire and the author didn't manage to make the Wolfman bleed. His pen barely scraped the surface. Had it dug deeper it may have gotten to the heart of the story. A good book gets the info, keeps the pace and tells an interesting story - but a great book goes beyond the expected by sharing keen insights and by giving the reader something valuable to hang onto long after the last page is read. HAVE MERCY! is a good book, not a great one. I walked away exhausted from a really wild journey - but still not certain as to who I'd shared it with. That's a shame because I'm certain there was more to the Wolfman than the world ever got a chance to know, or this author ever managed to uncover.

Have Mercy for sure!!
I read the book after he died. What a book!! The book takes the reader for a ride with a character that the reader will never forget!

The book will make a great movie and I hope that there is a movie made from the book.

I can not wait till the publisher starts publishing the book again because I will buy another one for sure.

HAVE MERCY!!


My Car
Published in Hardcover by Greenwillow (07 August, 2001)
Author: Byron Barton
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My 2 year old loves it!
My two year old son loves anything by Byron Barton. The colors are bold and attract his attention and the text seems just the right length for his growing attention span. We have quite a few in the series and are collecting them all! You can not go wrong with this or any of the Byron Barton books!

The best!
This is one of my son's favorite books. It is wonderfully illustrated, with terrific use of color. My 3-year-old LOVES this one!

Byron Barton does it again!
Take Byron Barton's simple colorful illustrations, mix with a simple yet informative story line, and blend with my 2 1/2 yr. old son's favorite topic...Cars...and you get this book! We have read this book countless times, and even our 11 month old is captivated by these bright pictures. Byron Barton's Sam introduces young children to the insides and outsides of his little red car, describing how it needs to be washed and have oil and gas. Simple, yes, but this little book is packed with great information about cars, and at a level that is perfect for very young children.


Planes
Published in Hardcover by HarperFestival (1994)
Author: Byron Barton
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Barton's simple approach is superb
My son is an airplane and boat fanatic(as is his Father). Solution? Byron Barton books! These little gems offer a few pages of pictures (very simple illustrations using primary colors)describing the different tasks an airplane, boat, train, etc. do everyday. I prefer the chunky board book format, which is virtually impossible for toddlers to completely destroy. Check out Barton's books today.

Soaring through the skies with Byron Barton
Byron Barton's "Planes" is a fun and educational book for beginning readers. In it the author/illustrator depicts a jet plane, seaplane, crop duster, helicopter, and other aviation phenomena. A sample of the easy-to-read text: "This is a jet plane with people inside."

The illustrations are basically simplified line drawings enhanced with bright, solid colors. Barton brings a distinctive stylistic flair to this approach. A nice touch is that Barton depicts people of various colors and ethnic appearances. Overall, a good choice for small children.

Couldn't be better
My baby loves this - he's 21 months - be brings it to me all the time to read. Nice illustrations.


Vintage Views of Leelanau County
Published in Hardcover by Sleeping Bear Press (2002)
Authors: M. Christine Byron, Thomas R. Wilson, and George Weeks
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A must for Leelanau lovers and postcard collectors alike
This superb collection of views from Leelanau County is a delight for anyone who has spent summers in northern Michigan. It's rich with hundreds of beautifully reproduced real photo postcards, supplemented with maps, early tourist ads, and an informative text constructed from Byron's and Wilson's research and excerpts from travel literature.

"Vintage Views" is a must for Leelanau County lovers and postcard collectors alike. You'll spend many enjoyable hours with this book, traveling from the comfort of your favorite chair.

Spectacular Journey
Everything about VINTAGE VIEWS OF LEELANAU COUNTY is a spectacular journey. Anyone with a nostalgic bone in their body must view this book? For me, it "conjured" up so many memories of vacations to resorts where being with family and enjoying the area was the "why" you were on the trip.

Absolutely Wonderful
This is an absolutely wonderful book about Leelanau County history, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and northern Michigan tourism of days gone by. It's a must have if you vacation up north and would make a very memorable gift for those who visit that area. I highly recommend it. I wish a book like this existed for the entire west side of Michigan.


The Center Within: Lessons from Heart of the Urantia Revelation
Published in Paperback by Origin Pr (01 December, 1998)
Authors: Byron Belitsos and Fred Harris
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Don't deprive yourself of this message!
When I was first introduced to The Urantia Book a number of years ago, I was encouraged to look beyond the obstacle of authorship and judge the validity of it's message on it's content. The idea that the truth would "ring true" deep within my being was often expressed. I took this advice to heart, and as I immersed myself in it's pages, I was rewarded by a whole choir of bells ringing true within me. It pains me to think how many people out there are depriving themselves of this amazing message just because they can't deal with the possibility that the papers were authored by "superhuman beings". It really doesn't matter who wrote the papers at all, what matters is the message. I, for example, am writing this review. Very few people who read this actually know me, so the majority of you will have to ponder what I have written and take from it what you will. Why should any other message be any different?

That many people will choose not to read The Center Within because of the source of it's teachings pains me as well. Many of the same Urantians who will encourage those reading The Urantia Book to look at the message and not judge the book by it's authorship will do exactly the opposite to this book. And as with The Urantia Book, those who choose to ignore this book are depriving themselves of a beautiful, uplifting, and even practical message. I would encourage everyone, Urantian or not, to open themselves to this message. I know that you will not be dissappointed.

Bringing the Teachings of The Urantia Book to Life.
This is a wonderful addition to the Urantia Book. It gets down to the nitty-gritty of some of the teachings and adds practical advice to each of those teachings. You may not agree with all of its advice or with all of its explanations of the teachings, however, you will agree that it is a must have for anyone on a spiritual journey.

The Urantia Book is one of the most inspiring books in print today. It's teachings are timeless and life giving. The Center Within takes a look at these teachings and brings them to the practical level of experience. From meditation (stillness) to social interaction, The Center Within is complete and full of loving insight!

the last book
I had to post a review before I even read it, I just looked over the first chapter descriptions, read the back cover, and have to tell you I am shaking, over a period of many years of intensive reading, i know this book is the last one I need to read......it ties all of the pieces together, "know thyself", this book is soaked in TRUTH and LOVE, or should I say TRUTH IS LOVE!


Airport
Published in Hardcover by Ty Crowell Co (1982)
Author: Byron Barton
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a gentle introduction to the airport for young children
This book is a good introduction to the sequence of events a child can expect to see when they take an airplane flight. The storyline, such as it is, unobtrusively follows a young boy and his family through the process -- arriving at the airport in a bus, standing in the ticket line, sitting in the waiting area, boarding the plane and finding your seat, and getting buckled in. There are also picture showing the crew preparing the airplane, the control tower okaying the plane for takeoff, the pilot and crew in the cockpit, and the jet taking off. There is a very nice cross-section showing the jet's fuselage, cargo hold, etc. Each picture is a brightly colored two-page spread, and my two-year old enjoys this book.

My quibbles are small. It would have been nice to see some more children in the pictures; and in one scene we see the little boy buckling up in a window seat on the lefthand side of the plane, but on takeoff we see him look ing out a window on the righthand side. A small enough mistake, but what if a child notices this and begins to worry that airplanes do not obey the laws of physics or logic? Will you be prepared to advance explanations that will not confuse?

Seriously, it's a nice book that should inform small children, and even help them when they first experience an airport.

Fun, fun, fun...
I have a two year old son, and he loves this book. The pictures are great, the descriptions are easy for him to understand, and are short enough to hold his attention. All of Byron Barton's books are great, but this one is his fave rave!!!!!!!!!

A must have for airport and airplane fans
This time around Barton tackles a day in the life of a passenger plane traveler. We start out with passengers arriving at the airport and go through all the various activities that take place through take off. What happens to the luggage, getting the plane ready for take off, etc. are covered. A cross-section of a jet plane shows the various parts including toilet (which children think is hilarious) and also shows staff working to clean the plane before the passengers board.

This would be a great book to read to a child who is preparing to travel by airplane. It would be great preparation to understand all that goes into preparing the plane, what is happening as the people are waiting to board, etc. It would also be a great book to take on the flight as entertainment, especially since it is a thin paperback and lightweight.

Lots of people are in the airport and are of all ages and races.

Barton also has a board book about planes which depicts different kinds of airplanes, titled "Planes". "Airport" focuses just on jet passenger airplanes and the airport itself. If you enjoy this book I recommend Barton's other books as well.

My baby loves this book, he must love the illustrations. My four year old loves the book for the content. We are frequent airplane travelers and we have made air travel an adventure, always discussing all that goes on and intentionally making it a real fun experience. It has been successful so far because we don't experience air travel stress with either of our children. Both look at a trip to the airport as an adventure in and of itself. This book gives us more opportunities to discuss flying when we are at home, in between trips.

This is the only children's book I have ever seen that discusses airports and what goes on there.

Great, a must have!


Boats
Published in Paperback by Walker Books (25 May, 1989)
Author: Byron Barton
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My Son's First Favorite
I started reading "Boats" to my son when he was just a few months old. He is now 11 months, and since he was 8-9 months, he has grabbed "Boats" preferentially each night. Even when he is in a bad mood, the bold colors and simple shapes make him light up with a big grin! The variety of boats introduced, the simple illustrations and the multiethnic nature of the stick figures make this book a great find. I believe this will be a favorite for a long time.

All aboard Barton's "Boats"
"Boats," by Byron Barton, is a good book for beginning readers. Like others by this author, the book combines simple text with illustrations in Barton's trademark style: bright, solid colors and simplified, almost iconic figures.

Barton depicts a rowboat, sailboat, fire department boat, ferry, cruise ship, and other vessels. The boats are actually shown in action. A nice touch is that the passengers and crew are people of different colors and ethnic appearances. Sample text: "There goes a fishing boat out to sea." A colorful and educational book.

Bright colors and big pictures
I suggest Amazon.com to reconsider their age rating for this book. Toddler to 3 years might be more approriate. This being said however, my toddler boy loves this book. He goes wild over the bright colors and big bright pictures. The great thing is that the book introduces one new boat per page while keeping the previous boat displayed in the background. This way the child is able to see what happens to the other boat while being introduced to a new one. The Text is easy and plain "here comes a rowing boat" style, leaving plenty of room to create ones own stories.
I recommend this book for small children.


Hello Kitty's Little Book of Big Ideas: A Girl's Guide to Brains, Beauty, Fashion, Friendship & Fun
Published in Hardcover by Abrams Books for Young Readers (2001)
Authors: Sandra Higashi, Byron Glaser, and Marie Y. Moss
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Hello Kitty Rocks!
This Hello Kitty book is really a cute idea. It has ideas for any one of any young to middle age! It has graphics that might make little kids want to read it, but if you're older, don't get disscoursged, because it has great ideas for organizing things, and how to deal with 'little' issues. It shows you different styles for different occasions, and as I said, the way they write it mught be kind of babyish, but it really does have a good theme. I think If you read it for what it's worth, and what the text says, and think of the pictures as being something to add onto the text, you will probally enjoy the book. If your 10 and under, don't worry you'll love it most likely. If you like Hello Kitty, no doubt you'll like this book!

My sister loved it
I thought I'd picked a winner and was right. My 11 year old sister loved it.

The book is a good one, it has advice ranging from friendship, to fashion, and even a little nutrition thrown in for good measure. All of the info is solid, thoughtful and heartfelt.

A lot of kids seem to be raising themselves these days, either through family breakups or just a lack of attention. While nothing replaces solid advice from a loved one, books on being a young woman can be quite helpful in sorting out the things children deal with growing up. This one certainly is.

Cute, fun, and helpful. This is a great gift to show you care.

Perfect gift for young ladies or a reminder for yourself....
...to learn (or remember) what it is to be a girl from Hello Kitty's wonderful perpective! I am a little older than the target age group for most HK products, but I love and collect HK and was thrilled to see a nifty little book like this come out. I have given 3 copies away as gifts to my niece, sister and a family friend and am about to purchase another as a gift for another young lady because I think the information inside is so vital and perfect! It helps girls learn about who they are, rules of etiquette, and has lots of creative ideas to keep the mind sharp, all at a simple, fun & easy-to-read pace. Brilliant! (and worth every penny!) Moms & Dads, sisters & brothers, aunt & uncles, friends - whomever - should consider this item in their gift-giving pool.


Lone Wolf & Cub
Published in Paperback by First Classics (1990)
Authors: Kazuo Koike, Wald, and Byron Erickson
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Yagyu Retsudo renews the quest to kill Ogami Itto & Daigoro
The Yagyu letter continues to gnaw at Yagyu Retsudo who gives ample proof in Volume 13 of the Lone Wolf & Cub saga, "The Moon in the East, the Sun in the West," that he will go to any length to get his revenge on Ogami Itto. In the five chapters of the manga epic included in this volume is the most shocking act of violence we have yet wetness in this bloody saga:

(64) "The Moon in the East, the Sun in the West" has Retsudo ruminating on how he has sent all of his legitimate sons to be slaughtered by Ogami Itto. But the old man has an illegitimate son and daughter, and horrible plans for them both.

(65) "'Marohoshi' Mamesho" is another one of the fascinating characters created by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. This time around the title character is an old policeman from the capital on the verge of retirement who stumbles across Ogami Itto being commissioned for his next act of assassination. "Marohoshi" has spent his life protecting people and he is not going to let this ronin continue on the assassin's road.

(66) "Spoiling Daigoro" is an offbeat story where the family that hires Ogami Itto persuades him to let Daigoro stay with them while he goes off to do his job. They have a son who is a coward and a weakling with no friends, and the boy's father thinks that having Daigoro around might be good for Suzunosuke. Ogami Itto agrees and thinks go well for a while, but Suzunosuke soon grows tired of hearing his parents praise Daigoro day and night.

(67) "The Hojiro Yaguy" finds Retsudo's illegitimate son planning on using poison darts that can stop a charging horse to slay Lone Wolf. It looks like there is no way on earth Ogami Itto can escape, but, of course, he always has something up his sleeve. Warning: The ending of this one is unexpectedly brutual and shocking.

(68) "The Bird Catchers," is another episode where Lone Wolf and Cub are spectators for the most part as they come across a group of female falconers preserving a dying way of life. But what makes this tale of some significance, especially as the last one in this volume, is that in the eyes of his son, it seems Ogami Itto might have finally gone too far.

"The Moon in the East, the Sun in the West" is another superb collection of stories in the Lone Wolf & Cub saga. Koike and Kojima still manage to provide a new twist and turn in every volume while stringing us out as long as possible with both the short term mystery of the Yagyu letter and the long term quest of Ogami Itto to get his vengeance on the entire Yagyu clan. I read one episode a night right before bed and am almost always surprised to see what new direction each night's story might take. This has to be one of the ten greatest comic epics of all time.

Ogami Itto is hired for several intriquing assassinations
The mystery of the Yagyu letter is apparently forgotten in the five Lone Wolf and Cub tales told in Volume 12, "Shattered Stones." However, one thing that really stood out in these stories is that since he was reunited with his father after they were separated by circumstances, Daigoro has been smiling a lot more:

(59) "Nameless, Penniless, Lifeless" is one of the most disturbing stories in the Lone Wolf and Cub saga. It begins with a woman putting on a sex show for peasants. But what is even more shocking is that the woman has lost her mind and that her husband, whose face is half scared by terrible burns, is the one who talks her into her displays. There is more here than meets the eye, as is often the case in these stories, and the way in which the truth is revealed might remind you of part of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

(60) "Body Check" is another one of those tales in which Ogami Itto has to use his brains to put himself in a position to use his sword for his next assassination.

(61) "Shattered Stones" begins with one of the most different ways that Ogami Itto has met someone who wanted to hire him for an assassination. On top of that the rules of the assassination are quite different (again, I am reminded of a Western parallel in the novel "Sophie's Choice").

(62) "A Promise of Potatoes" is an amusing little change of pace story for this series. Daigoro is off by himself again, being beaten up by a group of kids, when he is rescued by a con artist who teaches the boy to sit by a bowl looking pitiful as a way of making money. But where there is Cub can Lone Wolf be far behind...

(63) "Wife Killer" is a wonderfully ironic title, which we learn is used to describe somebody who gives away the tricks of magicians, who are known as "hand wives." Noronji Hoya, the Princess of Magicians, who has been using a delighted Daigoro as her "assistant," is about the encounter the "wife killer," an old saki-sotted magician who travels with two thugs who extort money from magicians: pay up or have your secrets revealed. But Noronji Hoya has a better proposition: she will perform a trick and if the old man can reveal her secret she will kill herself; if not, then she will take the old man's eyes.

Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima are back to telling tales in which Ogami Itto is more often than not more of a spectator to the action in which other characters carry the stories. One of the testaments to the greatness of this manga epic is that the title character can be almost incidental to the story and it is still completely riveting. Here we are, not even halfway through this saga, and they are still coming up with new and intriguing variations on the basic themes they established early on. The fact that they can maintain this high level certainly justifies the exalted status Lone Wolf & Cub has in the international world of comics.

At long last, Ogami Itto gets emotional over Daigoro
"Talisman of Hades" is a nice title, but "Thirteen Strings" is the one you are not going to forget of the four stories collected in Volume 11 of the "Lone Wolf & Cub" magna epic. We had been confronted with a major development in the story as Ogami Itto stole the Yagyu letter. All pretenses were dropped as Reshido Yagyu declared open war on Ogami Itto, but Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima were showing the same sort of audacious subterfuge as their heroic creation, for as Ogami and Reshido crossed blades, Daigoro lost is hold on his father's shoulders and literally fell over a cliff. Suddenly the mystery of the Yagyu letter has become secondary because father and son have become separated. Their search for one another continues in these stories and for the first time we see Ogami Itto express emotion for his son:

(55) "Talisman of Hades" finds Ogami Itto is now putting up pictures of a baby cart where once he had pasted the talismans of meifunado to invite clients of death and assassination. A group of young students on their way to an academy stumble upon the mystery of the signs and when they see the strange ronin slay a "priest" (another Yagyu assassin in disguise of course), they decide they must intervene, forcing Lone Wolf to teach them a valuable lesson.

(56) "Ailing Star" has Daigoro finding a place to stay with an old granny who lives under a rotted bridge in danger of collapse. The locals keep trying to convince the old lady to leave, but she refuses. "Ailing Star" forms an interesting counterpart to "Talisman of Hades" as Daigoro has his own little lesson to impart.

(57) "Thirteen Strings" is an 118-page story where Koike and Kojima come up with their own version of a Kurosawa film experience (the rain during the last acts of the story is a clue). When we come to end of this epic tale, surely "Thirteen Strings" will be one of the most memorable episodes. A runaway horse is about to trample a child in the road when Ogami Itto intervenes. The horsewoman turns out to be the Lady Kanae, Daughter of the Go-Jodai of Odawara Han, and a spoiled brat who fancies herself a samurai. Ogami also learns of a larger conflict between the Go-Jodai and the farmers. Drought has blighted the harvest for four years and the Go-Jodai has tightened the screws on the farmers, who "hire" Ogami to attend a meeting between the two sides (because if anything happens to Chosuke, the leader of the farmers, Lone Wolf will bring word back to the farmers). Go-Jodai has his own agenda for implementing fundamental agricultural reform. Meanwhile, his headstrong daughter seeks revenge on the ronin who has insulted her. But then the rains bring a sudden flood that changes absolutely everything. This is a memorable story of surprising depth, showing that Koike and Kojima are absolute masters of their craft.

(58) "A Poem for the Grave" has Ogami Itto seeking help in finding the secret of the Yagyu letter. This turns into another assassination job, which results in an encounter with another honorable soul who seeks to turn Lone Wolf from the Assassin's Road. The question is whether things might be different this time because of Ogami Itto's separation from Diagoro.

I am in awe of Koike and Kojima maintain this level of excellence through a story that is not even halfway over by this point in the telling of the tale. I continue to savor one story each night at bedtime so that I can think about how it fits into the big picture and the ebb and flow of the story. An absolute masterpiece, not just as a comic book, but as an epic narrative.


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