I get a lot of Advanced Reader Copies. I get them from my job at the library, e-books from Edelweiss and NetGalley, and sometimes publishers just send me an email with the book attached. In the last few weeks I’ve read and reviewed quite a few graphic novels so I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you guys. Most of these books are already out (I get behind sometimes) so if you like them, check them out!
The first book that I want to talk about is a manga called, Fool Night by Kasumi Yasuda. Now this came out a few years ago and I just got around to reading the ARC I got. Don’t be like me and wait so long to read this, it was amazing! We follow our main character, Toshiro Kamiya as he lives his life. His life sucks (his words, not mine) and he can’t see any way out other than suicide. He can’t afford food, he can’t afford his mom’s medication, he can’t afford to live. But there’s a catch. He decides that he’ll commit suicide by becoming a plant. You see, in this day and age there is no sun and it’s perpetually winter. Because of this, the plants all die and there’s not much oxygen. So the government comes up with a solution – floromorphosis. People who are terminally ill can get seeds implanted into themselves and they will turn into a plant in two years. This is how humans are making oxygen. When you volunteer for this you also get ten million yen. Since the transformation doesn’t fully happen for two years, you get to spend those two years however you want to.
So our MC decides to do that because he can’t see any other way out of his horrible life. When he goes to the agency to do this he meets one of his childhood friends who works at the agency. She talks to him and once they are done talking he asks her if it’s normal to hear the emotions of the other people that have previously been turned into plants. She’s like uhh no. So for the next two years, she sets him up with a job. He works with a team trying to locate people who have gone through the floromorphosis process.
That’s pretty much where volume one comes to a close. There’s some more in there but I don’t want to spoil the entire volume for you guys. It looks like there are 10 volumes out though not all of them are in English yet. As soon as they are though, I am immediately reading them.
I think that this book brings up some interesting questions about morality and ethics. Is it ethical for the government to be turning people into flowers to make oxygen? Even if they are volunteering? No one really knows what these people go through once the transformation takes hold. They could be constantly screaming in pain and we would never know. How can they do this to people without knowing what they’re going to go through? Would you do this if you had a terminal illness? I’m not sure if I would, to be honest. But I also don’t have a terminal illness. I’m curious to see what you guys think about it. Let me know!
That’s it for this book review! I’ll be back soon with another ARC review, I have plenty of great ones to post. See you next time!
BookWorm Blog 