There is a chance I'm only rating this 5 stars because it's about a magical group of librarians who are highly revered and change the world through the power of books and empowering young readers... I unashamedly loved this.
"To protect a text is to protect the world itself." "If you but learn to unlock the secrets of books, you can carry yourself to any place you wish to go." "Books have the ability to completely change your life. To change anyone's life. It's an incredible power."
The quotes from Magus of the Library says it all. Sets the tone. For a manga, this was truly an inspiring and astonishing read into the graphic novel era. A little kid coming of age story, where all he dreams about is getting the chance to read in the city library, but is denied due to his social status. A Sinbad meets slumdog millionaire, this book is more than just charming, its relatable and current. I truly think all walks of life should entertain this book and share with their friends and families.
So Magus of the Library is the story of an elf-like boy named Theo who loves books, but because he's poor and different from everyone else, he's not allowed to use the local library. He loves adventure stories and dreams of one day meeting a hero like the pirate in his favorite book to take him away. Cue the magical librarians known as the Kafna coming to his backwater village in search of a magical tome.
The art in this is pretty nice. There are some pages that remind me a little of Kaoru Mori's A Bride's Story in the amount of detail, though generally the art makes me think more of Magi. The only downside is that sometimes the panels and scenes can get a little cramped with everything that's going on on top of the amount of detail crammed in.
The story of this first volume acts more as a prologue, introducing us to the world and the characters. This first volume feels like a combination of 1,001 Nights and The Librarian, and if that turns out to be accurate, I am super game!
Another manga this week?? No. (You must be mistaken.)
Yep, continuing to run through these. This one was great - I loved the classic feel to it of discovering a chosen one and the opening up for the next leg of the journey. A quest, a boy with a destiny, and some cryptic things to come…. The classic elements. Plus, this one is completely centered on books. What’s NOT to love?
Я ще не зустрічала мангу, яка б мені не зайшла. Але тут особлива любов - адже в центрі КНИЖЕЧКИ, бібліотеки, важливість читання і текстів ✨✨✨ кайф, коротше кажучи 🥰
Jakie to było piękne! Cudowna historia o miłości do książek. Prawie cały czas się uśmiechałam. ♥
Momentami tak wzruszająca, że prawie się popłakałam. Nie zabrakło też humoru.
Każdy z bohaterów jest wyrazisty. Zdarza mi się czytać mangi i mylić bohaterów ze sobą, jednak tutaj każdy się wybija.
Manga jest urocza i pięknie narysowana. Przeplata się w niej kilka stylów.
To było takie przykre, kiedy zarówno dzieci, jak i dorośli dokuczali głównemu bohaterowi z powodu jego elfich uszu i biedy.
Ten wredny bibliotekarz z Amun, który nie chciał wypożyczać dzieciom książek, przypomniał mi bibliotekarza z mojej szkolnej biblioteki, który nie chciał w pierwszej klasie podstawówki wypożyczyć mi książki o Muminkach. Gdyby nie biblioteka publiczna i moja babcia to mogłam już wtedy zostać zniechęcona do czytania na całego. Do dzisiaj mnie to irytuje, a było lata temu.
Bardzo polecam i lecę zamówić kolejne części.
Teraz to moja ulubiona manga (przepraszam Zapiski Zielarki, nadal cię uwielbiam ♥).
I've always enjoyed stories about books and the love of learning, and this manga is one best I've read this year about it.
This is a story of how the love of reading empowers a young, shunned boy to rise from meager means, and how the tale of a swashbuckling buccaneer is going to heal a world still reeling, several generations after a massive war.
This manga is beautifully illustrated, and the author is more than capable of drawing emotions out of a simple scene, even if it's an unrequited love for books.
*The following paragraphs contain a few spoilers.*
What a delight! This manga centers on books, libraries, librarians, and an avid reader protagonist with a fantasy touch! ✨
Theo, despite the discrimination and bullying, continues his love of reading and kindness, and it bears amazing fruits. He met Sedona, a wind-controller Kafna, who inspired him to read more and be his own hero. The volume ended with Theo going to the city of books to become a librarian himself! The art is cute too. And it has these Magi (an anime) vibes.
Reading is indeed powerful. It can change the fate of the world, especially yours.📖
Ein Manga, der mir richtig gefallen hat. Die Zeichnungen sind wunderschön und die Story gefällt mir auch sehr gut! Ich muss jetzt nur schnellstens an den 2. Teil der Reihe kommen und dann kann es weitergehen...
Well, I need the second volume of this series now. :)
Magus of the Library is about a young child who loves books. His sister works hard to get the money to send him to school, which he attends religiously even though his long ears mark him as not human, and thus a wholly acceptable target of abuse from everyone in the town. He lives in the slums, is suspected of crime at every turn, and is forbidden access to the library in town, even though it's supposed to be for everyone. But he has a few friends -- mostly animals, but the one human friend he makes sometimes sneaks him into the library when no one is looking. And it's there that he encounters tales of intrigue and adventure. And he's hoping that someday, a hero will show up to invite him into their story, to take him away from all the sadness and pain and hardship and let him experience some of what the wide, amazing world has to offer.
But when a group of librarians (kafna) from a distant city called Aftzaak (which houses the grandest library in all the world) come to town, he learns that he's making the wrong sort of wish. :)
I've checked out a few series in my life kind of hoping that they would be this. The plot of this series has to do with our hero finding his place and turning his love of books into that place, but the story of this series is about the power of books to transport us. The kafna embrace the weird duality of books and of places who lend them -- books are important and precious and to be cherished, but they must also be put into danger, for there is no way to tell just by looking at them who will take care of a book they borrow and who will be careless with it. So the books, precious as they are, must not be hoarded and doled out like a privilege. Or as the book itself says:
"The library does not choose. It lends to all. If a book is damaged, repair it! If one is stolen, recover it!! Then, put it back in a place where the offender can find it again! And when you need to, brandish your fist that he may learn! It is our duty to act as such!"
The pacing is measured and leisurely, and I think it works for a story like this, where the central conceit is super familiar but the surroundings are not. There are elves and fairies and a social hierarchy among them. Oh, and did I mention some of the books -- and some of the kafna -- have magical powers? There's a lot to explain, and rather than pile it all on you at once it takes its time.
I love the way the manga shifts between normal comic style and a style where the main character is narrating his life as though it's in a story in-universe. I love how detailed a lot of the art is and how expressive some of the characters are. And I love the way a love not just of books, but of the written word in all its forms -- and the experiences that inform those stories -- infuses the whole thing.
Was it perfect? No, but the things I didn't like were not significant enough to knock off a star for me. chief complaint is that the main character's sister is one of the few good things in his life, and he clearly loves her, but her presence in the story is more "plot device" than actual character. And there were a few other small things, but overall, if you think this sounds like your cup of tea, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
If it weren't for the art, this would have 2 stars.
This first volume feels more like a prequel or an extended prologue than anything else. You could read the blurb above and feel like you read the story, honestly. Most of this first volume is spent waxing poetic about the inherent amazingness of books and librarians. I couldn’t decided whether I wanted to cringe or be flattered by the representation (since I am a librarian).
The magic system of this world isn’t given much of an explanation, and I’m uncertain how it works. The divisions of the librarian department jobs make sense, but then Izumi tries to do an overlay of magic and add *~drama~* to it.
Trust me, repairing a book is not that fast or high stakes, but I appreciated the time put in to making archival work look cool.
My other small gripe with this book is it conflates libraries with archives, and perpetuates the idea that all books are sacred. As a librarian I have to weed my collection regularly to keep it growing and relevant. This manga gets a slight pass from me because it appears to be occurring in the time before mass produced popular fiction, and more rigorous reading was the rule of the day.
Ultimately, I probably won’t continue reading this series. The art is its saving grace for me, and is in a similar realm to Witch Hat Atelier, but the other elements of the story are lackluster at this point.
I may give Volume 2 a try to see if it improves, but I’m inclined to believe it won’t.
This first volume in a series I'm most definitely going to continue follows a boy named Theo, banned from his local library for being poor and ostracized for being different. He meets three Kafnas, librarians from the City of Books, Aftzaak, who have come to his village after hearing rumors of a magical tome there. Theo loves books, loves the idea of Aftzaak, and idolizes these three librarians and what they represent.
This is basically librarianship: the manga. It touches on proper book care, repairs, the history of books, and the librarian code of ethics (admittedly in a fantastical, manga sort of way). It also contains a sweet story about the love of books, what they mean to Theo personally, and the larger role they play in society. And the art. The artwork is fantastic. The four-page spread (two, two-page spreads back to back) near the end of the book as Theo is dreaming in particular is gorgeous. The detail in just about every panel is incredible.
Do you like manga? Do you like books? Do you support your local library? Read this one. It's fantastic.
Those readers on the ANN forum were right - I do love this and I shouldn't have let it fly beneath my radar for so long. A love letter to books and libraries with art and a setting similar to Kaoru Mori's A Bride's Story, this is clearly only the prologue, and it does a beautiful job setting up our hero Theo for his journey. If you're into repairing and restoring old texts, this gets an extra recommendation, but it's just an excellent book all around.
Un joli manga sur l'amour des livres et leur conservation en bibliothèque. On apprend beaucoup sur l'histoire du livre et sur les méthodes de restauration. Hâte de voir ce que les tomes suivants nous réservent ! Ma chronique : http://unjour-unlivre.fr/2019/04/magu...
Does that thing where the setting is medieval but the characters act like they're living in a modern western democracy. The bad guys are cartoonishly racist towards children and the good guys spend their time lecturing each other about the bootstrap meritocracy of learning. The art is decent and the setting could be fun, but it takes itself way too seriously
An adventure-filled manga featuring powerful librarians with magical abilities and wicked fast book repairing tools/skills? Yes, please!
This is rated T for teen 13+ but manga readers in grades 6 and up would enjoy this series opener as it stars a young boy meeting the librarian team sent to his town, although there are some definitely for-mature-readers-only manga advertisements at the end that might cause some questions. I'm probably going to read the whole series., six books in the series so far.
4,5/5 Un univers extrêmement riche, un personnage attachant et des aventures à venir incroyables. Une superbe lecture qui parle de livre et de leur valeur.
Eine Ode an die Bibliophilie - ich würde mich nicht als großen Mangakenner bezeichnen, aber mit dieser Reihe gelang mir zweifelsohne ein echter Glücksgriff. Die Geschichte entführt den Leser in eine fantastisch-orientalische Welt, deren Zentrum augenscheinlich aus der großen Bibliothek von Ajtzak besteht. Der Manga legt dabei große Liebe zum Detail an den Tag - die Restauration von alten Folianten gleicht in ihrer tiefsinnigen Genauigkeit den wunderschönen Zeichnungen, die ihresgleichen suchen.
Tatsächlich stehen die fantastischen Elemente deutlich hinter den Aspekten der Bibliophilie zurück. Magie kommt zwar vor, aber es bleiben stets die Bücher und deren Pflege im Vordergrund. Ausgesprochen interessant ist dabei auch die Metaebene, auf der sich der Manga immer wieder selbst augenzwinkernd aufs Korn nimmt. Die Geschichte besitzt als eine der wenigen Vertreterinnen ihrer Art die Größe, Aspekte einer Abenteuergeschichte haarscharf zu erkennen und zu kritisieren. Der charismatische Bibliothekar Sedna ist in den Augen von Protagonist Shio der "Gandalf", der Mentor - diese Rolle entspricht aber im Endeffekt lediglich seiner eigenen Wahrnehmung und nicht den Tatsachen, wie der Manga letztlich klarstellt.
Im Endeffekt bildet der Manga eine fantastische Abenteuergeschichte, die mit ihrer witzigen Selbstironie und ihrer wahrhaft verblüffenden Optik überzeugen kann.
"Das Wissen aus Büchern ist mächtig, siegt aber niemals über die Erfahrung." - Aesop; im Manga von Sedna geäußert
This is a story about books. A story about the written word and how it brings knowledge, connects people and is the foundation of the world. It is a story about a child who loved these books and had to learn that heroes do not come for us. We have to stand our grounds for ourselves. A story of kindness and hardship. Of prejudice and being alike. But more important than that: this is one of the most beautiful mangas I have ever read, not only in art but in themes. And I just need more of it. This is a story about how words connect us and the world. Read it. You will not regreat it.
So, firstly, as a bookwyrm and a librarian, this book hit me hard. I felt like I could relate the main character while also I have seen kids and teens like him and seeing that love of reading and exploring makes me so happy.
I love the plot. I felt like the story was super defined and easy to follow. It didn't meander and it really felt like every page added to the story somehow. The plot wasn't suddenly changed for the sake of surprise or "hey look this was actually what the plot was the whole time, but I, the author, misled you to make you confused" (I say this because I have read a lot of not well written manga lately that has felt like the latter). I liked the characters a lot and the world. Also there were s many people of varying skin tones in this! And that's not common in manga! I loved seeing it. Also loved the little nod to Fullmetal Alchemist 'cause we stan FMA here.
I cannot wait to get book two and dive back into this world and see the world fleshed out and the characters develop more.
Grâce à la boutique de Metz Dreamland (qui a ouvert fin 2019) , j'ai découvert ce premier tome de la trilogie de mangas, Magus of the Library qui est juste parfait pour les amoureux des livres 🤗❤📚.
On va suivre un jeune garçon qui aime les livres, courageux et intéressant qui va rencontrer plus ou moins ses idoles ⚡ faut que j'aille me procurer la suite !
Gros coup de foudre pour ce premier tome ❤️❤️❤️. On d��couvre le passé de notre héros afin de comprendre pourquoi il va se lancer dans son aventure. Ça m'a énormément touché et en plus, ça tourne autour des livres et de toutes les richesses qu'ils peuvent apporter de nos vies