Graphic Novel Review: THE CHILDREN OF BATHALA by Arnold Arre

The Children of Bathala Vol.1 by Arnold Arre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the things I've noticed in my many years as an educator, is that more and more of my grade school students no longer know what engkantos, kapres, and tikbalangs are. Tiktok and Genshin Impact have replaced story telling, which is the precious gift of culture and identity passed down through generations.

Which is why I'm so grateful for Arnold Arre and the other incredibly talented Filipino artists who create new stories with Filipino mythology in them!

Every Filipino must read this, and its precursor, THE MYTHOLOGY CLASS (TMC)!

THE CHILDREN OF BATHALA (TCOB) was published (and takes place!) in 2019... twenty years after TMC. Reading TCOB was one big homecoming, and I loved every minute! I laughed, I cried, and any book that makes me do both is a rare five-star one, indeed!

The lovely foreword by Jamie Bautista said it all:

"Arnold has once again captured the spirit of society and mixed it in with classic Philippine fantasy elements. But it's not the same type of story as TMC... the first chapter feels like a story about mid-life crisis... And the readers, like the characters in the story, are made to take a look at their lives and ask what are they supposed to do now. The times have changed, we've changed, and the threats have changed. Can we still cling on to the magic we depended on before, or do we need to let all that go and grow up?"

"All this during a time in our country when evils and demons we thought were defeated decades ago start to slowly reappear, only in newer and more subtle and insidious forms..."

I am so happy to discover that this is merely the first of five sequels! And that also explains why this first volume is mainly character development and premise setting. When the action happens, it arrives quickly! And I would suggest not to read this at night because the evil engkantos were drawn so skillfully, I was legit scared!!!

There are SO MANY things to love about this graphic novel. The familiar settings (U.P. Diliman, Katipunan Ave., Krus na Ligas) also made me reflect of my own idealistic college self, and how much I've changed, yet in many ways, stayed the same (like my love for Kubin, the Ibalon warrior... somehow made even more good-looking in his short-sleeved barong and work-appropriate haircut!! Hahaha)

For Filipino readers, no need to brave the pandemic to go to a bookstore. You can have your book delivered, courtesy of Lazada!

Thank you, Christian, for the reco!

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Book Review: A SEPARATE PEACE by John Knowles

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"It seemed clear that wars were not made by generations and their special stupidities, but that wars were made instead by something ignorant in the human heart."

This is one of those "Everyone says it's great -- it's in THE CANON so I really must read this someday" books, that was originally published in 1959! But I only got around to reading now.

After reading it, I can easily understand the hype. (I do, however, believe that this is the type of book that is best read as an adult... when one is old enough to have regrets in life, but still young enough to easily recall what it's like to be sweet sixteen, to wake up everyday full of hope and happiness.)

"We reminded them of what peace was like... we were careless and wild, and I suppose we could be thought of as a sign of the life the war was being fought to preserve... we reminded them of what peace was like, of lives which were not bound up with destruction."

Yes, it's about the loss of innocence (get your mind out of the gutter, not THAT kind of loss of innocence!) of a generation as well as of an individual. But it's also about love of country, the purpose of education, and a treatise on the shadows and flames of philia (friendly/ brotherly love).

John Knowles is a beautiful word painter! You can see and smell not just the venue, but the very ATMOSPHERE of the exclusive boarding school where our protagonists spend the last carefree summer of their lives, before being called upon to serve in World War II. And it's almost as if he can slice a human heart open and lay bare all its secrets, so skillfully does he present the chaos and goodness within.

I REALLY liked this book, but as a teacher, I don't think I would recommend it for high school English classes. The subject matter is extremely mature and needs extensive processing, otherwise it might trigger supremely negative emotions.

As for college English classes, I recently read another book with a similar theme on the friendship between 2 school boys, but one I feel is better and more hopeful, more relevant and impactful: Colson Whitehead's THE NICKEL BOYS.

"There was a breath of widening life in the morning air... I wanted to break out crying from stabs of hopeless joy, or intolerable promise, or because these mornings were too full of beauty for me, because I knew of too much hate to be contained in a world like this."

That being said, A SEPARATE PEACE is also a good read, if only to remind us of our younger selves, our gentler and cleaner souls. And also to remind us never to take the sunrise of a beautiful morning for granted.

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Book Review: HAMNET by Maggie O'Farrell

 

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"You will stay, is what he whispers. And I will go. He sends these words into her: I want you to take my life. It shall be yours. I give it to you."

Close inspection of the title on the cover will reveal that the N is italicized. It alone among all the letters. "A rose by any other name" tells us that Hamnet IS Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark studied by every school child on the planet.

The book, however, tells of the true-to-life Hamnet, son of The Bard himself, whose short life impacted not just that of his family but the whole world. Maggie O' Farrell brought Elizabethan England to life in amazing technicolor, with smells and sights that utterly transported me.

"He will carry an open wound, down his side, for the rest of his life, where she had been ripped from him."

Grief has many names but Maggie O' Farrell managed to capture this universal pain and fear so movingly, so accurately, that it is like she has felt its knives herself.

And I know that reading a book about the Plague and its twin, Death, may not have been the brightest idea... but I felt drawn to this book somehow, despite having purchased it BEFORE coming to know of its evil intimately.

And yes, there were several pages that I had to put down because of an almost tangible tear in what I prayed would be a freshly bandaged heart, but ultimately this book was a comfort despite the heartache.

It tells of the redemptive power in Art, whether onstage, in Literature, or the art of a well-run household. It sings of the Art of Life.

Life goes on, the book says. Yes, it is difficult. Once touched by death, one's entire world ... one's very self is altered. But milk continues to spoil, birds still sing to greet the new day. And we need to put aside all grief and pain to carry on with this terribly short, beautiful gift called Life.

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Book Review: SHOREFALL (THE FOUNDERS TRILOGY # 2) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"The line between life and death is always blurred. To live is to die, just very, very slowly."

This 2nd book in THE FOUNDERS TRILOGY was my third one by Robert Jackson Bennett, who is now one of my favorite authors of all time!! His incredible novels blend sci-fi and fantasy, and defy simple categorization because they are so much more complex than their counterparts. THE FOUNDERS TRILOGY is turning out to be the more steampunk version of RJB's DIVINE CITIES trilogy, which also features memorable characters and god-like beings aiming for the destruction of the known world.

SHOREFALL continues the stories of FOUNDRYSIDE's Sancia, a former slave turned Robin Hood, this time using her powers for creating mayhem for the greater good, along with her buddies.

We are back in Tevanne, a city where reality can be altered by "scriving" or writing spells down on objects.

Book 2 elevates the stakes by introducing us to resurrected gods, called "hierophants," who happen to be stark raving mad... and we find our mortal heroes horribly outmatched but managing to get by through selflessness, sheer guts, and ingenuity.

The underdog trope is super effective! With the cards stacked so high against the heroes, the reader is always left amazed at the incredibly complex schemes they have to come up, just to survive. Strange as it may seem, I feel that computer programmers would appreciate this series, because of the extremely logical steps necessary to "scrive" objects to defy physics.

"What a marvelous thing, to be alive. What a wondrous thing, to share my life, and be loved."

I appreciate how RJB does not make a big deal out of his character's gender and partner choices. While some characters are not straight, the story takes utmost precedence, and this kind of "normalization" in literature is something quite modern, I think.

Ultimately, RJB writes of old world orders threatening the lives and individual freedoms of subjugated masses. Dogmatic and intolerant attitudes towards sexual orientations is but one of several injustices that RJB highlights in his novels.

"Move thoughtfully, and always give freedom to others."

RJB is now on my automatic must-buy-on-sight list! No one else merges philosophy, political science, and incredible storytelling like him! Gave this book 4 stars because I felt FOUNDRYSIDE (Book 1) was tighter and had better character development.

I made a promise to Papa to finish all my unread books before buying a new one, thankfully I have a bit of time left until Book 3 hits the stores... because I will DEFINITELY get a copy!


Click here to go to my review of Book 1 (Foundryside)

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