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Title: Shaman Warrior Vol 3

Author: Park Joong-Ki

Publisher: Dark Horse

ISBN:  9781593077693

May Contain Spoilers

Delving way, way back into the to be read stack, I couldn’t resist revisiting the grim world of Shaman Warrior. I love the covers of these books, finding the featured solitary characters both eye-catching and attractive.  Standing out starkly against the white backgrounds, they grab my attention every time I see them.  The cover to volume three is particularly arresting, as Batu screams into the sky, his body tense and still.  Is he screaming with rage or sorrow?  I suddenly decided that I had to find out.

Shaman Warrior has a lot of story elements that make it a gripping adventure.  Batu is warrior who is trying desperately to protect the life of a young girl from the bloodthirsty assassins hunting her bloodline.  Yaki is the daughter of Batu’s master, and he has sworn to give his life to keep her alive.  That’s not going to be easy when the king of Kugai has declared open season on  any Shaman Warriors they might encounter.  It’s a violent and bloody genocide, fought to wipe out the mystical fighters.  Once the trusted servants of Kugai, they are now feared and despised, and the king won’t be happy until each and every Shaman is dead and rotting.

Yaki is a little girl who has the potential to become a fearsome Shaman.  That is, if she lives long enough for her powers to awaken.  This seed of magic buried within her makes her a sitting target, and the Death Lords, ruthless murderers who also have supernatural abilities, can sense the powers lying dormant within her.  These guys don’t care that she’s just a little kid, either – they are bound and determined to kill her, no matter the price.  The only thing standing between Yaki and having the life snuffed out of her helpless body is Batu.

This volume contained a mix of everything.  There were high energy fights, some intriguing plot development as a powerful Kugai subject abandons his position, and the introduction of a kick-ass ally for Batu and Yaki.  Genji has more tricks up her sleeve than a carnival magician, and she’s a hell of a fighter to boot.  I want to know more about both her and Aragorn, a man so commanding and fearsome that even the Death Lords are stopped in their tracks at the mere sight of him.

One thing that I’m still not wild about is the art.  The dark scratchy lines just aren’t appealing, and the action sequences can be very chaotic and hard to follow.  The movements don’t flow smoothly, and the motion isn’t very convincing.  The uneven production values didn’t help matters; there are several sections in the book were the printing is either too dark or too light, making it hard to decipher the illustrations.

Dark Horse has some very exciting action titles in their arsenal,  and Shaman Warrior can be proudly counting among them.  The story is starting to gain some depth, and the characters all have me wanting to know more about them.  Maybe I should check out the back of the to-be-read pile more often.

Grade: B