Kingdom of the Winds 2

The problem with this series is that it seems like you need some background in ancient Korean history to enjoy it to its fullest.  Netcomics actually provides you with full context, and there are several excerpts about referenced historical events interjected periodically, but it took me a long time to get drawn into the flow of the story just because of the nature of the large families, the different large and small kingdoms and their political relationships, and the supernatural beings mixed in.

I do like it, though.  It’s kind of fun to include supernatural activity in a historical drama like this.  It’s sort of like the Merlin and King Arthur stuff, but way more melodramatic.  It made me try and imagine how this would work with American history.  It wouldn’t, because we’ve only had old men and never any young, potentially good-looking kings.  I was going to make something up about a random old president here, but I found myself horrified at my own joke and being forced to imagine it, so I’ll leave it at that.

The gist of the story in this volume is that crown prince Muhyul’s wife Yeon sacrifices her life to save her son.  Time moves on, but Muhyul’s heart remains broken by the death of his wife, so even after he becomes king, he remains unmarried.  As a king he’s something of a tactical genius, taking over a lot of small kingdoms and whatnot, so there’s a lot of political wheeling and dealing, especially among the members of his father’s old court.  Weirdly, his father’s favorite concubine is turning into some sort of demon and hates Muhyul quite a bit for not visiting her.

The supernatural elements are interesting.  There is a maiden of the heavens floating around with the last member of a special race that has yet to really enter the story, there are various spirits used to spy on people and demons that have a say in other kingdoms.  The volume opens with a battle between Yeon and a fiend, and she gets the power to defeat it from the spirit of her husband’s dead brother.  There are also companion spirits that people fight with.  These can be a number of things, but the main characters each have one based on the Turtle/Tiger/Dragon/Phoenix constellations (each have Korean names here, but they would be the equivalent to Genbu/Byakko/Seiryu/Suzaku).  Muhyul and Yeon’s son in particular is involved in a subplot about the new bond he’s formed with his spirit.

Once you grasp the flow of the story, there are a lot of plot details and characters to digest and think about as you read.  A single volume of this series has quite a bit more to offer than several volumes of most anything else, and the details are actually presented in a way that isn’t all that confusing if you take time to go over the background material and reference the character charts.  It’s probably best to read the volumes as close together as possible, though, just so that the information sticks.  I’m also glad to see that Netcomics has started updating the series again on their website, so I won’t be left hanging after volume 3, the last one that came out in paperback.