Book Review: Kieli Vol. #1

Book: Kieli Volume #1 by Yukako Kabei (Chapters #1-3)

Rating: 4 stars

My Review:

This started out a little slow but quickly turned into a really good read. I debated on whether to give it 3 1/2 or 4 stars, but I decided on the four because after the slow start it was a rather solid story.

I thought the main characters: Kieli, Harvey and Corporal were fun and a little crazy but quite charming. I rather enjoyed the story because it was interesting and engaging once it got passed the begining which focused on the war that was 80 years ago.

This was about Kieli a girl known as the weird girl at her boarding school who doesn't have any friends except her ghost roommate Becca.

But Kieli's life starts to change when she meets Harvey. One day, while she was at the train station with Becca they came across the body of a young man (Harvey), Kieli thought he was dead until she saw him move. It turns out that Harvey could see Becca which sort of unnerved the ghost girl but intrigued Kieli because she has never met anyone else that could see ghosts.

However, Harvey was in no way looking for any new friends and basically told Kieli that and left. And it probably would have stayed that way if it wasn't for Becca pulling off a crazy plan to see if Harvey was one of the Undying. Her plan nearly caused Kieli her life as well as nearly ending their friendship. However, Becca's plan did cause something good to happen for her along with Kieli meeting two new friends. The first was Harvey (an Undying) and the second was Corporal, a ghost who inhabits a radio. Corporal and Harvey were once soldiers during the war 80 years ago.

The second chapter had Kieli on a holiday break from school traveling with Harvey and Corporal on a train heading to Eastern Easterbury to see a ruin from the war. This was an interesting train trip due to the ghost of a conductor trying to get their attention.

The third chapter the trio were in a small town that was celebrating the holiday with a carnival. When Kieli was out checking out the party, she notices a ghost clown while Harvey met a few old friends. I thought this chapter was little sad but it was very good.

Overall, I really enjoyed this despite the rather slow beginning, the rest of the book was wonderful. I liked how lighthearted and happy Kieli seemed in the second and third chapters once she was no longer at school. She could be herself and not worry about being weird.

There is only one more volume left, which seems really rare especially with so many long running manga series around. This was worth a read and I hope the second volume is just as good or even better.