Yona of the Dawn, Vol. 1 Kindle & comiXology

Finally decided to start collecting this Manga and I'm not disappointed 🥰

The media could not be loaded. the manga came in good shape no bends whatsoever, I was waiting for the time I actually purchased this manga, the series left me balling when I found out it was cancelled🥲💔

Like many other reviewers, I found this series through the anime (which is beautiful and well worth watching). Yona is a spoiled sweet sheltered princess who... ends up going impoverished and adventuring for reasons. It is seriously hard to get to far into the plot without major spoilers. It's a historical/romance/adventure with fantasy elements balanced by comedy. And it *works*. Seriously - I started watching the anime when I was sick and my husband ended up making me back the whole thing up and start from the beginning because it was just that good.Now, I don't like angst. It's fine when there's a reason - zodiac animals in Furuba, I'm looking at you - but on the whole, I don't like wallowing around in emotional turmoil. And while Yona (and many of the characters) are given tragic circumstances or backstory, it really feels like it's more just how this character became who they are and largely ends on a positive, "Yeah, that sucked. Moving on..." note.I really like the strong female feel to the series - Yona remains a small, petite woman physically dwarfed by the men around her, but (after the major turmoil that gets the story going) doesn't feel any less worthy or powerful. She does not become an instant magical badass going toe to toe with giants, but continues to work hard to become as strong and smart of a fighter as she's physically capable of being. Since she ends up surrounded by supernaturally strong fighters, she's never going to match them and that's okay. Think of Star Wars - Leia's never going to physically match Chewie, Han, Luke or Lando for strength, but her will and passion drive the group. Strong doesn't have to be physical, and Yona's willingness to just keep going for the sake of her friends and her kingdom becomes epic.While there are magical elements in Yona, they're mostly limited to the prophecy and the dragons. It's a bit like The Force in the original Star Wars trilogy where, sure, people had heard of it, but it's not like anyone had ever really seen it in action. Most of the action and adventure arcs are grounded in more realistic "this kingdom is falling apart" type action: poverty, bandits, human trafficking. Those become the things Yona is trying to fix from the shadows and are the backdrop for the adventure, humor, romance and relationships that fill this story. I love the balance in this story and pretty much everyone I've loaned the series to loves it as well. For younger kids, the violence can be realistic if not explicit. Kids die. Innocent people are killed. And Yona becomes willing (and able) to kill people in order to stop it. My 14 year old loves the series, but you'd have to think about what age you're willing to let kids read about humans killing other humans.If you liked Inuyasha, give it a try - it's way less shonen, no monsters, and less slapstick, but plenty of adventure and epically badass characters. If you liked Kamisama Kiss, you'll probably like the humor, historical fantasy, meta-story about how it all fits together, and gung-ho heroine, but there's no school girl hi-jinks and the heroine isn't aware there's a romance element for a long time. If you liked Kenshin, there's even more political intrigue/country in turmoil, strong women, and amazing fight scenes, but way fewer villains of the week.

The book was really in good condition also arrived efficiently and well packaged and the bucket itself was really interesting because like a good main summary about it is that a girl named Yona she’s a princess with red hair and back then red means the crimson dragon so people would relate to her as the crimson dragon And well when she was a princess, she fell in love with her cousin one day when they were visiting, when they grew up, the cousin killed her father, the king, the emperor, and the only one protecting her was her bodyguard hawk because her cousin that she fell in love with wanted to kill her so they plan to run away

*Yona of the Dawn* occurs in an area similar to Japan or China, where the young princess known as Yona is a bit bratty, but still very good-hearted and enjoys her life with her childhood freind and crush, Su-Won and her childhood friend and bodyguard, General Hak. All of this changes, however, when her life is destroyed by a sudden betrayal. Su-Won murders her father the king, and usurps the throne.Now, Yona and her friend and bodyguard, General Hak are on the run to survive while they try to make sense of what is happening. And it is hard to say the least. Yona is mentally crushed and Hak is striving to give her hope and keep her alive.That is all I can say about this book as that is the general sketch of what happens. Of course, more does happen, but it is mainly filling in the gaps to establish the story. Of course, since the story is just starting, there is not much yet to judge the product based on, other than to say that the beginning is promising.The story is told in the present with a few flashbacks to help us understand the dynamic between these three friends. This not just helps us understand better where the characters are coming from, but to empathize with Yona's predicament and pain. We also see that Hak is a good man who does truly care for Yona.The art is what you would expect from a Shojo title with bishie sparkles galore, but not entirely. This is subverted to show just how dire things are and when things are bad and painful, it is *shown* to be such.My only complaint is that so little happened in this volume as it really is just the set-up. Yes, major events did happen, but just the beginning of the story. On the other hand, this does help us to get inside the characters' heads better, which is nice. The art was gorgeous and detailed depending on if it was a shot to be pretty or to be painful for the protagonists.The premise and set-up are interesting and I look forward to seeing what will happen in future volumes.