Manga Review – Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic Vol. 2 by Ohtaka Shinobu (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Manga/Fantasy
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; Original edition
Release Date: October 8, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-1421559520
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd volume in the Magi series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is the second installment in the Magi series and I really enjoyed it. Aladdin and Ali Baba delve deeper into the Dungeon only to find that their worst enemies may not be the monsters in the Dungeon!

When we left Aladdin and Ali Baba had just ventured into a Dungeon and faced some scary monsters. In this book they are joined by the leader of the city (the evil prince Jamal) who is determined to use Aladdin and his power for his own ends.

This installment had lots of action towards the end of the story and great character development throughout. This book didn’t have quite as much humor as the first one and some of the villains are pretty darn mean (probably why this is rated 13+).

We do learn quite a bit more about Aladdin and Ali Baba’s backstory. We also learn quite a bit about Aladdin’s true destiny. All of it was very entertaining and engaging. We also meet a lot of new characters (not all of them good). One of them is the slave girl Jamil owns, Morgiana, she is an interesting character that I hope features in future Magi books…and she has very strong legs 🙂

This is a traditional Japanese manga, read right to left and back to front. The illustration throughout is a lot of fun and very detailed and well done. I also enjoy that the author continues her small asides talking about how Magi was made.

Overall I am really enjoying the manga series. This is a great world and we learn a lot more about the characters’ background in this installment. I am excited at the addition of some great new characters and really enjoyed the direction the story was taking at the end of the series. Definitely check this out if you like action packed mythology based fantasy manga.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge