Manga Review – Pandora Hearts Vol 3 by Jun Mochizuki (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Older Teen
Genre: Graphic Novel/Historical Fantasy
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: October 26, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0316076104
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Pandora Heart series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“Heir to an aristocratic family, Oz Vessalius is a carefree teen. That is until his fifteenth birthday. His entire world changes at his coming of age ceremony when dark forces rise to punish Oz for the sins of a past life. Incarcerated in a prison known as the Abyss, Oz’s life and perhaps his sanity are saved by a black rabbit called Alice. As Oz plunges deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole, he must unravel the mysteries surrounding him before falling into the clutches of the shadowy cabal called Pandora!”

This book adds quite a bit of backstory to our characters’ pasts. When B Rabbit/Alice asks about Oz’s parents and Oz runs into a young boy whom he sympathizes with; we get some flashbacks into Oz’s relationship with his father that explain a lot about his personality.

We also find out more about what happened to Gil during the time when Oz was in the Abyss. Additionally we are introduced in more depth to the Nightray Dukedom and get to learn more about Vincent and Echo.

As with previous books there is an action packed fight between B Rabbit and an escaped Chain. With all these escaped Chains our characters are beginning to suspect something is afoot…

The artwork is well done and pretty easy to follow. The plot is getting fairly complex and jumps between groups of characters abruptly…so the story is harder to follow. I had to go back and reread things a number of times to make sure I understood what was going on. Because of this I didn’t like this book quite as much as volume 2.

Overall a well done addition to this series. Things are getting a bit convoluted and complex to follow. However, I am enjoying all the interesting background we get on our characters. I plan on continuing the series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge