Garlands of Moonlight

by Jai Sen

Silent and merciless, a creature of darkness has come to prey on an island village. Babies vanish, mothers are murdered, and the threat of evil grows with each night. The village becomes a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971756406
• ISBN13: 9780971756403
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Shoto Pr
• Length: 86 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 5.0" x 0.3" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

A very mature first effort

This is just good. I don't mean "good for a first-time author" (which it is), or "good for a first-time illustrator" (which it is). I mean good. It has tightly woven threads of politics, modernity vs. tradition, and mundane vs. supernatural, all in a cultural setting that's foreign but familiar. It even ties together horror and motherhood, without losing affection or respect for its female characters. This is modern writing, but it has the feel about it of fairy tales the way they used to be - a story to hold the attention of grown men and women, back before imagination and telling succumbed to electronics. These aren't the Grimm stories, though, but witches and monsters from a tradition far from Europe. The artwork lies close to manga stereotypes, but does better only stereotype. On a distinctive note, it uses metallic inks with its black and white. That luster that enriches and complicates the visual presence, and - I'm told - creates additional problems in printing, and therefore cost. It's a small but very enjoyable work. Having seen this, I want more by both the writer and the illustrator. //wiredweird

Interesting story, excellent design

The story gets 3 stars - its a retelling of a myth. The design is what sells this book. The book is inked over with a silver sheer that makes it seem as though you are reading the book in the light of the full moon. This innovation sucks you in to the artwork. I understand this publisher is doing the same thing to another book, this time with a gold-based inkover. I look forward to that and future uses of this technique.

A Beautifully Done Horror Tale

Garlands of Moonlight is the first effort from creators Jai Sen (Writer) & Rizky Wasisto Edi (Illustrator), but you'd never know it by the finished product. The story is deceptively simple: An isolated island village is plagued by mysterious deaths, which the local medicine woman believes are the work of a supernatural creature. Within the relatively tight confines of the book's 86 pages, Jai Sen makes the village come alive with vividly realized characters, and Rizky Wasisto Edi's art is simply breathtaking. At first glance, it looks relatively simplistic, but a closer look shows a very talented illustrator at work; He knows just how to frame a scene, and each character looks like a real individual. The book is printed in a small format, so the price is accessible, and rather than standard black-and-white, an eye-catching silver ink is used. The result is really something special to see. The story itself moves briskly, and I was surprised to see how much story Edi fits into these 86 pages without bogging the pace down with unnecessary dialogue and/or extraneous captions. The ending is downright chilling. I'll definitely be on the lookout for future projects from these two extremely talented creators!

Mesmerizing!

I can honestly say I've read this book through at least 6 times. Each time I open it, Im once again drawn into the town and its inhabitants. It's rare for me to get this captivated by an illustrated novel, but Garlands does it for me. The exquisite illustrations in black and white are so in tune with the plot line, that the characters seem to come alive. I can't wait for the next in this series!![.]

Moonstruck!

Not knowing anything about the premise of this book, I entered into it cold and found I could not put it down until I finished reading it. Jai Sen has written a captivating tale of Asian mythology, drawing the reader in and entrancing you until the very end. Each character came to life so much so that you were able to truly relate to their personalities as you read the tale. It takes an incredibly creative, soulful writer to bring characters to life so quickly in a story.Rizky Wasisto Edi's artwork is phenomenal! The illustrations cast the right amount of detail without a lot of clutter, which would have truly distracted from the telling of this story. From a production standpoint, the black and white artwork with silver inking to bring out the details is outstanding! I have never seen that used in a comic before and it complemented the artwork beautifully as well as bring the mysticism of the story to life!This is Shotopress' first book. With this type of quality story-telling and illustrations, they will undoubtedly have a long, successful publishing career.