Monthly Archives: October 2016

Webtoon Review: Flow by Honey B

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Magic is normal. Rather, being born under a god is the norm. Some gods are weaker, others are stronger. To be born under a weak god means a lesser chance in both education and society, but a strong god means high school and training which later equals a higher status. There is only one thing in common. All of them can grant a single wish as long as the correct price is paid.

Yun Lee-Rang is a child of the cat. Not particularly bad but not strong enough for high school. His childhood friends, Suh Yul-Bi and Hong Ryun, are a pigeon and dragon respectively. Ryun, as he is a dragon, attends high school. Lee-Rang works with Yul-Bi in a delivery restaurant. He is satisfied with his life and has a crush on Yul-Bi. One day, when he is out on a delivery, Lee-Rang is severely beaten by students from a nearby high school, leaving him blind and paralyzed. Filled with despair, he wishes to turn back time. His cat god asks if he is sure and the answer is “yes.” It is done, but what Lee-Rang finds is that not only has he changed his fate but lives of everyone else. In this new timeline, Yul-Bi dies. Suddenly, the principal of Ryun’s high school invites Lee-Rang to enter his high school. Lee-Rang accepts in the hopes that he will learn to turn time again. This new timeline opens doors that shouldn’t have been opened and Lee-Rang learns that what is seen is not always what it is.

This is one of the earliest webtoons I have read and I have found it refreshing. It has a new twist to a power concept I have seen several times. There is a rollercoaster, which this webtoon takes you. There are the crazy light hearted monuments to the darkest of the dark time. The character are well developed and the changes in Lee-Rung personality and maturity is certainly strong. The artwork is simply beautiful. As webtoons are primarily released as color strips online (hence the name) artist have the opportunity to mix art styles and colors. Honey B uses a more realistic styles for the gods compared the the characters creating a incredible contrast.

It has been completed and the ending my opinion is quite satisfying. Of course, I cannot say that for you so why don’t you read it for yourself.

This webtoon is licensed by Line Webtoon and is free to read online.

-Sarah J., 11th Grade

Launch by Jeff Walker

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launch_jeffwalkerWhen an Internet millionaire promises you the “secret formula to sell almost anything online, build a business you love, and live the life of your dreams,” how do you approach it?

With a very skeptical mind.

However, when I began reading Jeff Walker’s book Launch, I pushed away my doubts to try and learn a thing or two about online businesses.

To begin, Jeff Walker was a stay-at-home dad who created a successful online business using a technique he calls the Product Launch Formula. After discovering that his method was relatively unused by the rest of the business world, he began releasing training courses and books on how to emulate his success. According to Walker, the Product Launch Formula has been used by his students in a variety of different markets, from stock trading to dog agility training.

Essentially, the Product Launch Formula involves building an email list of people interested in your product, creating a close relationship with those people, and then building up anticipation to your product launch. Although I can’t personally testify to the formula, I think the book itself is very well written. Jeff Walker markets himself as someone who understands and relates to struggling entrepreneur, and not just some marketing god bestowing his eternal wisdom upon us peasants. When explaining any concept, Walker always provides at least one real-world example he’s encountered, often his peers’ success stories. Right in the beginning, he talks about a man who used PLF to sell over 600 copies of a board game using his technique.

The one change this book needs is more specifics to each step. Sometimes the success stories presented became repetitive. I would often finish the page knowing that the PLF model can work, but without knowledge of how to start. I’m sure he offers meticulous details in his online courses, but I won’t be paying thousands of dollars for those anytime soon.

For any budding entrepreneur out there, this book is a glimpse into one man’s road in online businesses. Even if Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula isn’t for your business, it might help you build your business knowledge for the future.

-Phillip X.

Partials by Dan Wells

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partials_danwellsPartials by Dan Wells is an action-packed novel about the remains of humanity after a devastating virus kills 99.99% of the human population. The story takes place 11 years after the virus, RM, is exposed. Kira. the main character, is training to be a medic and interns at the only hospital. There is no cure for RM, so when babies are born they die within a couple of hours. RM is said to come from humanlike creatures called Partials. It is believed that they have the cure since they released it.

The urge to cure RM becomes stronger for Kira when she discovers that her best friend, Madison, is pregnant. She figures that her best bet would be to capture a Partial and bring it back. After embarking on a dangerous journey, Kira manages to bring one back. She is given five days to study the Partial, and to collect as much data as possible. Unfortunately, she is not able to complete her research because of unrest among the remains of the human population. They are angered by their government, and have become restless after hearing that a partial has been brought back. After the riots settle down, Kira discovers a startling secret about herself. It may make her reconsider everything she has ever known.

Overall, the book had an amazing plot. Partials had one of the best plot lines among recent dystopian novels. A major problem with this book was it dragged on and on for pages at certain points. It was as if the author just put in extra filler pages. The only thing that kept me reading was the plot-line. I wanted to see what would happen and if the cure for RM would be found. Something that I also enjoyed about this book was the whole conflict between humans and Partials. Initially, they were groups against each other; by the end of the novel, that relationship changes drastically.

-Anmol K.

Partials is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.