Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #450971 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

She's pretty, full of life, and completely deadly
Kabuki is a great series. Every one of the Kabuki books are startling, beautiful, touching, violent and oh-so-cool. It follows a rhythm and style that is altogether American pop brilliance and Japanese deep craftsmanship. It's a story being passed down from generation to generation about finding yourself. It'll leave a mark.

Kabuki: Scarab is as good as any of the other Kabuki books. It focuses (not surprisingly) on the Noh operative named Scarab. She's a girl who fell into being cool because she was quick, smart and dated the right guy. Ironically, it's the same things that made her a good assassin. Scarab is wonderfully drawn by Rick Mays, who combines his great handle on Japan, pop urban danger, stylish street gear, and a weird combo of innocence and volatility.

The writing borrows heavily from Speed Tribes (a highly-recommended, solid, easy-to-read book on contemporary Japanese youth culture). For the first time, David Mack uses someone else to map his story. I didn't quite understand why he did this when both he and Rick Mays are so familiar with Japan. Doesn't make the story less enjoyable, but it did give it a sense of "didn't I read this before".

Scarab is the first of the Kabuki books to completely focus on another character. I loved it. Can't wait for the next installment!

Not the same quality as the rest of the series
It's rather inevitable, since it's not about Kabuki, the character for whom the entire setting was conceived, but this book completely loses the tone, artwork, and characterization of the other books in the series. The character is uninteresting; the elegance, cadence, and symbolism of the writing is gone; the setting is totally unrelated; and the artwork can't compare to David Mack's. Fans of 'Circle of Blood' deserve better.