Fairy Tail, Vol 3- Musical Murders

Mashima, Hiro.  Fairy Tail 3: Musical Murders.  Trans. William Flanagan.  New York: Del Rey/Ballantine Books, 2008.  Paperback.  ISBN: 978-0-34-550556-9.  US $10.95.

Annotation:

       The Dark Guild Eisenwald has a cursed flute they mean to use over a train broadcasting system.  It is up to Lucy, Ezra, Gray, and Natsu to stop them before the dark wizards kill everyone.  Recommended for ages 12+.

Cover from Amazon.com

Book Talk:

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       In this third installment of the manga series Fairy Tail, teen wizards Lucy, Ezra, Gray, and Natsu must stop the evil members of the Dark Guild Eisenwald from playing a cursed flute over a train station broadcasting system.  The dark wizards of Eisenwald should be no match for the powerful heroes but tempers flare as the teens are trapped behind a magic wall of wind with no idea of how to get out.  Can the four bickering heroes work together to stop Eisenwald or will their pride get in the way?

 

 

Book Review:

 

            Fairy Tail is a sequential manga series meaning that you really need to the first two volumes before you start reading this book or it will be difficult to piece together what’s going on.  This is also the volume where the characters Natsu and Ezra really start playing a role in the storyline.  That being said the characters are still a little flat at this point because Mashima seems to rely on gimmicks to make characters amusing or interesting, such as Gray’s habit of suddenly losing his clothes or Natsu always getting motion sick.  Although the characters themselves are really just starting to develop in this volume I do appreciate the way the author/illustrator has decided to show that even though the heroes save the day they usually do so at a price.

            I think this series would be appreciated by teens 12 and up who enjoy fantasy especially in graphic novel form.  There was one instance where an older guild master commented on a younger female guild member’s body but this was the only instance of this level of mature content in this volume.  Otherwise it is somewhat typical of manga for teen boys (shonen manga) in that female characters tend to be voluptuous and wear tight, skimpy outfits.  Despite their revealing clothing both Lucy and Ezra are strong female characters.

"I loved it.  Though I was coaxed into reading it by my boyfriend, but I totally loved it. The art was surprisingly likable for a shounen manga. It's a battle oriented manga, but the fighting scenes were interesting enough that I didn't just skip them."  Susan M., 17. 

Awards and Honors:

     2009- Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga

For more about this book or author check these out:

Author Interviews:
    
     Nov. 7, 2011 Geek News Interview with Hiro Mashima

     Aug. 8, 2008 IGN Comics Interview with Hiro Mashima

Fairy Tail was made into a anime series in 2009.  
Watch the episode based on this volume: