Abi Umeda

In this post-apocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past. In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past. Chakuro is the archivist for the Mud Whale, diligently chronicling the lives and deaths of his people. As one of the short-lived thymia wielders, he knows his time is limited and is determined to leave a better record than his predecessors. But the steady pace of their isolated existence on the Mud Whale is abruptly shattered when a scouting party discovers a mysterious young girl who seems to know more about their home than they do...

Children of the Whales

In this post-apocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past. In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, most dying young from the very powers that sustain them. It is year 93 of the Sand Exile, but the implications of that calendar are only now sinking in for Chakuro. Imperial soldiers from the Allied Empire have appeared out of nowhere with orders to kill all the “criminals” of the Mud Whale! The Committee of Elders knows why this is happening but still won’t explain it to the young Marked of the island. And the elders would rather see the Mud Whale sink forever to the bottom of the Sea of Sand than leave them all at the mercy of the empire.

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Volume two is where the rubber hits the road, story-wise. Where volume one had a slow buildup, we start immediately in the thick of things as the Mud Whale is confronted with outsiders and things start to fall apart. We learn more about Lykos, more about the Mud Whale, and more about the world in general in this volume. 

I love, love, love the art style! The story is also mysterious and complex enough to keep me reading, and the magic(? is it even magic?) system used is unique and wonderful. I love the emphasis on emotion in this series so far, where a lack of emotion is emphasized, and having emotions is frowned upon. This is a really unique series that I wish I had kept up with before now!

I started this series a few years ago, but with college I fell off a lot of manga series that I had been following, and I'm only now going back through and catching up. This is one that I had been meaning to revisit and finish for a while now, because the art and story were both incredibly unique. I don't know if Abi Umeda has any artbooks or anything out there, but I would absolutely purchase them if so.

This particular series starts out following Chakuro, a young archivist for the Mud Whale, a floating community of several hundred residents adrift on an endless sea of sand. Most of the residents are marked, people able to wield magic (or "thymia") that is heavily influenced by the user's emotions. Because of this, emotions are reined in, kept in check, and otherwise frowned upon by most of the residents. Chakuro chronicles the day-to-day happenings on the Mud Whale for future residents, as all people considered marked live short lives. The Mud Whale happens upon a small island, and Chakuro accompanies a small band of residents to go scope it out for potential salvage opportunities. It's there that we're introduced to a mysterious young girl that seems to recognize the Mud Whale, but who is immediately detained by the elders. The arrival of this young girl has a dramatic impact on the residents, however...

I thought the story was unique, and while it does have a bit of a slow start (almost a slice of life story, albeit in a unique environment), I think the cliffhanger ending more than makes up for it. I also thought the art style was incredible, as I'm a sucker for wide shots, full page shots, and great scenery. There's quite a lot of mystery packed into the story already, and I'm excited to unpack this complex story!

In this post-apocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past. In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, most dying young from the very powers that sustain them. The Mud Whale is in dire trouble. In four days, the imperial apátheia soldiers will return to destroy it and its inhabitants. But the Committee of Elders would rather kill everyone on board than wait for the “mercy” of the empire, and the fighters of the island will do the elders’ bidding without a second thought. Now Chakuro and the other children are forced by circumstance to rebel against the adults in order to save their home and their lives.

Plot advancement! The people of the Mud Whale, being given a brief reprieve by the apatheia troops sent to eradicate them, set about defending their home against their eventual return. Because these people are pacifists by nature, there's a lot of soul searching in these pages as they each decide what the Mud Whale means to them and what they'll do to defend it. During the assault, the Mud Whale residents split into two groups, with the main group defending the noncombatants, and a smaller group sent to infiltrate the enemy's ship and disable it. It's a race to see if the Mud Whale's meager training is enough to withstand the imperial apatheia invasion!

This really is a super unique series! I like the role that emotions evidently play in this world, and how the people of the Mud Whale are seen as criminals and deviants for having them. It's also pretty sad, and the writer doesn't pull any punches in the feelings department. I can absolutely see the problems people have with it being a slow plot and it being kind of complex, but personally I'm not having any problems, and I actually like the ambiguity as we move along.

In this postapocalyptic fantasy, a sea of sand swallows everything but the past. In an endless sea of sand drifts the Mud Whale, a floating island city of clay and magic. In its chambers a small community clings to survival, cut off from its own history by the shadows of the past. The battle for the Mud Whale becomes a deadly rout as the Marked fight to protect their home and their comrades from the invading apátheia soldiers. Meanwhile, Chakuro and the rest of the boarding party have made it safely onto the imperial battleship Skyros, but their mission turns bloody when they reach the thymia-proof chamber at the heart of the ship. How will they destroy the enemy Nous and save the Mud Whale without access to their powers?

We pick up this volume halfway through the defense of the Mud Whale, and in the midst of the action is where we find a lot of our plot and lore development. Chakuro's team who have infiltrated the imperial apatheia's ship, are deep in the belly intent on destroying the Nous of the ship, essentially the supernatural being powering the whole thing. Meanwhile, people are fighting and dying on the Mud Whale, and we get a lot of flashbacks and powerful scenes involving the combatants while Chakuro's team does their thing. After a bloody fight deep within the enemy's battleship, Chakuro and crew emerge victorious, though the price they paid was a steep one. In the aftermath of the Mud Whale's fight, while celebrating their life and honoring their dead, the inhabitants come to realize that as long as they exist, the imperial apatheia troops will be hunting them down. Their only recourse at this point is to make contact with another nation and hope to plead their case for protection. 

Of all the volumes so far, this one was the one that tugged my heartstrings the most. We get a lot of moments between Mud Whale residents and character building in the midst of the battle, which makes some of what happens hurt more. The infodump done by the enemy's Nous (evidently each ship has their own Nous?) was interesting, if not really revealing. This writer seems to like to keep the reader in the dark in terms of story, because almost the entire perspective so far has been from the Mud Whale and very little from the side of the apatheia. Motives and the true reasons behind all this are still a mystery. I'm also really interested in meeting these other nations!

Chakuro is the archivist for the Mud Whale, diligently chronicling the lives and deaths of his people. As one of the short-lived thymia wielders, he knows his time is limited and is determined to leave a better record than his predecessors. But the steady pace of their isolated existence on the Mud Whale is abruptly shattered when a scouting party discovers a mysterious young girl who seems to know more about their home than they do... -- VIZ Media

Children of the Whales, Vol. 1

so intriguing ! :) started so calm and sweet & then very quickly fell off the rails but in a good way. i really wanna read the next one now :0

Re-reading as it's been so long since I started this series and wanted to continue.

I honestly forgot how cute but intriguing this manga was!

Victoria Justice

Re-reading as it's been so long since I started this series and wanted to continue.

I honestly forgot how cute but intriguing this manga was!

Jelke Lenaerts

This was a very welcome surprise. I hadn't heard much about it and kind of picked this book up on a wim. However, this was such a great read. It is very much only an introduction but I'm excited to learn more about this world and these characters. I had never read a fantasy manga before so I was a bit scared that I was going to be confused but that wasn't the case at all. I mean it was at some points but I guess that was the point. I really liked the art style and like said before, I can't wait to see what's next.

Tammy Tancredi

Rayana Flass

It is year 93 of the Sand Exile, but the implications of that calendar are only now sinking in for Chakuro. Imperial soldiers from the Allied Empire have appeared out of nowhere with orders to kill all the “criminals” of the Mud Whale! The Committee of Elders knows why this is happening but still won’t explain it to the young Marked of the island. And the elders would rather see the Mud Whale sink forever to the bottom of the Sea of Sand than leave them all at the mercy of the empire. -- VIZ Media

Children of the Whales

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