Cmdr Shepard's favourite books on the Citadel

I was a much more avid reader in my youth... before the days of PCs and gaming consoles. Now I find myself working in a job filled with long, slow periods of extreme boredom (punctuated by brief spells of intense excitement) which gives me a lot of time to pick up my reading again.

The only thing that I curse is my near-eidetic memory when it comes to books that I have read which can ruin my future enjoyment and re-reading of many of my favourite books (I tend to skip the 'slow, boring bits'). As a result I find myself mentally forcing myself to read each page slowly and carefully whenever I re-read a book to prevent myself from jumping forward to the more exciting parts that I remember.

Naruto, Vol. 1: The Tests of the Ninja - Masashi Kishimoto In another world, ninja are the ultimate power - and in the village of Konohagakure live the stealthiest ninja in the world.

But twelve years ago Konohagakure was attacked by a fearsome threat - a nine-tailed fox demon which claimed the life of the Hokage, the village champion.

Today, peace has returned, and a troublemaking orphan named Uzumaki Naruto is struggling to graduate from h Ninja academy. His goal: to become the next Hokage.

But unknown to Naruto and his classmates, within him is a terrifying force....



Naruto is the second series (after NGE) that cemented my love of the Japanese manga/anime genre. Unlike Neon Genesis Evangelion (the first manga series I have read and reviewed) where the manga came from the original anime, it was the popularity of the manga that caused the Naruto anime to be produced.

This first volume of the manga introduces us to the main characters of the series and the storyline. Uzumaki Naruto is (in his own words) 'a prankster'. To the rest of the village he is a troublemaker, an outcast, and a failure. To overcome the villagers prejudices and gain their respect he aims to become the greatest ninja ever known. To do that, first he has to graduate from Ninja Academy.... but his skills are so bad he's failed his previous three attempts to graduate. Will he be successful in his fourth attempt?

Currently reading

Kinslayer
Jay Kristoff
The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time, #1)
Robert Jordan