“The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB”, by Christopher M. Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin

736 pages, Basic Books, ISBN-13: 978-0465003105

Christopher M. Andrew, an historian at the University of Cambridge, is not new to writing about the KGB with the assistance of prominent defectors, having written three books previously with Oleg Gordievsky, a former colonel of the KGB, Resident-designate and bureau chief in London (and a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985). This time around Andrew’s coauthor was Vasili Mitrokhin, a major and senior archivist for the First Chief Directorate of the KGB (and a secret dissident), and their work was The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Mitrokhin took notes on the files that passed through his hands and escaped to the West in the early 1990s with cartons of material that formed the basis of this book. The result of their collaboration is a dense-but-illuminating work and a must for anyone with a need and a desire to learn more about the ways in which the deplorable Soviet Union did things.

The book reads rather like a textbook and can be quite dry for people unfamiliar with the subject matter; for this reason it would be best if The Sword and the Shield were not the first book you read on the subject as it is not really meant for entertainment but more for serious research…and make no mistake, this is a very good research source with the information within blowing away any Hollywood spy movie. The section on Harold Adrian Russell “Kim” Philby and the Cambridge Five alone would make a fantastic Hollywood movie with boatloads of intrigue, sex, betrayal and danger. And it is was all real. The important thing to keep in mind while reading this book is that all the information was taken from the archives of the KGB and is not some prepackaged trash designed for foreign audiences, fellow travelers or Soviet apologists. The result is a fascinating and shocking account of what the KGB and Soviet Union were up to in the 20^th Century (among many of the revelations that will give the American Left heartburn was the revelation that while Joe McCarthy was overzealous in his quest to root out Communists, he was not as crazy as history has painted him out to be in relation to the scope of intentional Communist penetration of American government and society).

The authors are coy about naming some Soviet spies in the West, while others found themselves compromised by Mitrokhin years ago. There are no huge surprises here; that the KGB plotted to sabotage Western power networks, routinely conducted assassinations through the early 1960s, and maniacally persecuted religious groups should not shock informed readers. But the weight of detail and the solid retelling of well-known stories, such as Soviet recruitment of British spies in the 1930s, make for a fascinating read. Among the more interesting conclusions is that much of the invaluable information dug up by Soviet spies never made it through the filters of paranoia, ideology, and sycophancy created by the Soviet leadership.

“Crescent Moon” (Vol. 1–6), by Haruko Iida

176–184 pages, Tokyopop, ISBN-13: 978-1591827924 (Vol. 1); ISBN-13: 978-1591827931 (Vol. 2); ISBN-13: 978-1591827948 (Vol. 3); ISBN-13: 978-1591827955 (Vol. 4); ISBN-13: 978-1591829522 (Vol. 5); ISBN-13: 978-1591829539 (Vol. 6)

I’m trying something different here as I review an entire series in one fell swoop. Crescent Moon is the English title of the shōjo manga Mikan no Tsuki (literally, An Incomplete Moon), written by Haruko Iida in partnership with Red Company, a video game developer and publisher based in Japan. It was originally published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, the publishing arm of the Kadokawa Corporation, beginning in 2000 and serialized in Asuka Comics; it was translated into English by Tokyopop into six volumes, which is the version being reviewed here.

It became evident early on that this was a manga aimed at young adults or even tweens, but seeing as I inherited the Collector’s Gene from my father I was utterly incapable of not buying the series in its entirety; luckily for me, it ran to only six volumes, so my investment was slight (also, if I had investigated what shōjo meant, it would have been obvious). The story focuses on Mahiru, a young girl who has felt out of place her whole life. Partly, this is due to the fact that she dreams constantly of a love song about a demon and a girl and sees things nobody else can while looking into the water. Also, she may be the unluckiest girl ever, as all of her good luck seems to pass on to others, keeping none for herself. One day she accidentally runs into onto a boy who is being chased by the police, and mysteriously she seems to have some kind of effect on him as his features change slightly, only for him to get angry and run away. Later on she meets him again and three other guys, but…THEY AREN’T HUMAN! Nozomu is a vampire, Akira is a werewolf, Misoka is a fox, and Mitsuru is a tengu (a legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion). They are from a dying race called the Lunar Race and Mahiru is the descendant of their princess. She is the only one who can provide them with enough power to retrieve the Drops of the Moon and save their people. Will they save the Lunar Race? Will Mahiru find out what her dream means? And who are those people who are determined to eliminate their race?

As a Manga, I don’t think it’s controversial to say that it is the art that drives the work, and the art of Crescent Moon is a mixed bag, to say the least. The characters are all rather dull, looking far younger than they are supposed to (although perhaps that is because they are the Lunar Race?); they should be each be around 17-years-old and one of them is even 21-years-old, but they don’t look more than 13-years-old at the most. Some other, minor characters just sometimes look weird. I will say, however, that her backgrounds are splendid, with countless details and few blank spaces. Next come the characters, led by Mahiru, who is boring at best without any kind of personality to speak of (oh well; at least she wasn’t annoying as too many tween girls can be). The four main guys were interesting, although you get to know Misoka and Mitsuru better because they are more important for the plot (their transformed designs were quite good, too). As a whole the storyline is cool but the story itself feels underdeveloped; it had potential be more interesting and intense. The romance feels underdeveloped, as well; you know who-likes-who but it doesn’t really show, which is bad as this is supposed to be a shōjo.