Lex's manga / #Substance Abuse/Addiction(3)

Trap City, a crime city in which the first, second, and third thing you must beware of is people. Noah Humphrey stole away the boss' money and ran away with it amidst an inconspicuous war between the two greatest groups in the city. Will he live as a toy for the boss Kahliya, or as a bait for the boss Rex, leaders of the rivaling groups? A love story blooms during a critical situation in which you have to do anything in order to survive! ----------- I liked how natural Noah's affection for Rex developed. As well as how genuine and realistic their relationship's development was. I also liked how the author made a clear distinction between Rex's past feelings towards Noah being something more similar to admiration rather than love, and then showing us how this admiration turned into longing, and then love. It's not something all BLs take the time and effort to really develop. Often such stories are all too rushed and do not take the time to further explain a character's lingering feelings for the other, as well as the development and growth to it all. This felt like quite the realistic read in this sense. It wasn't perfect. But really good compared to most works out there. I also appreciated that Kahliya's character wasn't given the usual excusing of actions. Yes, we were given a basic "got betrayed so gone bad" type trope. But it wasn't *condoning* of his actions. And that changes a lot. His crimes were crimes and his character was not romanticized, let alone was he atoned for his acts. I also liked the way the story was wrapped-up. It wasn't overly done, but instead we were given a smooth conclusion to it. With hints of each characters involved's possible outcomes. Really nice.

Conor, a Korean-American, lives in a city where same-sex marriage has been legalized, but where racist and homophobic hate crimes are still frequent. He joins a band with the blonde hair, blue-eyed Simon and the two go on to create their own “dark heaven” in an abandoned church. Feelings develop between the pair, but light cannot dwell with dark, and their time together will soon come to an end. ---------- This is such an emotional roller-coaster. I've lost count how many times I got sad, angry, anxious, ... the list goes on and on. The characters are all so tangible. I kept on getting triggered at all the racism & homophobia in this one. It made me want to throw fists so much. It's such a beautiful and realistic story, but dang, does it make me angry at the world. This is so well-written in its depiction of unfairness, xenophobia, racism, homophobia, abuse, white privileges, .... The list could go on and on. But as it is so well-written, that's what keeps you motivated to keep reading it. It brings up such harsh topics and doesn't hold back for a second. The characters are all extremely well thought-through and fascinating as well. Especially Connor & Simon. Their relationship is such a deep one that I couldn't help but get invested in. It just feels so real. You can truly feel their feelings for each other the entire time as you read through each and every chapter. They complete each other, their love is such a strong one, and the author does an amazing job at displaying it. The Art's also one-of-a-kind. I've never seen anything quite like it before.If you want to read this, be aware that it's extremely triggering. But it's also absolutely worth your time. It's been quite a while since I've seen a work that'd bring up real-life problems so well. And also one that'd depict love so bluntly and honestly. I was really taken aback by how much of a masterpiece this was.

TBA