This manga offering has two stories in one volume and apparently inspired the Netflix show Kingdom. (Which I haven't seen)

It is a very quick, dark, read and incorporates a wide range of influences, especially in the second story.
In the first story, Joseon is loosely based on ancient Korea and is a country in turmoil, a weak king, seven years of warfare, draught, and famine amongst the poor has lead to a country into a very dire time. The young prince Yi Moon is thought to have died, but such reports are incorrect, he meets Jae-Ha, a cynical ex-general turned bandit who agrees to take him to the village of Jiyulheon for money rather than because it is the right thing to do.

On the journey we see the prince faced with poor people who out of dire necessity have turned to cannibalism. As a result of this when they die they become infected with the living death, returning at night as zombies. When they get to the village, in the company of a doctor who trained there, they find that the living death has preceded them and the village is deserted. During this journey the prince is being pursued by assassins who can make themselves invisible but cannot hide their shadows, they have been sent to kill the prince and make sure he is no longer a threat.

The second story is a tale of an island between Korea and Japan, used by both countries to house their worst criminals. The Japanese sailors deposit a warrior of great prowess who has become a feared cannibal, on arrival he finds the island deserted except for a Korean doctor exiled there for his crimes of vivisection, in the pursuit of artistry. They fight, both being wounded one in the right eye and one in the left, but seem to be evenly matched.

A group of pirates appear to bury their treasure the Captain is an evil man who has sacrificed to a voodoo Loa for power and a desire to become immortal.

The the Japanese and the Korean join forces to fight the Pirate and the take his treasure, which turns out to be a sacrifice to the Loa, a sixteen year old English princess.

There is a lot covered in a very short amount of words and that results in much being left to interpretation and in some ways results in a cultural misinterpretation the second story more than the first.

In the first story the prince begins by crying and insisting that he is taken to the village because he is the prince. Then he wants the peasants killed for their crime of eating human meat, but Jae-Ha tells him no it is only out of dire necessity that they have done so. Over the span of the story Yi Moon grows and matures to be more regal, wanting to behave in a way that exemplifies his idea of a good king. Along the way he saves Jae-Ha because 'a good king never abandons his own'.

In the second story the Japanese cannibal is a great warrior and the Korean doctor is a great surgeon, each is driven by their passion, gluttony for human meat, or the use of human bodies for aesthetic purposes. Each of these purposes are equally terrible and the protagonists cannot understand what each is saying so they fight, each to enforce their desire on the other.

A year later when the Pirates appear the doctor and the cannibal are still fighting but seem to have reached a compromise and understanding of each others meaning if not language. They fight the Pirate, each covering the others blind side, because both want the treasure from the ship. The English girl cannot understand them and doesn't understand one wants to eat her and the other covets her smooth skin for his art. She sees the way they work together and says they are soul mates, ever driven to contend with each other but each compliments the other by one having a working right eye and the other a working left eye.

I really enjoyed the stories and their intricacies, however the art work, like the story line, is dark. This shouldn't be the first Korean manga book that one picks up. However for the reader who enjoys a non-western view of zombies, cannibalism, and voodoo, wrapped up in very traditional eastern views of honour, warfare, social values, and ethics, the book is a good read.

Unfortunately the story moves so fast, covers so much, and there is little fleshing out of the character development, with the author relying on the reader actually reading and understanding all of the frames which are organised in an oriental standard right to left order. I do worry that this will lead many people to miss the depth of the story and just see it as gratuitous violent fare.

"Kingdom of the Gods and the additional “Burning Hell” is horror perfection. This is a must-buy for genre fans because of its beauty and its violence. Even those unfamiliar with the manga format would be remiss to not add this to their library."

[This review will be posted in July]

Fear not, anyone who was worried that this would contain spoilers for the show <em>Kingdom</em>! It turns out that they're about as similar to each other as the <em>Howl's Moving Castle</em> books and movie are: same basic elements, but assembled completely differently. In this case, the common elements are a zombie apocalypse in Joseon-era Korea, a Crown Prince trying to do his best by his subjects, and some of the inciting events. I enjoyed <em>The Kingdom of the Gods</em> a lot more once I managed to mentally divorce it from <em>Kingdom</em>, because it felt unfair to compare the two. They're both doing very different things! What <em>The Kingdom of the Gods</em> is doing is honestly more like <em>Sword of the Stranger</em> than <em>Kingdom</em>; it centres on a ferociously competent swordsman who turns to banditry during a seven-year famine, who accidentally discovers new meaning in his life through protecting a small child! The small child in this case is the Crown Prince, of course, who wants to find out what's happened to his people. There are magical assassins, zombies, a doctor who actually understands the plot, creepy happenings in a library... It's my sort of nonsense!
It's <em>very</em> gory. There is blood and rotting zombies everywhere, people's faces are ripped off like fabric – it's gross. I'm not gonna lie, there are bits that are just plain gross. But the art style is pretty good! There's a lot of line and shadow, which looks cool and really helps to set up the tension when people's silhouettes start blurring into the background, or when shadows start to look ominous.

It doesn't feel like it has an <em>ending</em> though. The final page is very dramatic and visually cool, but the <em>Kingdom of the Gods</em> doesn't answer any of the questions it raises. The pacing feels a bit weird as well, but I think that could be because I was expecting the Crown Prince to be the protagonist, when the character with an actual <em>arc</em> is Jae Ha, the swordsman.

<em>The Kingdom of the Gods</em> actually contains two stories of roughly equal length. The other one is <em>Burning Hell</em>, about two serial killers exiled to a deserted island who decide to devote themselves to murdering each other, and what happens when another ship arrives. I liked this story a lot less though; all of the murders (and there are a <em>lot</em> of murders) feel like gore for gore's sake, and the art looks a lot flatter and out of proportion. Like, the expressions and reactions are goofier and more over the top, but there wasn't really anything to hook my interest. (Plus, I'm not sure that the Loa work how the writer thinks they do, but I'm happy to be corrected!) Plus, the female character's portrayed as naive to the point of wilful obliviousness, which is <em>weird</em> but not particularly surprising.

What I'm saying is that <em>Burning Hell</em> is so-so, but I enjoyed <em>The Kingdom of the Gods</em>! It was worth reading for me to see where the roots of <em>Kingdom</em> started, and what questions from that story are being answered in the show.

[Caution warnings: gore, cannibalism, mutilation, displays of corpses, attempted human sacrifice, death of children]

By Nolan P. Smith

The Walking Dead revitalized the zombie genre when it hit the comic book shops and television screens. Netflix launched a series called The Kingdom in 2019. Now the manga that inspired the show is set to release in May, let's see how this story shapes up.

I have not dived into the Netflix series yet, so this is all new to me. From VIZ Media, the manga is based on the original concept by In-wan Youn, story by Eun-hee Kim and art by Kyung-il Yang. The story takes place where the land is thrown into chaos, and the young Yi Moon, the Crown Prince, is trying to find his way back home with the unlikely help of a skilled bandit, Jae-Ha. So the young prince hires the bandit to get him to Jiyulheon for 50 Ryo, and it's a good thing: because the world turned a lot more dangerous. A mysterious group of warriors is after the prince, yet they seem to be the lesser of the two evils as the dead have come back to life.

We also get a bonus backstory featuring an island used to confine the worst of criminals. Japanese criminal Juu and the infamous Korean felon Han face off against each other, and we also meet a pirate with an extremely dark and evil secret. How does this tie to the main story? I cannot wait to see; hopefully, there is more in the works!

The drawback here is Jae-Ha goes blind in the darkness, making it harder to keep the young prince alive. But having the skilled swordsman at his side helps the young prince as Jae-Ha slices his way through ruthless killers and the undead. Jae-Ha is impressive, and the young prince has a noble cause in his journey. The story is a depressing one, and we see some terrifying moments and possibly how this whole thing started. But there are glimmers of hope, and by the end, you will want to see what's next for our travelers.

The artwork is exceptionally well done and detailed. I love the character designs, the terror exuded from the living dead, and the outstanding action scenes. I don't know if this is a one-off release or the first in a series- I hope we get more because I am hooked. The Kingdom of the Gods is a fantastic manga and shows why The Kingdom is so popular on Netflix.

This book contains two unrelated horror stories set in historical Korea. The first is about a young price who hires a bandit to get him to a city, whilst the living dead come to life when it goes dark. The second is about two blood thirsty murderers exiled to an uninhabited island between Japan and Korea.

The first story was very enjoyable, I found myself invested in the character of the prince and wanting to know more about him whilst also enjoying the way that the zombie element of it had been written and created. The downside to this story was that there didn't seem to be a concrete ending so it felt odd to move to a completely different story. I would have loved this to be longer.

The second bonus story was fun, both of the characters are truly despicable people and watching them try to kill each other, whilst also attempting to put their own personal blood feud aside for a common goal was interesting. This was much more a slasher horror style story, as opposed to the zombie horror of the first.

Overall I enjoyed this book, it was fun to read, I read each story in one sitting, and has made me want to go and watch the Netflix series that was inspired by it.

<i> arc provided by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review </i>

I really enjoyed this manga. It was creepy, bloody and full of action and murder. Exactly what I would expect from a story featuring zombies.

The characters really grew on me by the end and I would love to continue on with story and learn more about the zombies and how everything about them came to be.


I did not enjoy the bonus story at all.

3/5 ⭐️


TW: death, murder, violence, blood, death of a child, zombies, canibalism

Really enjoyed both of the stories in this book, both for different reasons. I think the first half of the book was an interesting take on the classic zombie store, adding an element of politics to the story. The emphasis on desperation in regards to food and how for some it is more valuable than gold is a great addition to the story.
The second story was an enjoyable light read with some extra more gruesem elements. The banter included between the two main characters made it really enjoyable and fun the read. Would recommend to others who enjoy the genre.

The bonus story gets 4 stars from me, and even though I'm dissatisfied with the lack of definite explanation to the story's conclusion I enjoyed my read.

Seeing the original conception behind the hit Netflix tv series show does give us an insight of the Living Zombie Curse.

I loved the Bandit, and how he was a former general as of such. And he had to go on a quest to save Yi Woon, the Prince.

Some parts of the ARC were blurred.

I also felt that the Doctor was a great character, and her personality and her viewpoint was more than enough to complement the reader. I would have wanted a more colourful art style.

Kudos to adding the Loa! So does that mean we'll get to see more of the spirits of evil working together? This had a Nioh Vibe to this so much.

I really enjoyed this story, and good luck to Yi Woon for cleansing the country of evil.

It is after all, true that the evil spirits do not exist today. And why? Because our ancestors got rid of it so we could live in peace.

The story of a prince and his bodyguard during the living dead epidemic was interesting and fast-moving. The drawback for me was the bonus story, which took nearly half the volume. It's not that it was bad (it was silly, but fun), but it took too much place in the book. I would have prefered a couple more chapters of the main tale.
The art was mostly ok, though some fight sequences were a bit confusing.

<I> A huge thank you to Viz Media for providing me with an eARC of this graphic novel via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is currently set to be published in July 2020</I>

<u> The Kingdom of the Gods </u> was not as fascinating in execution as it was in concept. The art style was mediocre (for my taste) and the storyline itself felt very choppy and unfinished. I enjoyed the time period that it was placed in, but I feel as if these previous two factors detracted from my reading experience. I am not an all-things-zombie fanatic, however, so maybe this will be more appealing to readers with different interests.

I enjoyed seeing the inspiration for a netflix show that I really enjoy. I enjoyed the art style, though I did have to turn my brightness up on my screen a bit to get more of the details from some of the images (this wouldn't be as much of an issue with a physical copy). Definitely think this is worth checking out!