Avalon High: Coronation by Meg Cabot & Jinky Coronado

Title: Avalon High: Coronation
Author: Meg Cabot
Illustrator: Jinky Coronado
Volumes (English): 3 (completed)

Being a new student at Avalon High has been exciting for Ellie, to say the least--she's an honor student, a star on the track team, and, oh yeah, dating the super-hot class president, Will. Who also happens to be the alleged reincarnation of King Arthur.



Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Goodreads | LibraryThing

Have the attention span of a gnat? Skip to the bottom for final thoughts.

I absolutely loved Meg Cabot's book Avalon High! Avalon High is a modern day adaptation of the Arthurian legend with a surprisingly fresh twist to an overdone story. When I saw that the story continued with three volumes of manga I was both excited (because hey, it's manga!) and a little nervous (because it's OEL manga). Pushing my reservations aside I  began reading and quickly wished that I had never begun. 

The story line is incredibly shallow, nothing like the story crafting in the book. The dialogue is insipid and has a way of causing the mind to disengage. Several times I found myself drifting and hurriedly skimming the frames in vain hope that the plot would show some of the originality of the book.  

As for the art...the depictions of the characters are a far cry from the character descriptions in the book. All of the girls' breast sizes and the guys' muscles quadrupled overnight. I understand that big breasts and muscles go with the territory of a lot of manga, but it didn't fit with the characters from the book. It seemed like it was trying too hard to mimic Japanese manga, but the more annoying parts of it. 

Final Thoughts

In the end I wish that Meg Cabot had written a sequel to the book rather than attempt a manga adaptation. All the manga did was heap frustration on disappointment. I do not recommend this manga series, but I highly recommend the book.