Trese Book Reviews

I bought the 4 volumes of Trese. I highly recommend this local comic series. I know I’m not good in writing book reviews so I’ll just put here a link log of different book reviews about Trese. I picked five good book reviews and it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll like it or not.

1. Analysis and reaction of Trese: Murder on Balete Drive by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo.

Alexandra Trese is a detective. She either hunts down or consults creatures from Philippine mythology, and is assisted by methods and bodyguards of a fantastic nature. Notable about this work, aside from all these taking place within the pages of a graphic novel, is that it combines traditions or motifs from detective fiction, mythological fiction and graphic fiction, making Trese an amalgamation of all three.

via Trese: Murder on Balete Drive by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo, analysis and reaction.

2. The 2009 National Book Awards Official Citation

Powerful, iconic characters comic book characters Darna, Zuma and Captain Barbell, among others, emerged fully-formed from the mind of Filipino comic creators. That creativity continues to this day, in all directions, in different ways. But in Trese, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo have a stunningly original idea, swathed in the irresistible spookiness of our folklore and the edged mythology of our urban legends. Alexandra Trese, the enigmatic paranormal investigator and her lethal bodyguards the Kambal helps the police when encountering cases that just don’t make any sense of the normal kind. In the process, Tan and Baldisimo offers us a peek into the supernatural embedded into Metro Manila’s badly lit corners.

via 29th National Book Award Winners Announced

3. Trese – dark mysteries on the streets of Manila

Trese is a supernatural series starring a female investigator who steps in to protect the streets of Manilla when the police can’t deal with the supernatural weirdness that appears. Produced by Budjette Tan andKajo Baldisimo, this Filipino book does so much right it’s practically scandalous we haven’t heard more about it here in the UK.

Whenever she’s needed, Trese arrives, often called in by Captain Guerrero, the Comissioner Gordon to Trese’s unconventional Batman, a man who seems singularly predisposed to lean on her knowledge and specific skills. Supported by two mysterious and obviously magical creatures of uncertain powers – the always stylish Kambal twins, she’s always there to protect Manilla from supernatural threat.

via Trese – dark mysteries on the streets of Manila

4. Review: Three dispatches from the Philippines

Trese is an altogether more conventional series: it’s a contemporary dark fantasy with a nourish affect, both in art and story, about a young woman in Manila – Alexandra Trese – who’s called in by the police on supernatural cases. The plots are pretty standard for the genre, though Tan does tell them well, with a knack for tough dialogue and important confrontations.

via Review: Three dispatches from the Philippines

5. Neil Gaiman e-mails the author about Trese

So ridiculously proud of you! When I came out all those years ago for the first time, that was what I wanted to see happen…

I feel like you and all the smart Filipino writers and artists out there are doing something really brave and powerful, making a whole new wave of Filipino art and story.

Well done!

Neil

via Neil Gaiman emails about TRESE

But wait, there’s more

Interested? Good thing is that Trese’s blog site offers a free preview of Books 1 and 2. You can check them out here:

Trese Book 1

Trese Book 2

P.S.: There is one item which is not a book review. Let’s see who’s reading properly. 🙂