Kimono Dragons is a vital chapter in the Y: The Last Man saga, but it's not as interesting as previous books.

Yorick, the last man, and his allies are in Japan seeking Ampersand, the last male monkey. Their efforts run afoul of competing science, organized crime, exotic pet commerce, robotic boy-toys and simple maternal concerns. Meanwhile, other characters in the end-of-the-world drama continue moving in circles that bring various threads together at key points further back on Yorick's trail.

But action takes a back seat to exposition, and much of this book provides missing background on a couple of key personalities. Perhaps it's just me, being too eager for this story to move forward and reveal its secrets, but I found the backstory a little tiresome; it seemed like more than I needed to know. Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to see where the man-killing plague came from, why it spared Yorick and Ampersand, whether Yorick and his fiancee Beth will be reunited, how the one male infant in the world will cope with exposure to the atmosphere, what the Israelis' interests might be, and so on.

I'm sure someday, when I have the full series in my hand and can read it from start to finish at my leisure, I'll appreciate these extra tidbits far more. But at the moment, I want more resolution than this book offers.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
6 January 2007