Dorothea, Volume 4 by Cuvie

Dorothea is an albino living in Germany. In most of the Germanic states, being one of the "White Children" is a death sentence, as they are thought to be witches. But in Dorothea's own small state, the daughter of the King is a "white child", and so they are protected. But Dorothea wasn't content to live in the "White House", a sanctuary for those white children. She wanted to fight for her kingdom.

When she was young, she trained with her friend, Gyurk. Even though Gyurk wanted to protect her, she was always a better swordsman than him. Now that the various kingdoms that make up Germany are at war, Gyurk returned, and Dorothea decided that she must fight, even though at any time she could be captured, imprisoned and burned at the stake as a witch. Gyurk wasn't happy with her decision- he'd rather be the one doing the fighting and protect her. He's in love with her, but he can't even admit it to her because he doesn't know if she feels the same- in case she rejects him and he loses her friendship.

Still at Ward with Ems, Dorothea and her force advance on a small fortress, only to find it guarded by ferocious mercenaries called the Swiss guards. Though Dorothea and Gyurk are at the forefront of the fighting, and do well, the rest of the army is not as lucky, and the army retreats, pursued by the mercenaries and the men of Ems.

With so many wounded, the army cannot move as swiftly, so Dorothea and Gyurk stay behind to delay the opposing troops near a river. There is another fight, and they are soon overwhelmed by the numbers of men against them. Gyurk takes a wound meant to hit Dorothea, and both fall into the river, where they are swept downstream. But she gets them out, and half-dragging, half-carrying her friend, finds them shelter in a farmer's barn.

When the farmer arrives, she is about to kill him to protect Gyurk when she realizes that he doesn't consider her a witch, and gives her shelter in his house as well as the injured Gyurk. There, Dorothea must come to terms with what she feels for Gyurk, as well as wondering what he feels for her. But it won't last long- because men are coming who fancy themselves witch hunters, who want to kill Dorothea and cleanse what they feel is her evil from the land. But can she and the wounded Gyurk survive?

I read this series, but as much as I want to really like it, I don't feel that enough goes on, character-wise, for me to get really into the characters. Each volume seems like it should be longer to be really satisfying to me. Don't get me wrong- the series is very well done. I like the art and character designs and the writing is good, but the story is divided into the fighting parts and the relationship parts, and I never feel I really get enough of either.

Perhaps that's my biggest problem with the story. each volume is slender and just doesn't feel long enough. We don't get enough emotional payoffs for the story to feel like it is actually going somewhere as opposed to in circles around and around. It got to the point where I wanted to smack both Dorothea and Gyurk with a big fat cluebat, because I found his "I love her! But I can't tell her!" and her "Where do I stand with him? Why is his protecting me?" to make me very annoyed. Yes, both characters are in their teens, but in that time, they'd be considered adults, both of them, and a lot less innocent about the world.

I'm willing to read more of this series, but I want something with meat in it, not so much pointless fluff where the relationship is concerned. I like reading romance, yes, but this just scratches at my nerves. You can't even really call it "romance" yet, but more like "pointless pining". I hope it gets resolved soon, because this isn't fun to read.