Phantom tales of the night vol 2 by Matsuri

Owner, the spirit who runs the inn, is back again taking secrets from desperate folks or saving them from interesting predicaments. A odd-couple husband and wife come to Owner and find out their individual secrets could have saved them a lot of heartbreak over the years. Owner later tasks Butterfly and Spider to care for a baby who mysteriously shows up at the inn, and the two are terrified when the child starts disintegrating into cherry blossom petals. Afterwards, the two accidentally break one of Owner's clay vessels he uses to contain secrets, and the secret escapes. Spider and Butterfly must now learn how to make a new vessel out of bone clay, and they must retrieve the secret to replace it.

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At the beginning of this volume, we really see that Owner is not a benevolent spirit, in case anyone had forgotten some of the mean things he had done in volume two. He still manages to help some folks, but usually at a high cost that makes them question whether it's all worth it. There's also a little bit of world and character building around Owner and his past as Butterfly and Spider learn from someone who used to be in their position, serving Owner and gathering secrets for him. The chapters are written in a style similar to slice-of-life, but many of them build on each other or reference back to something that came earlier. This is a little bit of a complicated story with some mysticism, so it'll appeal to readers who appreciate rich fantasies with a little bit of darkness to them.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1

Publisher: Yen Press
Publication Date: November 26, 2019​
ISBN: 9781975305864 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Paranormal, Magic, Yen Press