I discovered Red River about last year- a friend of mine had it, told me it was worth a read, and she, myself, and another friend all decided to read it. The story is this: Yuri Suzuki is an everygirl who is transported back through time and space to the Hittite Empire, summoned by the Empress who wants to use her as a blood sacrifice to ensure her son inherits the throne. Yuri manages to escape and falls in with Prince Kail Mursili, third in line to the throne. She joins his court, and, through a series of odd coincidences, becomes mistaken for the war goddess Ishtar and becomes a commander in the Hittie Empire's war against Egypt. Throughout her adventures in the war, Yuri must avoid the Empress's schemes while struggling with her own feelings for Kail.

If you find this intriguing, I feel I must warn you: Red River is not good. Red Rive is not bad. Red River is TERRIBLE.

Oh, the story is interesting, to be sure, and the artwork is top-notch, no complaints there. But the writing and characters are just so laughably BAD, and the love story central to the plot is no better than dime store romance novel trite, that anything that could have been good is just crushed under the mountain of terribleness. Kail has little to no personality, switching between "Playboy," "Serious Business," and "YURI!!!!" (You remember that commercial parodying InuYasha, where all Kagome and InuYasha do is shout each other's names the whole time? It's like that, but serious). Yuri herself is a pathetic heroine, if you can even call her that. For a commander in a legendary war, she sure is useless. Yuri is kidnapped at least once a book, cries so often she comes off as whiny instead of empathetic, and threatened with rape so often that it stops being serious and dramatic and starts being a drinking game. The interesting characters are killed off, evil, or both (with the exception of Ramsses). There are huge gaps in characters' logic, making them look like idiots. It's just... it's just BAD.

Red River isn't completely irredeemable, though: if you've been looking for a good manga to sit around, have a couple laughs, and MST with some friends, look no further than Red River (Chie Shinohara's other stuff is good for this, too). But if you're looking for a historical fiction manga that is well-written and tugs at the heartstrings... well, I hear Rose of Versailles is pretty good.