Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Twelve Kingdoms - Skies of Dawn (novel 4)
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LaFreccia
 Posts: 324 |
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Wow, as a big fan of the anime, I have always thought about reading these novels. Unfortunately I am a very slow reader, so I generally don't read fiction, not even mangas. This arc, however, was my favorite in the anime, and I would really be interested in getting a deeper appreciation of the story and characters.
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Wooga
 Posts: 916 Location: Tucson |
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Well...I haven't read this particular series, but I think most Light Novels are easier and quicker to read than regular fiction. (aka "Light Reading") . Although I could be wrong. |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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That's the thing though. Twelve Kingdoms is not a light novel series, but a novel series.
I think this book comes in at around 600 pages for instance. That said, I'll wait for the paperback like I always do. I'm reading the third novel now ^^ |
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norman728
Posts: 17 |
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This is one of my all time favorite anime series when the novels came out I rushed to get it and enjoyed the first novel. I am on the fence for the 2nd and third since their Tales were my least favorite arcs of the series with the KING En arc fairing a little better. The fourth novel is looking to be in the same boat and I realy want to read it but I want to wait for the paperback myself. (I'm not a Camper in the bookstore aisle where they are kept)
I may break down if I can get a deal or finish BRAVE STORY first. |
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Cosign
Posts: 5 |
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By the time all the twelve kingdoms books will be released in English, it would be the year 2020...
i wonder how this is selling. Books translated from Japanese seems to be quite the hot thing nowadays, amongst the commoners. Have they covered the missing Taiki arc yet (in the anime) in the published novels? That's the one I want to read up on the most. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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According to Japanese wiki, that's volume 6 (5-7were not covered in the anime). And yes, that's the one any Twelve Kingdoms fan really wants to read! |
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everman
Posts: 1 |
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I noticed the rather big jump at the end of chapter 16 too and checked it out against Eugene Woodbury's translation. It looks like the entire of chapter 63 in the original is missing from Tokyopop's version http://www.eugenewoodbury.com/wind/wind_ch63.htm
The editing in this volume was pretty bad but I can't believe they would actually miss part of the story. |
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Veers
 Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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Real bummer to hear about all the in-text errors... I didn't know this was out already; you'd think with a year between releases they'd have time to get the editing done properly.
Thanks for the review, I'll be grabbing this in hardback soon I guess, to go with the others. Also gonna have to grab my TK DVDs and check what that episode 35 scene was again when I get home from work, because I can't remember what it is (spoiler[was it the three girls on the ramparts talking? the scene where the house Youko is staying at is raided?]). The note that story in episode 39 ends on is magnificent, so in a way it's not a surprise that the book might underwhelm with that bit. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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The series is wonderful, but there are several issues with TP's release. I know at last year's Comic-con there was a panel about the next Harry Potter (what will be the next big series?) It'd be wonderful for 12K to be even half as big as that, but this volume was a rough read for technicalities. In particular we went over the fact -rin denotes a female Kirin & -ki a male, yet Hourin is described as a male (wouldn't it be Houki?). And there were the typos here & there that one had to gloss over to get the story going.
However, I was looking for a scene that brought Yoko into the fight. I spent half an hour seeing if I'd missed it somehow before deciding the author, for whatever reason, didn't include a scene that tipped Yoko from investigating the rebels to fighting with them. (My fear was TP left it out & might correct it in future volumes which would mean I'd have to purchase it again) |
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Kalessin
 Posts: 931 |
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I don't know whether it's really a light novel or not per the Japanese definition, but this is two books put together, so it's double the length that one of these books is normally, and as an avid reader of American/English fantasy and sci-fi and the like, I'd have to say that 600 pages is on the short side anyway (especially given the sparsity of the text on a page of these books). No, this is not the shortest read ever, but it's a far easier read than most books that I've read, and I'd say that its target age range is more in line with youth/light novels than you typically get with full-on novels - especially fantasy novels. But it may still be a bit much to read if you pretty much never read. Last edited by Kalessin on Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18458 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Yeah, I totally forgot to mention that one, although I do remember scratching my head over it when I first read it. Another discrepancy I didn't think to mention is that the anime portrays Shousou, the King (er, Queen) of Kyou as a 12-year-old but this book says she's more around 20. Information I've seen elsewhere on the Web suggests that the former is actually correct. (The next novel is about her, BTW.)
Actually, someone in a different thread claimed that he had seen that missing chapter in a fan-translated copy of the book he found online, which would suggest that TP did, indeed, omit it on accident. Can anyone confirm or deny that claim? EDIT: I have been provided with this link to an amateur translation of the book which does include the missing chapter. (Reading the style of this translation makes me appreciate the quality transliteration job TP has been doing with this series, BTW.) It seems to confirm that this is a major slip-up either on the part of TP or on the part of the original Japanese publisher for not providing the full text to TP. |
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Veers
Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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Huh, that is interesting. I have looked at that fan translation before, but I never read this far into it. That's some pretty major fail if they left out an entire chapter.
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nursemcquade
 Posts: 26 Location: NY |
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If you're looking for the story on what happened to Taiki after his disappearance you need to read the unoffical-ish first novel of the series. Masho no Ko (Demon Child) was Ono's first novel of the series although not officially noted as such that discusses Taiki's life after his return to Japan. It has not, and probably will not, be licensed abroad but if you're interested here is a link to an amateur translation http://tu-shu-guan.blogspot.com/2006/08/demon-child-prefacing-poem.html.
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penty
Posts: 5 |
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Has TP made any statements about when the next book is due?
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Megiddo
Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Most likely in a year like all the books so far.
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