Customer Reviews

The Twelve Kingdoms, Volume 2: Sea of Wind

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As many fans of the Twelve Kingdoms universe, I fell in love with the anime adaptation. Now that TokyoPop is publishing the novels, I wait excitedly for the next novel to come out. This story, in particular, has always been my favorite, and the novel did not disappoint at all.

This year, we get Volume 2: Sea of Wind which centers around Taiki, the kirin of the country of Tai. This novel tells the story of Taiki's return from Japan. The novel begins with the birth of Sansi, his guardian. Through a heartbreaking chain of events, Sansi loses the unborn Taiki to the other world in a terrible storm. For 10 years he is gone, and no one can find him. Finally, Enki, En's Kirin, locates Taiki in Japan. The kirin of Ren uses her treasure to bring Taiki back. From there, Taiki must learn about his true home and his true self in order to fulfill his destiny of choosing the next King of Tai. For a child of only 10 years old, this is a lot to handle!

Much like Volume 1: Sea of Shadow, the main character knows very little about the world of the Twelve Kingdoms and has to learn about the world suddenly. Instead of seeing the perspective of Yoko, a future ruler, we get the perspective of Taiki, the kirin. Taiki, unlike Yoko, is much more accepting of the Twelve Kingdoms. While she questions what kind of world it is, he accepts the world as it is and feels more at home there. As a child, though, he seldom understands everything as the adults do, and struggles to make sense of it all. He particularly struggles with his own role and destiny.

The writing is once again very lovely. Unlike the anime adaptation where the writers had to try very hard to tie Taiki's story with Yoko's, in the novel the characters' thoughts and actions make much more sense as a standalone tale. Through reading the story and making the emotional journey with the characters the world becomes more vivid and real.

The translation seems good and true to the story. Sometimes it seems like the translators do not have faith in the readers' abilities to comprehend certain terms/ideas. Instead, the translators overcompensate by using more rigidly defined words that kind of miss the mark. For example, the translation of Sansi as a "lamia" (a female vampire). I cringed every time I read the "lamia" in the pages. It has never seemed before that Ms. Ono was going for the monsterish angle with the kirins' mother-like guardians (nyokai). I thought this redefinition of terms was also a problem in the Sea of Shadow. Most readers will not care how true to the little details the translators were, and such things should not be an issue.

I cannot say how appealing this novel would be to those who haven't already fallen in love with Ms. Ono's world through the anime adaptation, but for those who have, the novel does not disappoint.

I became a huge fan of Twelve Kingdoms through the anime first. When I discovered that Tokyopop was translating the novels, I was elated because the anime covered less than half of the storyline from the novels. My only regret about this book is that I had to wait a year for it to be released since the release of the first novel.

Sea of Wind follows Taiki's story which was the second arc of the anime. The anime followed it very very closely with only minor changes and omissions. While the novel does not require the reader to have seen the anime, I think seeing the anime should encourage the viewer to get a more indepth look at the Twelve Kingdoms universe and read the novels.

What you do get in this novel is a better understanding of Taiki's thoughts as well as what makes him a unique kirin. Also, you get the perspective of other characters such as Sansi. Also the system and ways of the world of the twelve kingdoms are even further fleshed out. Taiki's time with Keiki is also further explored. The only people you will miss in this version of Taiki's story are Yoko and Kenro Shinkun, who really only served as bystanders in the anime anyhow.

The novel is quite vividly written and I daresay flows better than the first novel. Twelve Kingdoms is a great series to read for people interested in politics, fantasy, and just really good characterization. I cannot recommend it enough.

This is the second volume of the Twelve Kingdoms novel and a lot more action is going on than in the first book. I whole-heartedly agree with the Publisher's Weekly quote on the back of the book : "For those who enjoy getting lost in multi-layered adventures, this epic offers dense and challenging escapism." The summary on the back of the book gives you the gist of the story: "the second volume in this seven-volume fantasy epic, explores what it means to truly know yourself in the face of a destiny outside of your control."

To start off, I highly recommend watching the anime (Japanese animation) first. Perhaps that's because I watched the anime first myself, but I feel that it gives a better understanding of the background of the story. I think that because I believe that all the unique terms the author uses in this book can become quite confusing and/or frustrating, and being familiar with the anime already makes it easier to follow the book.

For those who haven't watched the anime, this is about a boy who has a dishearterning home life, where he can't do anything right. His grandmother criticizes him constantly, his brother uses him to blame things on, his mother is always crying after defending him from grandma, and his dad always shows disappointment in him. One day, out of the blue, he gets whisked away to another world, where things are totally different. He is revered and loved, but trusted with amazing responsibilities. He slowly learns that he needs to trust his instincts and not worry so much about disappointing others. There is a lot of fantasy incorporated into this book, and it's just fascinating to read about the different rituals, traditions, beliefs, animals - just a completely different reality - that the boy comes across. The author has a background in Buddhist studies, by the way. I found myself very absorbed in this book while reading it. People would talk to me while I was reading and I wouldn't hear them! I think that's the sign of a good book, don't you?

For those who have watched the anime, this book goes into much detail about how Taiki is lost and found by Sansi and his life after he returns to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. It also goes into greater detail about how he chose his king, which I definitely appreciated, as it was cut short in the anime and I was confused as to what was really going on. This cleared it up for me. The only problem is that the story stops very soon after the new king of Tai ascends to the throne. I can't wait to read more! And this volume was much shorter than the first. It was disappointing to finish it so quickly.

First, let me say that I've read books 1 and 2 of this series and enjoyed them. This book, Vol 2 -- Sea of Wind, has a slower pace and almost sunny feel compared to the first book, Sea of Shadow. It's essentially a world-building book; through the medium of Taiki's story, the reader learns a great deal of the mechanics of the Twelve Kingdoms, such as the functional immortality of important people, the origins of kingship, the function of Kirins, why palaces are on incredibly high mountains, etc.

Taiki himself is an unlikely hero. How many stories can you think of that feature the heroism of a nine-year-old boy who can't fight, gets sick at the sight of blood, and can't make up his mind? This goes along with the heroine of Sea of Shadows, who learns to be very, very different from the "good" Japanese schoolgirl she tried to be in the past. I enjoy the subversion of stereotypes that both these heros embody.

However.

There is a huge logic hole revealed right at the end of the story. The plot revolves around Taiki's selection of the next king of Tai. I won't spoil the story, but at the very end something is revealed that makes the whole king-choosing process as portrayed throughout three-forths of the book totally unnecessary. This grieved me, because the world-building and characterizations are very well done, and it seems a shame to not have addressed this issue in the plot. For this reason, I can only give the book four stars.

This is a great book if you've been watching the anime. The book is much more in depth and finishes up a lot of loose ends in the anime. If you liked the anime, you'll love the book.

O produto é ótimo. A entrega foi feita antes do prazo previsto. Mas atenção: as pãginas do livro são de papel simples, parecem de HQ. A capa dura não é plstificada, é rústica mas muito bonita, vermelha com detalhes em baixo relevo. E possui uma "capa" externa de papel plastificado colorido com a imagem azul que aparece na foto do produto.

Being a fan of the anime also called the twelve kingdoms I wanted to know more about this world. I have found the first two books to be a great read. Sea of the Wind follows Taiki, the black kirin. This book is close to the anime. Or should I say that the anime has closely followed the book in this volume. This book has deepend my understanding of what occured at this point in the story. If your a fan of the twelve kingdoms, or in ulternate worlds with fantasy origins than this book is for you.

After waiting for a year, finally I have this novel.
Such a cute story. It is much more relax than the first book about our empress of Kei, Youko. May be it is because of the innocent of Taiki.
The translation are really good, but I do not like the translation for some specific terms of Twelve kingdoms cause they do not give the original meaning.
There are few funny scenes that its anime cannot make it look funny, and of course, the novel is different to its anime. However, this difference does not make it bad at all. We do not need to have Youka telling us Taiki's feeling, we still can understand them very clearly through the story.
For 12 kingdoms fan, it is a must.

While I may be older than the target audience for this series, I honestly enjoyed the book just as I did the first. A quick, entertaining and engaging read. If you like anime, if you like fantasy worlds, then this series of novels from Fuyumi Ono could probably be for you.