Customer Reviews

The Vast Spread of the Seas (The Twelve Kingdoms)

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I've been a fan of the Twelve Kingdoms series since I watched the anime years ago. The anime was adapted from the novels, which many thought would never be translated, but here they are! The first two novels were brilliant and the third one is as well. This novel coincides with the final arc of the anime - a backstory on Shoryu handling a rebellion within his own country.

A lot of the novel follows Enki - his doubts in Shoryu, doubts in kings in general, and his desire to see no bloodshed. Shoryu also gets to shine. We see him in his 20th year as emperor. No one at court takes him seriously. The country is prospering; but Shoryu's fired many officials, kept some incompetent officials in high positions, and promoted officials who openly call him an idiot king. No one is sure what he's thinking, and even fewer know where he's at for the majority of every month. (Hint, it's not in his palace.)

Shoryu is really fleshed out as a character. You sympathize with Koya. You really want to see Enki just escape all the blood that seems to stalk him all novel. It's a great story. The world of Twelve Kingdoms is so beautifully constructed.

A special addition that you get from the novel that was excluded in the anime, the three ministers that Shoryu keeps within his inner circle are given way more "screen time". They are a hilarious trio. You can easily visualize Itan boiling over every time Shoryu escapes responsibility.

The book is pretty good- it's really, really, similar to the anime. I guess when they made the show they took things literally from the novels. I enjoyed this one because I've always liked Shoryu and Rokuta and the book allowed some insight into their minds and feelings. This one sort of delves into the system of the kings being chosen and gives a different perspective, like from the dissenters and lets you see how the common people of the kingdoms live.

It may not appeal to other people, but if your a fan, it's definitely worth having (and reading).

This is one of three (so far) translations of "light novels" (a Japanese genre) by Fuyumi Ono. I came in contact with this series when I watched the anime series, which is just wonderful. So when I heard that Ms. Ono's books were being translated into English, I got the ones I could right away, loved them, and waited for this most recent issue. I liked the story just as much as the others. These books are fantasy, but also about the nature of being human and about what it means to live a meaningful life. I really enjoyed reading them and look forward to more.