To start off, I am not the target age demographic of this book for disclosure sake.

That out of the way, I really enjoyed this book. The book is set in a vague fantasy Asia setting. There is enough world building to that you feel like you could walk around believe it was real but not mired in a millenia spanning back catalogue of history. The main characters felt like real people, with humor, personal goals, internal obstacles to what they want to achieve and believable dialogue. It is packed full of action, humor, adventure and life lessons. You don't need to be a middle schooler to get an enjoyable afternoon out of this book. ( )

This book just feels effortless - effortless to read, effortlessly constructed. The swapped gender roles - a young boy who is rescued by a 30 year old woman warrior, a woman in her 70s who goes by a title of "Master" - are satisfying, and the prominence of elderly characters in the book is refreshing. There is also frank and thought provoking display of class issues and the displacement of indigenous people. But I didn't think about any of that while I was reading, because this world was so easy to live in that every part of it seemed like it could be no other way. Uehashi's narrative style introduces us to the inner lives of all the main characters, skipping around between them. Even the initial enemies of Balsa (the Hunters) are portrayed fairly.

I look forward to reading the sequel(s). ( )

Not a huge fan. It was okay, but felt very much like a novelization of a manga (apparently in reality it went the other way). I was hoping for something more evocative of a time and place (to keep with the Asian theme, say, like Bridge of Birds and apologies for lumping all Asia in the same hypothetical pot), but it pretty much read like any other swashbuckling quest-like fantasy. The characters were not particularly interesting, the plot was somewhat repetitive and tortured, the mythology almost constantly discussed and yet never really explained ... disappointing.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )

Having seen and greatly enjoyed the Anime, I was delighted to find the book at a Library Book Sale. Often animes are taken from manga but this one was taken from a book – and faithfully rendered into film. The book brings alive in the mind this fantastic story. With a deft hand, the author gives us the world of real and spirit clashing and the people in our world that must fight to protect it.
While the language and vocabulary are of no particular difficulty, the subject is not simple. The author touches on the how different cultures mix, and in particular, who writes history – and why it might not always be true. This would be an excellent story to start a discussion with elementary age kids about critical analysis of historical reporting. Can you always believe the history books? How do you know what is and isn’t true? Why do people lie about history? It isn’t told in a heavy-handed moral sort of way either, but simply a presentation of the story that would lead to good thoughts and good discussion. This is also an excellent book about another culture from a non-western author. If you are looking to get kids reading non-western authors, this must be on your list! Happy Reading! ( )

The last time I read and reviewed this book was back in 2010, when my posts included spoiler-filled synopses that were as long or longer than the reviews themselves. I figured that a new review was in order, especially since my opinion of this book has improved.

After Balsa, a female bodyguard, rescues young Prince Chagum from drowning, she finds herself being roped into being his protector. Chagum is believed to be possessed by the same creature that once caused a terrible drought. It's thought that the drought will be averted if Chagum is killed, so the Mikado himself has ordered several assassination attempts against him. Chagum's mother, the Second Queen, enlists Balsa's help to save him.

While Balsa attempts to hide Chagum and keep him safe from his pursuers, she also seeks out several friends in the hope of figuring out what's going on so that she can somehow both save Chagum's life and prevent the drought.

The first time I read this book was, I think, too soon after having seen the anime. They're both good, but the time I spent noting similarities and differences to the anime made it hard to judge the book on its own merits (yes, I know the book came first, but my first exposure to the story was the anime).

Balsa makes me wish more than the first two books in this series had been translated into English. She's a great character - an experienced and talented warrior with an intriguing past. In general, the book had some nice gender role reversal, with its female stoic warrior character and male healer interested in the spirit world. There was a hint of potential romance between Balsa and Tanda, the healer, but it was handled in a very low-drama way. Tanda was a little frustrated at Balsa's lack of desire to settle down, but it never got to the point of wrecking their friendship.

The "found family" aspect involving Balsa, Tanda, and Chagum was nice. I enjoyed that restful period of the story before everybody had to worry about Chagum's safety again, and it was nice to see Chagum becoming more comfortable and confident in his life as a commoner.

One of the things I really liked about this book was the way the setting and its history mattered. This was very much a story about how knowledge is lost or changed over time. Near the beginning of the book, readers get the history of how New Yogo was founded, but it's entirely from the perspective of the Yogoese, who are currently the area's dominant ethnic group. Later on, readers get more sides of the story - the secret history that only the Star Readers know (which is, again, Yogoese history) and Yakoo stories.

The Yakoo were the people who originally lived in the area where New Yogo was founded. (Supposedly they fled out of fear when the Yogoese peacefully tried to contact them, and I think the Yakoo side of the story agreed with this or at least didn't refute it, but I don't buy it.) They'd lost much of their culture and traditions, and what was left was sometimes mixed with Yogoese culture to an uncertain degree. It gave me shivers to think how close everyone came to not having the knowledge they needed during the chase at the end of the book.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed rereading this. I haven't read the next book in the series yet, but I'm now looking forward to it even more.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )