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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Interesting, but not spectacular. It's hard to tell how much may have been lost in translation. However, I might look for sequels the next time I go to the library, just to see how it develops.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was such a great little fantasy story, with the perfect balance of folkloric mythology and compelling characters.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Me gustó un montón este libro, y creo que más gente debería conocerlo. Me encantaron los personajes, la historia está bien buena, y sobre todo me encantó la relación que tiene Balsa (la protagonista) con Chagum (el príncipe de 10 años al que debe proteger). Me encanta como los dos crecen en su viaje, y que en menos de 300 páginas crearan una historia y una cultura muy interesante.
I've been finding this shelved as YA, but to me it had that classic children's adventure feel, reminiscent of Lloyd Alexander in the blend of history and fantasy and adventure. Although the action mainly follows a woman bodyguard, Balsa, there's nothing here that would make the story inappropriate for middle school. There's plenty of martial arts, for those of you who are interested in those things, described in a way that makes sense to people like me. There's a strong fantasy element, mainly through the young prince who Balsa has been hired to protect - the "guardian of the spirit" - complete with a fantastically creepy many-legged creature. But what really stood out for me was the great character building - even the minor characters seem to live and breath. It looks like the next book in the series will be published in the US this year - I look forward to it, and I'm sure to recommend them to kids looking for a good new fantasy series with some meat on its bones. Also, I don't know anything about the challenges of translating from Japanese to English, but the prose is lovely and rich without overwhelming the story - I would say it well deserves its Batchelder Award for translation. And the production quality is great, too, with nice thick pages and plenty of decorations that add to the mood of the story.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. I really enjoyed the plot and the world the story was set in, but the actual writing was so difficult to get through. The language used seemed all over the place and the prose felt like something a 10 year old boy would write.
To be fair, this problem was probably because of the translation. I am sure reading it in the original Japanese would have been a lot nicer. Things would have flowed better and the characters wouldn't have sounded so weird. Also sentences that are stunted and weird in the English version probably would have been a lot more poignant and poetic in the Japanese version. This was a bad translation and I felt like scholastic could have done a better job of this.
I would probably recommend this to young boys or older boys with lower reading levels who love fighting manga. This seems right up their alleys.
To be fair, this problem was probably because of the translation. I am sure reading it in the original Japanese would have been a lot nicer. Things would have flowed better and the characters wouldn't have sounded so weird. Also sentences that are stunted and weird in the English version probably would have been a lot more poignant and poetic in the Japanese version. This was a bad translation and I felt like scholastic could have done a better job of this.
I would probably recommend this to young boys or older boys with lower reading levels who love fighting manga. This seems right up their alleys.
This was a fun, easy read with some surprising twists and turns. I expected it to be a series of narrow escapes and life on the run as Balsa tries to protect Chagum from their pursuers. Instead, the action, while well-done, isn't the highlight. The highlights of the story, for me at least, were the quiet character-building moments and the slowly unraveling mystery of the true nature of the egg inside Chagum and exactly what happened 200 years ago.