Brave Story by Miyuki Miyabe

Summary

Wataru suddenly finds his world broken apart when his father leaves his mother for another woman. But after a series of mysterious happenings at an abandoned construction site in the neighborhood, Wataru discovers that he can enter a fantasy world called Vision. In this world full of both friendly creatures and evil doings, Wataru must collect 5 gemstones in order to change his fate in the real world. If he collects the 5 gemstones, he can make one wish to the Goddess, and Wataru wants to wish for his family to be put back together. But the journey Wataru goes on will be long and difficult and may lead him to discover things about himself that he didn't know.

This book is an amazing work of translation (originally in Japanese), and it won the Batchelder award which recognizes translations in children's literature.

Review

Liked this book but it was sooooooo long. It didn't fly by like a chunky Harry Potter book. I've passed my copy on to one of my favorite students from this past year, and I found myself wondering today if she's started it yet.

I really liked the clarity and beauty of the author's descriptions. You really feel like you traveled to the world of Vision by the end of the book. There were some amazing similes that I want to go back and find and write down somewhere.

Wataru was an incredibly likable character. Lots of great supporting characters. The ending was satisfying. Some people say they thought the beginning 200 pages were slow, but I flew through that part of the book and really liked it.

My brother is reading this book right now too, and really likes it. The book has lots of similarities to a fantasy video game plot, and anyone familiar with video game storytelling would probably really enjoy this book. And my brother isn't complaining about the book being so long, so maybe he's more engrossed by the fantasy. Maybe Tolkein lovers would enjoy this one?