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| Dragon Sword and Wind Child | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 34 reviews)
Sales Rank: 354235
Category: Book
Author: Noriko Ogiwara
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Studio: VIZ Media LLC
Manufacturer: VIZ Media LLC
Label: VIZ Media LLC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 300
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 1421515016
EAN: 9781421515014
ASIN: 1421515016
Publication Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the land of Toyoashihara, the forces of the God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness have waged war for generations. But for 15-year old Saya, the war is far away and unimportant--until the day she discovers she is the reincarnation of the Water Maiden and a princess of the Children of the Dark. Raised to love the Light and detest the Dark, Saya must come to terms with her heritage even as she is tumbled into the very heart of the conflict that is destroying her country. Both the army of the Light and Dark seek to claim her, for she is the only mortal who can awaken the legendary Dragon Sword, the weapon destined to end the war. Can Saya make the dreadful choice between the Light and Dark, or is she doomed like all the Water Maidens who have come before her?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
Stunning and beautiful, among my favorites. January 2, 2009
If I were to choose one thing I liked best about this book, I would probably choose the way that Ogiwara takes a bucket of fantasy tropes (magical swords, Chosen One types, Light and Darkness, etc.) and dumps it upside down. At first glance it seems like a rather cliche story, but read it and you will discover something strikingly original and beautiful.
Or I might choose the fact that this book struck me in the same way Ratha's Creature did. Original, interesting, a roller coaster of action without a visible path. I read something and thought "Oh! This will happen!" Of course, "this" did /not/ happen. Which was amazing.
The book starts out a bit slow, and the dialogue seems a bit forced. But once the plot picks up, everything else soars up into an amazingly colorful, intricate pattern that isn't really a pattern at all. The writing--not just the translator's writing--is vivid, filled with strong imagery and emotion, and the characters are all very strong and unique. I truly enjoyed this book and hope that the sequels are published, and soon.
 Magic lost in translation? December 26, 2008
This book has some awesome and brilliant moments, classic moments of heroism and romance but I felt that the flow of the book was disturbed by its translation into english. I sensed the greatness but the prose did not convey it.
It's worth a read nonetheless just don't expect to enjoy a reread. Once you're done, you will probably put it down and relive the great moments in your head rather than in the prose itself. This book makes me wish I could read japanese.
Dragon Sword Wind Child August 6, 2008
This has been my favorite book since I first read it in the seventh grade. I couldn't find it until recently when Viz republished it. I love this book more now than I did then. It is a great story for any age. Thirteen or twenty.
 Weak narration and characters ruin a promising concept July 14, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the land of Toyoashihara, the forces of the God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness have been at war for generations. Saya, a fifteen-year-old girl who worships the God of Light, is suddenly pulled into the conflict when she discovers that she is the reincarnation of the Water Maiden, the priestess of the people of Darkness. Saya must come to terms with her heritage and choose which side of the war she will support, for she is the priestess of the Dragon Sword, a terrible weapon that can destroy the gods themselves. Can Saya choose between the Light, which she has been raised to love, and the Darkness, which is her true family, or is she doomed to kill herself like every Water Maiden before her?
Dragon Sword and Wind Child has all the makings of epic fantasy: an exciting battle between Light and Darkness, a Chosen One, a fantastic land, and a young protagonist who is pulled straight into the center of the conflict and barely knows what she's getting in to. The problem is that after a wonderful opening hook, the story just limps along for about fifty pages. After lollygagging along, the author suddenly throws in cross-dressing, possible incest, and an extremely exciting scene that gets the reader interested again. So now the reader is saying, "Ooh, ooh, what's going to happen next?" and devouring the following sections...in which a great deal of nothing happens. Even the battle scenes are un-epic. They end in the middle or are omitted altogether in favor of overly flowery descriptions of the surrounding landscape (although the translator may be partially at fault, since Dragon Sword and Wind Child is a Viz publication and they aren't known for their stunningly faithful translations). Even the ending is a letdown because a. I saw it coming about 50 pages in and b. the author suddenly decides that the story isn't strange enough so she throws in time-traveling. Um...what?
I don't know how the translation is, since I haven't read the book in Japanese (and have no intention of doing so, since I didn't enjoy it in English). However, I can tell you that someone decided it would be cool if they didn't translate all the words...and didn't put the non-translated ones in the glossary. Thus, if you don't speak Japanese and are wondering what "sakaki branches" are, you're basically doomed. (For the record, "sakaki" is a type of evergreen.)
The characters are bland and fairly cliched. For example, there's a couple of characters who you can tell from the moment they're introduced are going to bite it and ninety pages later...oh, surprise! They're dead! Saya is not only fairly dull, she's also blindingly Mary Sue. She has not just one guy fall in love with her, but three, two of which are immortal and oh-so-hot. (The author spends a great deal of time describing just how hot they are, so the reader doesn't assume that non-hot guys are falling in love with Saya.) What are the chances? She's also stunningly beautiful and completely useless. Princess Teruhi and Prince Tsukishiro, the immortal leaders of the army of Light, could have been interesting characters if Ms. Ogiwara had concentrated more on developing their personalities and less on describing their clothes and how smashingly beautiful they are. As is, Teruhi just seems petty and jealous of Saya's incredible beauty (which is apparently even greater than her own), while Tsukishiro is there simply to go gaga over Saya and look pretty.
The narration is extremely uneven, often spending two or three pages describing a building, field, or forest. That's great for the first couple of chapters, but when the battle scenes arrive, the author seems more concerned with describing the landscapes and Saya's clothes than the actual battle. When she finally does realize that she needs to write a battle scene, she just stops it in the middle and everything goes back to normal even though a whole bunch of people were just slaughtered.
While it has a promising premise, the story never delivers. However, it was Ms. Ogiwara's first book, so there is a chance that the later ones are better. That said, I was fairly disappointed and wouldn't recommend the book to anyone except fans of Japanese popular literature who have nothing better to read.
A Favorite Finally Goes Back Into Print (fewer spoilers) January 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Dragon Sword and Wind Child is one of my favorite novels. What's to like? Saya is a village girl in Toyoashihara (sort of a mystical/magical Japan), a land split by the war between the Gods that created the land: The God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness (and Death). Saya has been raised to love the Light and is shocked when strange people start proclaiming that she is one of the Goddess of Darkness's people, reborn again and again to wage her battle against the children of the Light. This revelation is complicated when Prince Tsukishiro, one half of the children of the Light, comes to Saya's village, trying to woo her to the side of the Light by enlisting her as a handmaiden in his palace.
You've heard this story before, right? Honestly, I normally hate this sort of plot set up and the reluctant heroine type. However, Saya is unique to me because her reactions are understandable and even relatable; you see how she subtlely changes and how she makes her decisions and her mental conflicts. As for the plot? Not all is as it seems. Once Saya comes to the palace, she doesn't particularly fit in the whole court atmosphere and furthermore warrior Princess Teruhi is determined to catch Saya collaborating with the Darkness. Prince Tsukishiro isn't much of a help, as it seems this situation has all been played out before in Saya's previous lives (that she has no memory of), and he's still in love with Saya's last incarnation, who killed herself in the palace pond. And the Palace of Light has many sinister secrets... (The novel continues for much longer, not only through Saya's revelations, her final choice in alliances, but also to the final conclusion to the war that has engulfed the land for as long as it as existed.)
Another interesting part of this book is that it's not your usual elves, fairies, etc. Noriko Ogiwara, influenced by Western writers, used Japanese mythology to create this world. The implications of this are just obvious by the summary of the book above. This isn't Good vs. Evil, Dark v. Light of your normal fantasy epic. The issues the characters have to deal with in this book are immortality, mortality, reincarnation along with loyalty and empathy. Are we cursed to repeat the same mistakes over and over through our lifetimes? Does immortality create an lack of empathy? What is sacrificed during war, what is gained, and is it worth it?
I had worn out checking out the library copy all the time, so I was thrilled this classic finally has gone back into print. The deft translation by Cathy Hirano is still intact, except that mentions to Saya's stone has been changed to "magatama". I somewhat miss the old cover, but some interesting drawings have been added to the chapter title pages. I have heard that there are two more books in the series (about what I don't know, as the book pretty much covers all the bases and closes all plotlines), and I'm hoping the other two will finally be translated for English audiences. And I lied earlier. This is pretty much my favorite book (Tied with Dark Lord of Derkhom by Diana Wynne Jones). And I cry and laugh every time I read it.
SPOILERS
The insertion of Chihaya completely changes the landscape of the book. And amazingly, it doesn't feel random and unwarranted. Like Chihaya's the other main character, he's just been missing. The romance parts of the book are perhaps its weakest point, but understandable, and really do drive the plot.
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