Review: Brave Story, by Miyuki Miyabe

At eight hundred and twenty four pages, Brave Story is the longest book I have read in some time. Although it is in the children's section at the library, it is not really a children's book; at most, it would be appropriate for YA readers, but it's subject and content are really more for adults.

The story follows Wataru, a young Japanese boy, whose father has turned his back on his family in favor of another woman. In an effort to save his family, and his suicidal mother, Wataru follows a classmate, Matsuru, through a portal into another world, called Vision, in hopes of completing a journey that will lead him to the Goddess of Vision, who can grant him his one true wish. On his travels, he joins up with two companions, Kee Keema and Meena, who help him in his quest to find the gems that belong in the base of his sword and beat the increasingly-evil Matsuru to the Goddess.

It turns out that Vision is actually created by the imaginations of people in the real world, and as such is a reflection of the real-world travellers that go through the portal. Each human traveller faces obstacles and situations that are a direct result of his own inner prejudices, loves, and fears. While overcoming these trials, Wataru becomes increasingly aware of what his true nature, and thus true desire, is. The ending is both satisfying and appropriate.

While I found the first few hundred pages of this book not too terribly difficult to walk away from, the deeper I got into the story the more I wanted to read, until by the end I was up until well after midnight so I could finish. It reminds me very much of Stephen King's Gunslinger, mixed with a smidge of Norton Juster's Phantom Tollbooth (which is one of the best books I have ever read, BTW, really, you should read it if you haven't) in that I feel as though I have more to think about now that I've finished it than I did when I started.

Rating: four out of five stars. engaging, creative, and thought-prevoking