I finished reading Brave Story last night and felt sad that such an epic story was finished. The book beings with such an ordinary, almost boring start, and then blooms into some fantastic rich story that I felt like I was reading two separate books.

Brave Story features Wataru, a Japanese school boy, who wants to make changes to his life thanks to some unsettling things that happens to his family. He goes to the fantasy world of Vision where he takes on the adventure of meeting the Goddess of Vision to ask her to grant his wish about changing his life.

I was unsure if I would like the book when I was reading the first 200 pages because it started so slowly. But once I got into reading the parts about Vision, I was hooked. The fantasy world was so rich and so full of detailed characters that I really cared what happened in it. It also helps that there are a lot of similarities between the story and some popular RPGs.

But even if you’re not a fan of video games, the book can be enjoyed as a coming of age novel that’s not too cheesy or cynical. The ending was endearing without being corny.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.