anthy reviewed on 9/27/2009 + 25 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This is a really amazing collection of short stories; would recommend to anyone with a philosophical bent. I really wish the rest of the series hadn't been caught up in licensing limbo, since I would buy more in a heartbeat. Wiki says there are 12 books total - so many more stories that I'd like to read. :-(

To reply to Katie's review: this is the original. The "Kino's Journey" anime was based on the light novels. I love both, myself. The anime is a good, relatively close adaptation and is one of my favorite anime series of all time.

If you've seen the anime series: the first light novel covers about half of the anime episodes (same stories). Stories are in a different order - I think the first story in this volume is episode 4 of the anime (i.e., Kino's past).

It's been a while since I've read/seen either, but I believe that the novel has many more details, fills in a few gaps, and gives you more info on Kino's thoughts and feelings. So it is definitely worth reading if you're a fan of the anime, even though the plot is pretty much the same. (I especially remember there being more to the story about Kino's past, and to the Coliseum story.)

If you've read this book but have not seen the anime series, I highly recommend it; the atmosphere is amazing, and it covers stories that were not published in this first novel. Plus, it's just cool to see the stories brought to life. It's also pretty cheap, nowadays.

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