The second Popfiction novel by TokyoPop gets reviewed today. Come back Thursday and Friday for the reviews of the other two.
General Information
Title: Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny (Book One of Thirteen)
Author: Ichiro Sakaki
Original Publication Date: The English language edition premiers this month.
ISBN: 1595329846
Cover Price: $7.99 US, $10.49 Can
Buy from: Amazon.com or Amazon.ca
Premise
In a twist on the story of Oedipus, the King orders the death of his baby girl, as she is destined to destroy the world at age 16. She was not killed however, and people are start to realize this, and attempt to correct it, while she is still 15.
High Point
The scene that introduces Sinner’s daughter. This makes it absolutely clear that this is not kiddie fare, but is well targeted at a teen market.
Low Point
How quickly the legend is accepted.
The Scores
As stated above, the originality isn’t that impressive. There’s a twist of moral ambiguity on the old Oedipus legend, but it’s still the old legend. I give it 3 out of 6.
The imagery is clear, and always relevant to the story. I give it 5 out of 6.
The story comes across a bit better knowing that it’s part one of 13, since this is clearly just getting started. It serves its purpose, but it’s clearly only one part of a larger tale. I give it 4 out of 6.
The characterization is primarily done through setting up standard archetypes so far, but there’s plenty of time to change that. The princess herself demonstrates some depth already, and I suspect other main characters will get that treatment before the series is done. I give it 4 out of 6.
The emotional response is good. This book is a lot of fun, and is quite entertaining. I give it 5 out of 6.
The editing is pretty good, particularly for an uncorrected proof. Some of the logistics of the magic could be less expository, but that may taper off as the same spells are reused in the series. I give it 4 out of 6.
Overall, it’s a strong title, and well worth looking at if you’re a teen, or just want to feel like one. I give it 5 out of 6.
In total, Scrapped Princess: A Tale of Destiny receives 30 out of 42.
Overall?
You missed your "Overall" score. It looks like it got counted in the total, though…
Re: Overall?
Thanks for pointing that out. One of the comment tags line wrapped and commented out the entire paragraph.
Book One of Thirteen?!?
Now that I got my library to purchase this one, am I going to have to request the other twelve? Holy cow!
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My Thoughts
Now that I’ve read the book, I didn’t particularly like it. Here’s why:
1) The translation was not that good. The literal translation was off a bit, mainly in the use of words or phrases that were technically correct but not something that would be used by a native English speaker. Also, the cultural translation struck me as being odd. They took an Asian culture and converted it to a Western culture, using Western titles. It didn’t work that well.
2) The book was way too short. Nothing really happened, even though it spanned nearly 200 pages. If they reduced the (overly large) line spacing and doubled the number of pages, they could probably fit the whole series into a trilogy.
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