Collection
Description
High fantasy and true love come to life in this novel based on the hit video game. Reads L to R (Western Style), for audience A. When a boy named Ico grows long curved horns overnight, his fate has been sealed-he is to be sacrificed in the Castle in the Mist. But in the castle, Ico meets a young girl named Yorda imprisoned in its halls. Alone they will die, but together Ico and Yorda might just be able to defy their destinies and escape the magic of the castle. Based on the video game filmmaker Guillemo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth) called a "masterpiece", Japan's leading fantasist Miyuki Miyabe has crafted a tale of magic, loss, and love that will never be forgotten.
Publication
Haikasoru (2011), Edition: 01, 400 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member LibraryGirl11
A horned boy faces his destiny as the Sacrifice to the Castle in the Mist, but finds that not everything is as it seems when he frees a girl imprisoned in an iron cage inside the castle. A little slow at times, but the translation from the original Japanese is excellent and it's only really obvious
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in the last 50 pages or so that this story is a novelization of a video game. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kuroonehalf
Coming from the perspective of someone who loved Ueda's games, I was very eager to read this and find out what Miyuki Miyabe might've done with the universe and the story.
Right off the bat, there's a few interesting new pieces of content here that were not in the game, and that Miyabe uses to flesh
Some of it actually works - Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is a long flashback where you follow a younger Yorda as she learns of her mother's secrets and attempts to stop her. Unfortunately, most else is fairly uninteresting and unengaging. I found myself intensely bored throughout most of this, forcing myself to read on, even during the last dozen pages of the book.
In the end, I don't really recommend this, whether you're interested in it because you played the game and desire more content, or because you just randomly bumped into it. It's not very engaging on its own and it doesn't provide enough new or refined enough content for people who already know the basic plot.
Right off the bat, there's a few interesting new pieces of content here that were not in the game, and that Miyabe uses to flesh
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out the story and events of the journey inside the castle. Ico, his village and its customs are given backstories. Yorda, her mother and the castle are given backstories, and a few supporting characters created to drive the plot along.Some of it actually works - Perhaps the most interesting part of the story is a long flashback where you follow a younger Yorda as she learns of her mother's secrets and attempts to stop her. Unfortunately, most else is fairly uninteresting and unengaging. I found myself intensely bored throughout most of this, forcing myself to read on, even during the last dozen pages of the book.
In the end, I don't really recommend this, whether you're interested in it because you played the game and desire more content, or because you just randomly bumped into it. It's not very engaging on its own and it doesn't provide enough new or refined enough content for people who already know the basic plot.
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LibraryThing member snorer2
As a video game fan I am always intrigued when video game novelisations are released, as there are very few of them, and even fewer that are any good. It is difficult to capture the spirit of a video game in written form, and Ico is perhaps the most ambitious video game to novelise due to it's lack
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of story and abstract style. I have played the video game and can't say I was particularly enthralled by it, however I was interested to see how somebody could make a game with virtually no dialogue into a 250-page novel. I liked the authors style of writing, and thought that the translation was excellent, though sometimes a little disjointed in places. I was confused by the novel as a whole, as sometimes the author spent a long time describing exact elements of gameplay (climbing ladders, pulling levers etc) to veering into the realms of a full novel and painting an entirely fictional backstory. I found the backstory elements far more exciting than the gameplay description, namely because the author uses her imagination to paint up the gaps in the story of the video game. Suddenly things seemed to make a lot more sense. However, on the whole I felt like there was something missing in the story. I also found the structure extremely banal - particularly towards the end with the inevitable battle where good triumphs over evil. An interesting adaptation, thought not sure if my knowledge of the original video game helped or hampered my understanding of this novelisation. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kurt.Rocourt
Great book, very engrossing.
LibraryThing member cendri
This is a wonderful companion to a wonderful game. I was pleased to see that some of Yorda's backstory was in this! I'd always wanted to hear her POV in the game, so to see it in the novel was lovely.
Some people may be put off by the format, but I thought it was meandering and dreamy, much like the
This hit my heart in the right place, like the game, what a wonderful novelization.
Some people may be put off by the format, but I thought it was meandering and dreamy, much like the
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game itself, so it really worked well. Plus it was originally serialized. This hit my heart in the right place, like the game, what a wonderful novelization.
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LibraryThing member fred_mouse
Novelisation of the computer game of the same name. Very pretty story, lush language and detailed set pieces. Pacing is a bit wonky, probably reflecting said origins as a computer game. Some fascinating world-building, but no idea how true it might be to the original game.
Language
Original language
Japanese
Original publication date
2011-08-16
Physical description
400 p.; 5.25 inches
ISBN
1421540630 / 9781421540634