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The Legend of Zelda #7
ゼルダの伝説 4つの剣+ #2
R to L (Japanese Style) In the mystical land of Hyrule, three spiritual stones hold the key to the Triforce, and whoever holds them will control the world. A boy named Link sets out on a quest to deliver the Emerald, the spiritual stone of the forest, to Zelda, Pr
Four Swords Pt. 2The green, red and blue Links reach Death Mountain, where they challenge Shadow Link and Violet Link in battle. Then, inside the Fire Temple they learn a terrible secret about the Dark World and the evil power behind Vaati. To defeat this great enemy, the different colored Links must find a way to become one again in order to harness the power of the Four Sword! The manga adapation of the legendary video game series, now available in English for the first time! Become part of the Legend – The Legend of Zelda!
176 pages, Paperback
First published October 6, 2009
31 people are currently reading
1277 people want to read
About the author
Akira Himekawa
110 books547 followersAkira Himekawa is the collaboration of two women, A. Honda and S. Nagano. Together they have created nine manga adventures featuring Link and the popular video game world of The Legend of Zelda, including Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons and Four Swords. Their most recent work, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, was serialized in Shogaku Rokunensei.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
January 5, 2019
A step above the previous and partner entry that is Four Swords - Part 1, the presentation still leans heavily into comedic and silly banter. Though now the narrative begins to take more shape. Betrayal, self-doubt, despair, and redemption all become big parts of the story.
The eyes of the individual Links begin to show which color is which in most scenes a little better and there aren't quite as many panels which are just stuffed too full of Link to do anything else.
There are a couple lackluster transitions in which plot progression was made in leaps and bounds without clear stepping stones to get there. Some quick and lazy with the story others just a touch underdeveloped. It veers into an almost surreal battle against Vaati which resolves suddenly.
Overall the conclusion to the Four Swords story was better done than the introduction. It feels hasty and remains soundly in the silly zone.
The eyes of the individual Links begin to show which color is which in most scenes a little better and there aren't quite as many panels which are just stuffed too full of Link to do anything else.
There are a couple lackluster transitions in which plot progression was made in leaps and bounds without clear stepping stones to get there. Some quick and lazy with the story others just a touch underdeveloped. It veers into an almost surreal battle against Vaati which resolves suddenly.
Overall the conclusion to the Four Swords story was better done than the introduction. It feels hasty and remains soundly in the silly zone.
July 27, 2024
The best part of part 1 was splitting up our four protagonists. Part 2 has this to a lesser extent but makes up for it with higher drama. The bonus manga at the end was charming too! I wish the heroes used their unique traits and skills more while succumbing to their unique weaknesses more such as was the case in part 1. Overall, I prefer part 1 for it's grip on pacing but part 2 was similarly nostalgic.
January 29, 2024
3.5
Same as the first part, the story itself isn't amazing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Super cute and cozy.
Same as the first part, the story itself isn't amazing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Super cute and cozy.
January 19, 2025
I liked the shorts about shadow link making a blog about his fake girlfriend, and the appearance of tingle both made this an easy five star.
January 20, 2025
just wish these were longer !! i love Vio and Red sm
September 26, 2025
About two weeks ago, I went ahead and took a look at Part 1 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation, after already having read through a good chunk of these Zelda adaptations all made by the same authors, and for what it's worth, it was pretty good. I wouldn't say it was quite as enjoyable or well put-together as a good handful of the other manga adaptations that we have gotten for this franchise so far, but it still managed to stick the landing for the most part as not just an adaptation of Four Swords, but also as a manga all on its own, with a pretty good story, a pretty good set of characters paired with some solid enough writing, plenty more of that same great artwork that we have come to expect from this series, while also looking different enough compared to previous adaptations, and enough sweet action here that will please any fan of both this series and the games that they are based on. Not to mention, it was also a pretty solid start to this two-part journey, which speaking of, now that it has been two weeks, I figured it was about time that I should finally get off of my ass and....... get back on it again so that I could read Part 2 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation.
I'm gonna be real with you all, I honestly didn't have much of an idea about what I was going to get into when going into this particular chapter of this saga. Yes, I did read through Part 1 and still remembered quite a bit about it, but I didn't remember enough of the specifics to where I would have a good idea of what I was going to think of this part when deciding to read it for myself, although I did at least remember it not being quite up to par with some of the other previous manga adaptations. Of course though, that also could've been because of the fact that it was only Part 1 of a two part story, and now that I was finally getting to Part 2, I expected things to get much more crazy, adventurous, action-packed and sillier then ever before, while also managing to bring this whole tale to a close in the most "epic" and natural way that one of these Zelda manga would be able to, and thankfully, it managed to do just that. As a whole, I wouldn't say it is any better or worse then Part 1, which means that it is also on the lower level when it comes to the Zelda adaptations that we have gotten so far, but it still managed to give me pretty much all I could've asked for from an end to this story, bringing everything together in a nice set of four bows while also giving us more of what we love and appreciate from this series that does end up making it yet another very solid read from start to finish.
The story is, once again, more of what you would expect, picking up pretty much right where the last part left off while also resolving the cliffhangers that we were left on, and ending everything off in the most "epic" way one of these stories can, all of which manages to work really well here and is very fun and energetic in the traditional Zelda way, which was good to see, the characters were all still pretty good, where Link and his three color-coded buddies are still great here, not only once again taking the spotlight most of the time but also having plenty more personality and fun moments here compared to Part 1, while also having several bits of character development that improves their characters as well, but also just like with Part 1, there aren't really that many other characters that get much focus, other then Shadow Link and maaaaaaaaaybe Vaati, but that is it, which is still kinda lame, the writing is still fairly solid, giving us a lot of the heroic and prophetic dialog that you would expect which is all good to read, along with plenty of action lines too, but it also does feel a lot more "Saturday-Morning-Cartoon-y" a lot of the time too, which I'm pretty sure the first part was also like, but it was definitely more noticeable here, which I wasn't too big of a fan of, the art is still great once again, keeping up the same visual style from Part 1 while also plenty of great looking panels and designs for some of these characters and more "epic" moments, especially when more action is involved, and speaking of which, the action is also really good too, featuring plenty more incredible moments and plenty more action-packed scenes that are great to go through, even if some of them, like the writing, can also feel like it came from a Saturday morning cartoon as well.
And of course, much like with the first part, I also did have a good couple of issues with it too, to where none of them end up ruining the final product, of course, but plenty of people would probably take notice of these problems when reading this for themselves too. For starters, once again, we have an entry in this series that is pretty damn generic by Zelda standards, not doing too much out of the norm for both an adaptation or a manga on its own, with the one exception to this being with some parts involving Vio (the purple Link) and Shadow Link, but the rest of it is all pretty standard stuff, especially when compared to some of the changes made with some of the other Zelda adaptations. Sure, I was still able to enjoy the whole thing regardless of how typical and predictable it was in plenty of cases, but needless to say, if you are one who is not that big of a fan of these manga, or these kinds of stories in general, you probably wouldn't end up liking this one either. And speaking of the story, there is also one part of said story that we do get to see here, which, while being a nice twist and all, is also not executed in the best way possible. There is this one part of the manga where, after battling with the Links throughout this entire adaptation, Shadow Link has a change of heart after having a conversation with Zelda, and he ends up helping the other Links defeat Vaati in the end and to save the day, all of which is pretty nice, but the problem with it is that it feels like it comes completely out of nowhere! Throughout this entire adaptation, Shadow Link has been nothing but an evil and cocky asshole who has tried to kill the Links and cause harm to millions on multiple occasions, but now he wants to be good all of a sudden? Yeah, I know there is that conversation with Zelda he had, but come on, piss off, nobody is gonna completely change their entire purpose in life around just because of one conversation that they have with somebody that they captured earlier that week. I would've expected this manga about this boy splitting into four different people to be more realistic then this!
Overall, despite not having anything too surprising in it while also having some weird plot holes and plot moments that does somewhat bring it down, Part 2 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation is, once again, not quite as strong as some of the other adaptations that we have had so far, but still manages to be really good all on its own too, giving us a cliche, yet fitting ending to this adaptation along with all of the charm, action and epic moments that we have come to expect from both these manga and Zelda in general, which made it so that I had a pretty good time with it, what with its simple yet still fun and enjoyable story, a set of really good characters that are paired up with some really good writing from time to time, plenty of that same great art work that gets you to really love this world and its characters that much more, and plenty of sweet action scenes in-between all of that to make things more exciting, enjoyable and entertaining for those that want to see Link slash the fuck out of any big monsters that comes his way. I would recommend it for those that were big fans of Part 1 of this adaptation, as well as for those that loved the other manga adaptations for Zelda so far or the Zelda series in general, as while it may not be as satisfying, interesting or fulfilling to read as some of the other manga in this series we have gone through so far, it should still give you everything you have come to want and expect out of this series to where you can still walk away from reading it with a smile on your face, which is all I can ask for at the end of the day............... and besides, it is a hell of a lot better of a story for Four Swords then the actual Four Swords game managed to give us! Although, if there was one thing I could give the original game over this manga, it would be the fact that they don't have Tingle coming in and interrupting things quite as often as they do here. Seriously, this is the first manga in the series to actually feature Tingle, and I was hoping I could get through all of them without seeing this fucker, but apparently, I can't have nice things.
Book #21
I'm gonna be real with you all, I honestly didn't have much of an idea about what I was going to get into when going into this particular chapter of this saga. Yes, I did read through Part 1 and still remembered quite a bit about it, but I didn't remember enough of the specifics to where I would have a good idea of what I was going to think of this part when deciding to read it for myself, although I did at least remember it not being quite up to par with some of the other previous manga adaptations. Of course though, that also could've been because of the fact that it was only Part 1 of a two part story, and now that I was finally getting to Part 2, I expected things to get much more crazy, adventurous, action-packed and sillier then ever before, while also managing to bring this whole tale to a close in the most "epic" and natural way that one of these Zelda manga would be able to, and thankfully, it managed to do just that. As a whole, I wouldn't say it is any better or worse then Part 1, which means that it is also on the lower level when it comes to the Zelda adaptations that we have gotten so far, but it still managed to give me pretty much all I could've asked for from an end to this story, bringing everything together in a nice set of four bows while also giving us more of what we love and appreciate from this series that does end up making it yet another very solid read from start to finish.
The story is, once again, more of what you would expect, picking up pretty much right where the last part left off while also resolving the cliffhangers that we were left on, and ending everything off in the most "epic" way one of these stories can, all of which manages to work really well here and is very fun and energetic in the traditional Zelda way, which was good to see, the characters were all still pretty good, where Link and his three color-coded buddies are still great here, not only once again taking the spotlight most of the time but also having plenty more personality and fun moments here compared to Part 1, while also having several bits of character development that improves their characters as well, but also just like with Part 1, there aren't really that many other characters that get much focus, other then Shadow Link and maaaaaaaaaybe Vaati, but that is it, which is still kinda lame, the writing is still fairly solid, giving us a lot of the heroic and prophetic dialog that you would expect which is all good to read, along with plenty of action lines too, but it also does feel a lot more "Saturday-Morning-Cartoon-y" a lot of the time too, which I'm pretty sure the first part was also like, but it was definitely more noticeable here, which I wasn't too big of a fan of, the art is still great once again, keeping up the same visual style from Part 1 while also plenty of great looking panels and designs for some of these characters and more "epic" moments, especially when more action is involved, and speaking of which, the action is also really good too, featuring plenty more incredible moments and plenty more action-packed scenes that are great to go through, even if some of them, like the writing, can also feel like it came from a Saturday morning cartoon as well.
And of course, much like with the first part, I also did have a good couple of issues with it too, to where none of them end up ruining the final product, of course, but plenty of people would probably take notice of these problems when reading this for themselves too. For starters, once again, we have an entry in this series that is pretty damn generic by Zelda standards, not doing too much out of the norm for both an adaptation or a manga on its own, with the one exception to this being with some parts involving Vio (the purple Link) and Shadow Link, but the rest of it is all pretty standard stuff, especially when compared to some of the changes made with some of the other Zelda adaptations. Sure, I was still able to enjoy the whole thing regardless of how typical and predictable it was in plenty of cases, but needless to say, if you are one who is not that big of a fan of these manga, or these kinds of stories in general, you probably wouldn't end up liking this one either. And speaking of the story, there is also one part of said story that we do get to see here, which, while being a nice twist and all, is also not executed in the best way possible. There is this one part of the manga where, after battling with the Links throughout this entire adaptation, Shadow Link has a change of heart after having a conversation with Zelda, and he ends up helping the other Links defeat Vaati in the end and to save the day, all of which is pretty nice, but the problem with it is that it feels like it comes completely out of nowhere! Throughout this entire adaptation, Shadow Link has been nothing but an evil and cocky asshole who has tried to kill the Links and cause harm to millions on multiple occasions, but now he wants to be good all of a sudden? Yeah, I know there is that conversation with Zelda he had, but come on, piss off, nobody is gonna completely change their entire purpose in life around just because of one conversation that they have with somebody that they captured earlier that week. I would've expected this manga about this boy splitting into four different people to be more realistic then this!
Overall, despite not having anything too surprising in it while also having some weird plot holes and plot moments that does somewhat bring it down, Part 2 of The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords manga adaptation is, once again, not quite as strong as some of the other adaptations that we have had so far, but still manages to be really good all on its own too, giving us a cliche, yet fitting ending to this adaptation along with all of the charm, action and epic moments that we have come to expect from both these manga and Zelda in general, which made it so that I had a pretty good time with it, what with its simple yet still fun and enjoyable story, a set of really good characters that are paired up with some really good writing from time to time, plenty of that same great art work that gets you to really love this world and its characters that much more, and plenty of sweet action scenes in-between all of that to make things more exciting, enjoyable and entertaining for those that want to see Link slash the fuck out of any big monsters that comes his way. I would recommend it for those that were big fans of Part 1 of this adaptation, as well as for those that loved the other manga adaptations for Zelda so far or the Zelda series in general, as while it may not be as satisfying, interesting or fulfilling to read as some of the other manga in this series we have gone through so far, it should still give you everything you have come to want and expect out of this series to where you can still walk away from reading it with a smile on your face, which is all I can ask for at the end of the day............... and besides, it is a hell of a lot better of a story for Four Swords then the actual Four Swords game managed to give us! Although, if there was one thing I could give the original game over this manga, it would be the fact that they don't have Tingle coming in and interrupting things quite as often as they do here. Seriously, this is the first manga in the series to actually feature Tingle, and I was hoping I could get through all of them without seeing this fucker, but apparently, I can't have nice things.
Book #21
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2010
The story continues off from the last book. Vio has betrayed the others and is now on the dark side. With the helphadow link him and Vio lure the others to a castle where vio pretends to be a good guy now.There they find a coffin where greeen link is supposedly inside because he died.Once they fall for the trick they capture both of them and then Green comes along to save them. Vio sees him and faces him to a duel. It may have seemed as if Vio killed green but he ctually just knocked him down with handle of his sword. He was never really evil, his plan was just to get inside to try and destroy the mirror that brought more and more shadow creatures into the world. H efailed though before he smashed the mirror into pieces the guards caught him and captured him. They sentenced him to death and just before he fell into the lava Green, Blue,and Red come to save him.They reach the top of the tower and rescue zelda. Shadow link trys to stop them but he fails and becomes defeated then the real evil,vaati comes and trys to to defeat the Links. Shadow link is enraged with the fact that he always fails and has no friends.Somehow he came back into the world through the mirror but he was tired of all of this. he realized that even though he was the dark side of link he was still a link and that meant he always was a hero, he just never got the attention. Meanwhile the other four links defeated Vaati gray clouds appeared and the real king of evil appeared, Ganon. He was about to attack but then he started to vanish and shadow link appears with a hammer that has mirror shards all over it. He had destroyed the mirror. In doing that he also destroyed himself be he too was from the shadow realm but as he was fading away the Four links forgave him for what he did and Shadow link would leave in peace because he finally got the friends and attention he always wanted
May 2, 2022
I loved this book even more than the last one, and as of right now, the only book from this series that I liked better was Majora's Mask. We continued along with the story, with it starting right off with a confrontation that left the last book on a bit of a cliffhanger, we got to continue seeing the relationship between the four Links evolve, and we got not one, not two, but three final boss confrontations. There were layers to the story, the characters weren't one-dimensional and actually had conflicting feelings, and the action itself was exciting. I've talked about in other reviews for Himekawa's work that I prefer when the books are split up into multiple sections because then the story doesn't feel rushed from a reader viewpoint, and less details from the game itself are omitted. Of course none of the books would be great if they had every single detail of the game with nothing new to keep old fans interesting, and the same would be said if the stories were completely original without any faithfulness to the game series itself. That's why when the story is broken up we get the luxury of having the game's plot told in it's entirety while having enough extra time to create new scenes, give characters more fleshed-out backstories, and also having new interactions that keep you engaged. That's one of the big reasons why the two Four Swords books have been so enjoyable for me; they just have that balance I crave, which is a big reason why I love the Twilight Princess manga so much.
++Potential spoilers ahead++
I continued to really love Shadow Link in this book, both during the fight between him and the four Links and then again at the end of the story. We got to see a different side of him in this book, which was nice, because we already had two other villains who were inherently evil, so it was nice to have one who wasn't so one-dimensional and actually had real struggles and flaws. He was able to trust people so easily, which really surprised me. You'd think that Shadow Link, who wasn't even that faithful to Vaati or Ganon in the first place, would so easily tell his secrets to Vio. I mean, from a story viewpoint, it makes sense, because how else were we supposed to learn about the precious mirror? Speaking of the mirror- for some reason Tingle showing up right before Vio was going to break it was the funniest thing in the world. He wasn't really necessary to the plot, but Himekawa must have been a big Tingle fan because he made so many appearances, but I love it. He's so stupid but it was the funniest way possible for Vio to be caught.
Continuing on with Shadow Link, I thought that his change of heart really helped tie the story together. The trope of an antagonist sacrificing themselves in the end and sabotaging the grand evil plan isn't new, but usually when a character does it it's because they're not really a villain deep down, they just let their emotions get the better of them or they got put into a sticky situation. But with Shadow Link he didn't have that good side, he was a demon who only wanted to hurt people and feed his own ambition. It wasn't until later in the story that he had this change of heart, which made his redemption even better. It was different from what we usually see, and the scene itself was good; seeing Shadow Link dragging himself out of the mirror before having his own "no more" moment. If it wasn't more him Vaati and Ganon wouldn't have been defeated. Shadow Link is the fifth Link in my heart, and he deserves that title because he helped just as much as the other Links. I guess you could claim that Dark Link caused the issue in the first place by releasing Vaati, but even if he hadn't Vaati and Ganon would have still been alive, just imprisoned and not in power. By releasing the seal holding Vaati the Links were able to defeat the issue by the root and finish them once and for all. (Well, at least until the next game)
SpEAking of Shadow Link, why did Google auto fill my search bar to "Shadow Link x reader" when I was looking him up.
The final boss confrontations were pretty cool, and I liked that final chapter a lot. It was cute seeing Shadow Link disguise himself and join the group and then "conveniently" know how to get through the castle to find Vaati. After crawling out of the mirror, exhausted and on the verge of breaking down, he still had the energy to help his friends. And then the fight itself was great, and I really like how it visually looked with all four of them doing synced movements and doing their final attack on Ganon while Zelda pitched in with her own powers. It was your run of the mill Ganon fight, but this one was still more interesting, and ultimately more rewarding, although it had a bittersweet ending. We had to say goodbye to our dear friend Shadow Link who, despite his actions, still had a good heart deep down. We also had to say goodbye to Red, Blue, and Vio, even though they technically didn't go anywhere, the four Links were just returned to one. But still, it was sad and I want the five of them to be best friends forever and ever and go on goofy adventures.
Even though I've liked all of the books so far in the series, out of the three duologies in the series (Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, and Four Swords), this one was the strongest. It told the story efficiently, the pacing was good, the characters were likable and well written, and it was also really exciting and fun. I still like Majora's Mask better, but this book is a closed second, with the last book being third. I thought the duology ended nicely, and I liked the little comics at the end. They were really cute and I thought they were hilarious. Poor little Shadow Link just wants to have fun at an amusement park with the other Links and his girlfriend, who uh... goes to another school. Poor man wants to do something besides go online shopping and write a blog about his super "hawt" girlfriend.
++Potential spoilers ahead++
I continued to really love Shadow Link in this book, both during the fight between him and the four Links and then again at the end of the story. We got to see a different side of him in this book, which was nice, because we already had two other villains who were inherently evil, so it was nice to have one who wasn't so one-dimensional and actually had real struggles and flaws. He was able to trust people so easily, which really surprised me. You'd think that Shadow Link, who wasn't even that faithful to Vaati or Ganon in the first place, would so easily tell his secrets to Vio. I mean, from a story viewpoint, it makes sense, because how else were we supposed to learn about the precious mirror? Speaking of the mirror- for some reason Tingle showing up right before Vio was going to break it was the funniest thing in the world. He wasn't really necessary to the plot, but Himekawa must have been a big Tingle fan because he made so many appearances, but I love it. He's so stupid but it was the funniest way possible for Vio to be caught.
Continuing on with Shadow Link, I thought that his change of heart really helped tie the story together. The trope of an antagonist sacrificing themselves in the end and sabotaging the grand evil plan isn't new, but usually when a character does it it's because they're not really a villain deep down, they just let their emotions get the better of them or they got put into a sticky situation. But with Shadow Link he didn't have that good side, he was a demon who only wanted to hurt people and feed his own ambition. It wasn't until later in the story that he had this change of heart, which made his redemption even better. It was different from what we usually see, and the scene itself was good; seeing Shadow Link dragging himself out of the mirror before having his own "no more" moment. If it wasn't more him Vaati and Ganon wouldn't have been defeated. Shadow Link is the fifth Link in my heart, and he deserves that title because he helped just as much as the other Links. I guess you could claim that Dark Link caused the issue in the first place by releasing Vaati, but even if he hadn't Vaati and Ganon would have still been alive, just imprisoned and not in power. By releasing the seal holding Vaati the Links were able to defeat the issue by the root and finish them once and for all. (Well, at least until the next game)
SpEAking of Shadow Link, why did Google auto fill my search bar to "Shadow Link x reader" when I was looking him up.
The final boss confrontations were pretty cool, and I liked that final chapter a lot. It was cute seeing Shadow Link disguise himself and join the group and then "conveniently" know how to get through the castle to find Vaati. After crawling out of the mirror, exhausted and on the verge of breaking down, he still had the energy to help his friends. And then the fight itself was great, and I really like how it visually looked with all four of them doing synced movements and doing their final attack on Ganon while Zelda pitched in with her own powers. It was your run of the mill Ganon fight, but this one was still more interesting, and ultimately more rewarding, although it had a bittersweet ending. We had to say goodbye to our dear friend Shadow Link who, despite his actions, still had a good heart deep down. We also had to say goodbye to Red, Blue, and Vio, even though they technically didn't go anywhere, the four Links were just returned to one. But still, it was sad and I want the five of them to be best friends forever and ever and go on goofy adventures.
Even though I've liked all of the books so far in the series, out of the three duologies in the series (Ocarina of Time, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, and Four Swords), this one was the strongest. It told the story efficiently, the pacing was good, the characters were likable and well written, and it was also really exciting and fun. I still like Majora's Mask better, but this book is a closed second, with the last book being third. I thought the duology ended nicely, and I liked the little comics at the end. They were really cute and I thought they were hilarious. Poor little Shadow Link just wants to have fun at an amusement park with the other Links and his girlfriend, who uh... goes to another school. Poor man wants to do something besides go online shopping and write a blog about his super "hawt" girlfriend.
December 11, 2018
Being a fan of the Zelda franchise, I was excited to read this book, and I am happy to say I was not disappointed. I believe the thing that makes a book worth reading is when characters display human characteristics. The characters in this book develop like real people, which makes this book very good. It is easy for characters to not act human when it is about a hero with inhuman abilities. But, the four Links; the heros in this book act like children trying to get along. They start out not liking each other at all, but soon learn that they need to get along in order to accomplish their goal of saving Hyrule from Vatti; the villian that threatens all of hyrule. Shadow Link also develops like a normal human. He starts out as just a villain that wants to create trouble but we soon learn the reason behind what he does.
In the beginning of the story, a hero splits into four other people. They don’t get along and soon split up because they feel that the others are not necessary to accomplish their goal. They all find themselves in trouble and another Link comes and helps them. They lean that they all need each other and learn to get along.
Later, The four Links reach the area where Vatti is in order to challenge him. They are met by Shadow Link. Shadow Link would be described as ‘the main hero’s shadow’. Just like the other four Links, Shadow Link is a mear image of what Link is. He’s not inherently evil, he is just afraid of being forgotten and ignored. Link explains that Shadow Link “made trouble so that we’d notice him. He was tired of being ignored” (Himekawa 87).This shows that Link would just be like Shadow Link if he never accomplished his goals, and was always ignored for what he did.
Link was born to be a hero, he never had any second thoughts of what he was supposed to be. He is constantly burdened with the weight of the world. And unlike Shadow Link, Link is always recognized for what he has done. Shadow Link wouldn’t have done anything wrong if he wasn’t ignored all his life. Shadow Link and Link have to completely opposite problems; Link has too much attention that he often feels stressed due to everyone resting on his shoulders, and Shadow Link didn’t get any attention for what he did.
If you have never read any of the Zelda books, or played any of the games; I highly recommend it. It isn’t common knowledge that the Zelda books can teach you a lot but, I believe they can. While each part of the series can teach us something different, I think this book taught us that attention an either be positive or negative. Also, don’t take your friends for granted; you’ll never know when you’ll need them.
In the beginning of the story, a hero splits into four other people. They don’t get along and soon split up because they feel that the others are not necessary to accomplish their goal. They all find themselves in trouble and another Link comes and helps them. They lean that they all need each other and learn to get along.
Later, The four Links reach the area where Vatti is in order to challenge him. They are met by Shadow Link. Shadow Link would be described as ‘the main hero’s shadow’. Just like the other four Links, Shadow Link is a mear image of what Link is. He’s not inherently evil, he is just afraid of being forgotten and ignored. Link explains that Shadow Link “made trouble so that we’d notice him. He was tired of being ignored” (Himekawa 87).This shows that Link would just be like Shadow Link if he never accomplished his goals, and was always ignored for what he did.
Link was born to be a hero, he never had any second thoughts of what he was supposed to be. He is constantly burdened with the weight of the world. And unlike Shadow Link, Link is always recognized for what he has done. Shadow Link wouldn’t have done anything wrong if he wasn’t ignored all his life. Shadow Link and Link have to completely opposite problems; Link has too much attention that he often feels stressed due to everyone resting on his shoulders, and Shadow Link didn’t get any attention for what he did.
If you have never read any of the Zelda books, or played any of the games; I highly recommend it. It isn’t common knowledge that the Zelda books can teach you a lot but, I believe they can. While each part of the series can teach us something different, I think this book taught us that attention an either be positive or negative. Also, don’t take your friends for granted; you’ll never know when you’ll need them.
January 9, 2023
Book 7.
Having been split up, the four Links (Green, Red, Blue and Violet) have to each find their own strength before they are reunited to fight Shadow Link, the demon Vaati and the Dark Lord Ganon.
This book benefits greatly from having had the first book to establish the setting, villains and natures of the four (well, five) Links. With the other Zelda Manga, some of them feel pretty rushed by having to fit all of the set-up, questing and final confrontation into a single volume. Here, however, the story has a bit more room to breathe and is much better for it.
Although the fact that the Links are colour-coded and this book is black and white is still a bit of a problem, by splitting them up for a good chunk of the book we get to know each of them as individual characters, which helps a great deal. It's interesting to see how each aspect of Link's character, including Shadow, deals with situations and I was particularly amused to see that Red is even a little bit gay for Blue.
When the four Links finally reunite to confront the villains it feels genuinely triumphant and the ending is an appropriately bittersweet conclusion to the quest.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
Having been split up, the four Links (Green, Red, Blue and Violet) have to each find their own strength before they are reunited to fight Shadow Link, the demon Vaati and the Dark Lord Ganon.
This book benefits greatly from having had the first book to establish the setting, villains and natures of the four (well, five) Links. With the other Zelda Manga, some of them feel pretty rushed by having to fit all of the set-up, questing and final confrontation into a single volume. Here, however, the story has a bit more room to breathe and is much better for it.
Although the fact that the Links are colour-coded and this book is black and white is still a bit of a problem, by splitting them up for a good chunk of the book we get to know each of them as individual characters, which helps a great deal. It's interesting to see how each aspect of Link's character, including Shadow, deals with situations and I was particularly amused to see that Red is even a little bit gay for Blue.
When the four Links finally reunite to confront the villains it feels genuinely triumphant and the ending is an appropriately bittersweet conclusion to the quest.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
January 29, 2025
7.5/10
The second part of the Manga continues from where it left off: with a stand off between the five Links (the four split personalities, and Shadow Link) that finally makes the four understand how important collaboration is. After that, the Links finally proceed to confront Vaati in its endless tower of Winds, that leads all the way into the Palace in the Sky where the four Links need to confront... a lot more than they bargained for...
Difficult to write some sort of review for the 2nd volume without spoiling a lot from the finale of the first one. But all in all, Four Swords manages to be a quite entertaining ride, even if, as is typical for these manga adaptations, the villains are mostly just villains, and the forces at play are just "darkness" and "light". Still, one character had a nice twist and while the story was quite extended from the game(s) - Link's father has a major role in this one - it is still just all very generic. Entertaining, yes, but not much more than that.
The second part of the Manga continues from where it left off: with a stand off between the five Links (the four split personalities, and Shadow Link) that finally makes the four understand how important collaboration is. After that, the Links finally proceed to confront Vaati in its endless tower of Winds, that leads all the way into the Palace in the Sky where the four Links need to confront... a lot more than they bargained for...
Difficult to write some sort of review for the 2nd volume without spoiling a lot from the finale of the first one. But all in all, Four Swords manages to be a quite entertaining ride, even if, as is typical for these manga adaptations, the villains are mostly just villains, and the forces at play are just "darkness" and "light". Still, one character had a nice twist and while the story was quite extended from the game(s) - Link's father has a major role in this one - it is still just all very generic. Entertaining, yes, but not much more than that.
June 12, 2021
Absolutely fantastic!
I really loved all the tricky twists and turns the story took. I loved seeing Shadow and Vio work together, but I really really just......oof shadow.
I just really loved seeing all the colors grow together since they were so separate in the last book. The ending was super cool, and I thought it was nice :) The extra manga at the end where Green tries to put the Four Sword back, and then can't and panics is so funny to me haha Zelda just goes "Op!" and then Green get's it and is relieved lol.
Just a really fun sweet adventure story! Highly recommend these to anyone wanting something to relax with some classic Zelda shenanigans.
I really loved all the tricky twists and turns the story took. I loved seeing Shadow and Vio work together, but I really really just......oof shadow.
I just really loved seeing all the colors grow together since they were so separate in the last book. The ending was super cool, and I thought it was nice :) The extra manga at the end where Green tries to put the Four Sword back, and then can't and panics is so funny to me haha Zelda just goes "Op!" and then Green get's it and is relieved lol.
Just a really fun sweet adventure story! Highly recommend these to anyone wanting something to relax with some classic Zelda shenanigans.
December 11, 2024
I loved this book, the art was great. The story did have a little bit of a rushed ending, but it was based off of a video game, and video game boss battles are made to be fun to fight and figure out how to beat, not for story purposes. I LOVED Shadow Link's story, and his relationship with the other Links. The Links personalities were refreshingly diverse, and I enjoyed this book more than the other Zelda books because of that. The interactions between the Links are hilarious, and the character growth in the story was top-notch. In my opinion, it was one of the best stories I've ever read, and I still think about it months later.
November 18, 2025
New favorite of the series!
Part 1 was good, but this was fantastic!
The monsters/demons are again genuinely scary at some parts. Vaati’s mouth when he created the wind storm creeped me out. Ganon’s reveal is fantastic and also genuinely scary. Also, Tingle is a great silly character.
The four different Link personalities really shined here. I loved Vio’s side plot, even if it was predictable. I got so excited when I realized Shadow Link was going to have a redemption. I got emotional during his rebellion and his goodbye. The ending side stories were wonderful, I’m glad we got to see all 5 of them happy in a casual setting.
Part 1 was good, but this was fantastic!
The monsters/demons are again genuinely scary at some parts. Vaati’s mouth when he created the wind storm creeped me out. Ganon’s reveal is fantastic and also genuinely scary. Also, Tingle is a great silly character.
The four different Link personalities really shined here. I loved Vio’s side plot, even if it was predictable. I got so excited when I realized Shadow Link was going to have a redemption. I got emotional during his rebellion and his goodbye. The ending side stories were wonderful, I’m glad we got to see all 5 of them happy in a casual setting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2017
ALERT SPOILERS MAY BE IN REVIEW ALERT
Well, it was very fun to read, and Team Link continue on their quest to defeat Vaati and Ganon ( you'll see why Shadow Link isn't on this list in a moment). But, during the final battle, they receive help from Shadow Link and eventually rescue Princess Zelda and vanquish Lord Ganon. Oh by the way, Link isn't using the Four Sword anymore, as if we'll miss the craziness(but we WILL miss Red, Blue, and Vio.
Well, it was very fun to read, and Team Link continue on their quest to defeat Vaati and Ganon ( you'll see why Shadow Link isn't on this list in a moment). But, during the final battle, they receive help from Shadow Link and eventually rescue Princess Zelda and vanquish Lord Ganon. Oh by the way, Link isn't using the Four Sword anymore, as if we'll miss the craziness(but we WILL miss Red, Blue, and Vio.
November 28, 2017
An amazing story. Best read with the first part as a singular story. Most of the Zelda Mangas do try to accurately try to tell the story of the games, but for the game of Four Swords Adventure, there isn't really a story to follow, meaning the writer could focus more on the story than appealing to fans. An amazing story about teamwork, the 4 links are distinct enough that I still find myself referring to this when people ask me about the personalities of the characters. The best of any of the Zelda Mangas; any fan of Zelda or Magna in general needs to read this.
March 3, 2020
Wow! That ending went quick!
At the start, I finally realized that Green has darker sleeves than Blue. I wish I made that connection for part one because I would have sped through reading that.
Also, Vio, Shadow, and Red are my favorite personalities. Green and Blue are noble and cool, but they are boring compared to the other three.
At the start, I finally realized that Green has darker sleeves than Blue. I wish I made that connection for part one because I would have sped through reading that.
Also, Vio, Shadow, and Red are my favorite personalities. Green and Blue are noble and cool, but they are boring compared to the other three.
November 8, 2020
Very fun read.
After reading 3 of these books I've noticed severe pacing issues which actually hinderes my enjoyment of these titles. Major plot points speed across 8 frames on 2 pages and there is very little to no immersion, which is why these titles will not get 4 stars from me.
They are what they are, no use complaining. Just read and enjoy what you can.
Now onto "A Link to the Past".
After reading 3 of these books I've noticed severe pacing issues which actually hinderes my enjoyment of these titles. Major plot points speed across 8 frames on 2 pages and there is very little to no immersion, which is why these titles will not get 4 stars from me.
They are what they are, no use complaining. Just read and enjoy what you can.
Now onto "A Link to the Past".
June 24, 2023
Part 2 of the Four Swords was even better than the first in my opinion. Without any spoilers, I felt the characters grew and the relationships meant more as the battle wages onto its dramatic conclusion. Great art as always but what really stood out to me was how I cared much more about the villains in this volume and their motives. Also the bonus pages in the back of the book were great.
April 5, 2024
While the humor and lighthearted banter remain prominent, this volume takes a significant turn towards a more mature narrative. Themes of betrayal, self-doubt, despair, and redemption come to the forefront.
May 25, 2017
**** 4.5 stars ****
August 26, 2017
This is one of the better stories in the Zelda manga collection.
October 14, 2018
This was a very entertaining book I did not want to set it down because it was so good
January 13, 2019
I liked part 2 more than part 1. Had funny yet surprising outcomes!
February 1, 2019
This book is great, I have never played the game but this part of Zelda Four Swords is great in its story.
March 8, 2019
The conclusion to the story. Poor Shadow Link.
February 27, 2020
Honestly this is one of the better ones
Read
May 4, 2020A great comic version of the video-game Four Swords. The story of Shadow Link is kind of sad but other than that, this is great.
July 9, 2020
Love this one. So much action but also great moments
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