白銀の墟 玄の月 第二巻 十二国記

十二国記 [Jūni Kokuki] #14

by Fuyumi Ono, 小野不由美

シリーズ累計1000万部突破!
王だからこそ戴国(ここ)を守りたい。
民が幸福に暮らす国となるように。

民には、早く希望を見せてやりたい。
国の安寧を誰よりも願った驍宗(ぎょうそう)の行方を追う泰麒(たいき)は、つい に白圭宮(はっけいきゅう)へと至る。それは王の座を奪い取った阿選(あせん)に 会うためだった。しかし権力を恣(ほしいまま)にしたはずの仮王には政(まつりご と)を治める気配がない。一方、李斎(りさい)は、驍宗が襲われたはずの山を目指 すも、かつて玉泉として栄えた地は荒廃していた。人々が凍てつく前に、王を捜し、 国を救わなければ。──だが。

Genres: Fantasy

421 pages, Paperback Bunko

Published October 12, 2019

About the author

Kanji Name: 小野 不由美.

Fuyumi Ono (小野 不由美, Ono Fuyumi) is a Japanese novelist who is best known for writing the Twelve Kingdoms (十二国記, Juuni Kokuki) series, on which a popular anime is based. Her name after marriage is Fuyumi Uchida (内田不由美, Uchida Fuyumi), but she writes under her maiden name.

Ono was born in Nakatsu, Ōita, Kyūshū in 1960. She graduated from Ōtani University in Kyōto with a degree in Buddhist Studies, and in 1988 was employed by the publisher Kōdansha. Her debut story is titled Sleepless on Birthday Eve.

Ono is married to Naoyuki Uchida (内田直行, Uchida Naoyuki), a mystery novelist who writes under the pseudonym Yukito Ayatsuji (綾辻行人 , Ayatsuji Yukito).

Before she started work on Twelve Kingdoms, Fuyumi Ono wrote The Demonic Child (魔性の子), a horror novel about a boy from another world. She later worked certain events from this novel into the Twelve Kingdoms series. Short stories set in the various kingdoms include: Kasho, Toei, Shokan, Kizan and Jogetsu. In February, 2008, the first new Twelve Kingdoms short story, Hisho no Tori (丕緒の鳥) was published in Shinchosha's Yomyom magazine.

According to an interview at the Anime News Network, she is "currently rewriting a girls' horror series (she) wrote long ago."

- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Sho · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book introduced us to the characters and their current situation, while this book gave more background making us care for them. I like how the story is shaping up.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

！！！！！TO BE CONTINUED感が凄い。

が、昔読んだ十二国記に比べて、やはり話のスピードが遅めに感じるのは、何故だろう。
まぁ、1巻目より白圭宮内の思惑が垣間見えそうで見えなくて、面白いので星４つ。

３、４巻の発売いつだっけ…？11月？
それまで、十二国記のおさらいのために、既刊の作品を読まねば…
(そのためにはまず実家に行き、本棚やらダンボール箱やら漁らないと。)

[B. Sylphaen · Rating 2 out of 5]

COMPLETE REVIEW (for the whole "Hills of Silver Ruins", which comprises books #13 to #16)

After reading all 1200 pages, 374k words of this novel, I can tell you DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. Do not get invested in this story, in Gyousou or Taiki. Do NOT give this book a chance. You WILL be disappointed.

The first two parts of this four part novel drag like a slug. Nothing ever happens and you have to read over and over again that nothing ever happens and how that frustrates the protagonists. But then you push through because in part 3 everything starts moving and you're excited because Gyousou is back on scene and Taiki got political power again and you can see the story's climax coming with fireworks.

But it won't. There will be a bang, but off-screen. Spoilers ahead, who cares: after enduring what Asen does while usurping the throne, after all his crimes, his cruelty, his selfishness, he loses his battle off-screen. You have five chapters of characters deciding (one by one) to die in their last stand and then another five of them reuniting with characters that were never present in the story to begin with. And then, THEN, the book ends. A throwaway line at the end-summary these books have will tell you he lost and Gyousou is back on the throne and that's it. You won't get a satisfying ending, you won't even see the emperor and his usurper talk or interact. You won't even see Gyousou and Taiki interact beyond a "hey, you have grown".

1200 pages. 374 thousand words. I read all that, I invested all that time, I was expecting a satisfying ending, but I didn't even get a proper ending. I think Fuyumi Ono has no idea how to structure a novel and should go back to reading what a climax is. This book is so badly structured that it left me thinking that the genius behind the structure of book 3 that I loved so much wasn't there, it was just a fluke. After reading all nine books of the Twelve Kingdoms saga, I think I'm done with this author. I know there aren't any more books to read after this, but I won't even check if another one gets published.

This was the disappointment of the decade for me.

Ah! And one more thing: something I loved about this world was that motherhood wasn't a thing. Babies are born out of trees, so there are no gender roles. These books were populated by strong women that occupied the same spaces and held the same power as men. But in this book, not only 5% of the characters are women, you constantly hear that men have to fight to protect "women and children". This wasn't a thing! I was promised a world without gender roles. Why are suddenly women incapable of fighting? Why are they relegated to care for the children? What happened to you, Ono-sensei?

[Micah Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all four as a single set ... whoops

[Ayumi · Rating 5 out of 5]

「十二国記、１８年ぶりの新作」

十二国の中で北方に位置し、年の半分は雪に閉ざされる極寒の地、戴極国。
６年前に即位した新王・驍宗はわずか半年で謀反により行方不明に。同時に戴国麒麟・泰麒も蓬莱に飛ばされ行方が知れず、６年後やっと戻ってこれたときには麒麟の力をほぼ発揮できない状態になっていた。王が不在の戴国は荒廃が進み、民の生活は苦しくなるばかり。戴国の安定を取り戻すため、どうにかして行方不明の王を探し出そうと立ち上がる人々の物語。

高校時代に夢中で読んだ十二国記シリーズの新作を読める幸せをかみしめた。苦難続きの戴国で懸命に生きる人々の暮らしが丁寧に丁寧に書かれている１〜２巻。もうすぐ発売される３〜４巻では一体どんな展開が！？と期待に胸を膨らませています。