|
''Dragon Sword and Wind Child'' (ISBN 0-374-30466-1) is the first book of award-winning fantasy writer Noriko Ogiwara. The book, originally written in Japanese in 1988 as: ''Sorairo Magatama'' (空色勾玉 ''Sky-Colored Jade''; see magatama), won her several awards for children's literature and was later translated into English by Cathy Hirano in 1993 as ''Dragon Sword and Wind Child''. Viz Media LLC, a publisher of English-translated manga, republished the novel in English in October 2007. Ogiwara wrote two sequels, ''Hakuchou Iden'' (白鳥異伝 ''Swan's Strange Legend'') and ''Usubeni Tennyo'' (薄紅天女 ''Pink Nymph''). Until 2011, these sequels have only been published in Japanese; in May 2011, Viz published an English translation of ''Hakuchou Iden'' as ''Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince''. Together, the three books are known as "The Jade Trilogy". ==Plot summary== Saya is a young maiden who was adopted by an elderly couple who found her in the forest when she was an infant and raised to worship and revere the God of Light and his two immortal children, the passionate and fierce Princess Teruhi and the subdued and melancholic Prince Tsukishiro. As she comes of age, she catches the eye of Prince Tsukishiro and the people of Darkness, those who continue to reincarnate and do not fear death. Tsukishiro, enchanted by Saya's beauty, invites her to become one of his handmaidens at the Palace of Light where he and his sister reside. Before she leaves, she discovers from the People of Darkness that she is latest reincarnation of the Water Maiden, the Princess of the People of Darkness and a priestess capable of stilling the Dragon Sword, a weapon that contains the rage of the Fire God when he was killed by his father, the God of Light, for burning his mother, the Goddess of Darkness, to death. The Dragon Sword and the Water Maiden are linked and the sword is the only weapon which can slay a Child of Light. It is this aspect, Saya discovers, of her that intrigues and attracts Tsukishiro and infuriates and causes Teruhi to despise her since she resembles her previous reincarnation, the Princess Sayura. Saya, despite having worshiped the Light all her life and looked down on the People of Darkness, finds that she cannot escape her destiny as the Water Maiden, symbolized the magatama shaped jewel that was clutched in her hand when she was born. She ends up escaping the Palace of Light with the third Child of Light, Chihaya, the effeminate younger brother of Teruhi and Tsukishiro who was stilled by Teruhi to act as a surrogate Water Maiden for the stolen Dragon Sword and revealed to be the Wind Child, the only entity capable of wielding the Dragon Sword. Together, they join the People of Darkness to stop the fanatical and merciless Teruhi and the indifferent Tsukishiro from destroying the gods of nature and the People of Darkness. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dragon Sword and Wind Child」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|