| Title | : | The Twelve Kingdoms: The Vast Spread of the Seas (The Twelve Kingdoms, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1598169483 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781598169485 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 294 |
| Publication | : | First published June 5, 1994 |
The Twelve Kingdoms: The Vast Spread of the Seas (The Twelve Kingdoms, #3) Reviews
-
Three dudes have bummers of childhoods. THEN WORLDS COLLIDE and by "WORLDS" I mean "DUDES." And by "COLLIDE" I mean "INTERACT EMOTIONALLY AND POLITICALLY ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN DISPARATE MOTIVATIONS."
Number Three has been the most political so far. We know the Ever-King of En and his kirin Enki from the first book and this is the story of how they got started. Also, there's a whacked-out kid with a demon who just wants some human acceptance. He's a pretty big plot point, and I'm sure if I think a little he will also be symbolic of something, but not having sat down to do that thinking, he's just kind of there and the reader goes "Growed-up by a demon who didn't eated him? Wut? Tells me more!" and then nothing happens to satisfy that craving.
STILL I cannot resist a story about stuffy officials who underestimate their free-spirited King. I mean, WE know he's the dang Ever-King of Book One, so don't we giggle when they complain about his gamblin' and womanizin'?
Four stars only because the flashbacks were hella hamfisted.
I liked it! Please to give me more, English translators! Wikipedia says I have to wait until, like, March, so I guess I'll go read something educational. Paaaah.
THE SCORE SO FAR:
Book 1: Trust YOURSELF
Book 2: Trust HEAVEN
Book 3: Trust THE DANG EVER-KING OF EN -
The Vast Spread of Seas: Book Three of The Twelve Kingdom Series.
After the telling the story of the Kirin of the Kingdom of Tai, Ono covers in her third book the tale of Enki of the Kingdom of En. I had some worries before starting this book, despite being a book one of my favorite series, for The Vast Spread of Seas and its predecessor; Sea of Wind, both deal with two characters of the same nature who share, more or less, the same history. Both Kirin were born in a world they didn't belong to, only to realize they have a major role they need to fulfill in another world that is beyond their imagination. I was afraid of duplication of events and recurrence of ideas; how the Kirin adjusts to the rules of the new world, and to his divine task of finding the one true king. Nevertheless, the story here discards that part of Enki's past, rushing through the events of his acceptance of being a Kirin, and focusing on the chain of events which occurred AFTER the King ascended the throne, with hints from his journey which allowed his to choose him despite his doubts of the illegibility of kings themselves. The Vast Spread of Seas, with its flows, is rich with benevolence, deception and politics. More of the Twelve Kingdom universe is introduced, within which the story of the fallen Kingdom of En and its struggle towards flourishing is magically told. -
“All rulers did was go to war. And the people were like firewood to be thrown on the flames.”
I'm just putting this out there to show the faith I had in this being a good novel: at over $80 USD, this was by far the most I've ever spent on a novel. It's a huge shame that The Twelve Kingdoms was never fully translated to English and that the few volumes available are out of print and insanely expensive. One can only hope that the rising popularity of light novels might result in a new release of this one too.
One thing I really appreciate about The Twelve Kingdoms is that each volume functions as a stand-alone set within the same world. They can probably be read in any order as the books themselves don't follow a chronological order. The Vast Spread of the Seas is set long before the events of the first book and it gives us the origin story of the Ever-King and his kirin Rokuta.
Much like the series as a whole, this instalment doesn't follow a chronological order. We jump back and forth between how Rokuta found his king and two decades after ascending the throne. I found this form of narration a little hard to follow at first but it actually made for a very nice story as one could draw parallels between the two different timelines. Two decades after becoming the Ever-King, the land of En is recovering but a rebellion is on the horizon. I truly enjoyed the Ever-King as a character and how he has everyone believing he is a good for nothing ruler despite being both perceptive and very caring of his people. The rebellion may at first seem like a result of his slack rule, but of course, there's more to it than just that.
This instalment is so far the most political and full of court intrigue. A few things are quite obvious to the reader whereas others come as quite a surprise. It is also nice to get to know more about Rokuta - he's always come across as a bit of a rascal but this book shows that deep down he does have the gentle nature of a kirin. We are also introduced to a new character - Koya, a boy raised by a demon. He makes for a very interesting character and I wouldn't mind reading a book from his point of view.
One must keep in mind that this is a translated work - there are a few parts that feel a little off in terms of writing and I found a couple of typos. But other than that, this is another lovely instalment to this intricate world of The Twelve Kingdoms. If you're lucky enough to find a reasonably priced copy, grab it while you can! -
A great continuation to the series. Once again, the author gives us the story of another Kingdom. We get to return to En, which was introduced to us in the first book. We reunite with Enki and the King, Shoryu.
This book focuses on how the two met, and how the prosperous rule under them began. We also get some great personal backrounds on each. Once again the author has done a wonderful job creating characters personalities, story line, and history. This story has yet to disappoint and while its length may seem intimidating, the book is actually an easy read. Action, history, politics and personal relations blend well together once more. I am eager to read the next one. -
Amo a Enki y Shoryuu... ¡Pero el libro es súper aburrido!
Cronológicamente, este libro ocurre antes que el primero y el segundo, y nos cuenta el día a día del rey de En, mientras los flashbacks nos muestran como se conocieron Shoryuu y su Kirin. El libro se centra en la política y la burocracia de los países, los conflictos y la guerra desde un punto de vista administrativo.
Lo que más difrute del libro son las interacciones entre Enki y Shoryuu. ¡Los amo!
Y por supuesto las imágenes que vienen en la novela son tan preciosas como siempre. Con una calidad mucho más alta que el anime.
Espero que el siguiente libro me resulte más ameno. -
回憶線（新朝廷成立之前）—現在線（叛亂）交織，兩對表面相似實則不然的主僕，統治手段的對比自是邪不勝正。如果在現實一無所有，是否到異世界獲得新機會就更賣力呢？愈刻意就愈得不到，還是隨意一些就好？
-
[shamelessly stealing the form of this review from Hannah]
In Short: I loved it. Mainly because of Enki, but there were many other things that made me truly enjoy this book!
[slight spoilers, nothing specific]
In Detail:
THE MAIN CHARACTERS which I roughly identify as Enki/Rokuta and Shoryu/Naotaka are depicted wonderfully. Especially Shoryu's characterization was stunningly done, slow and barely scratching at the surface of his character at times, but in the end it became an in-depth insight into his character. Since much of the story was written from Enki's point of view, there was a lot of insight into his character from the start and I dearly loved that. He is stubborn and set in his ways, sometimes even to the point of being blinded by it, but in the end he learned a lot about himself and his king. It was wonderful to experience his growth.
THE STORY at first a little bit confusing, but I think that only adds to the reading pleasure, since you have to think a little and it is a lot of fun to put together the pieces of the story and learn where the different characters come from. The past and the present of the characters are woven together wonderfully, and I was never tired of the changes in point of view, setting or time.
THE CHARACTERS made me laugh, cry, want to hit them, extremely angry and love them. While reading I was fooled like Enki and suspicious like Ribi, extremely annoyed like Seisho and Itan as well asrelaxed and confident as Shoryu. I loved how Enki made me doubt the king and his capability as a ruler only for Shoryu to prove us so very wrong (although I had my doubts about Enki's seemingly irrevocable opinion). Most of all I was surprised by how Ribi seemed to be a minor and not really important character and then became extremely important and helped to give insights into the ruling mechanisms of the king. I also liked that this was accomplished efficiently without great proclamations or dragging explanations.
I also liked the similarities in Enki's and Koya's histories as well as how the character of Atsuyu transformed from a benevolent regent to a self-absorbed tyrant, who is truly blind to the flaws of his own character. It was believable, albeit a bit fast.
The book did not introduce many new aspects about THE WORLD, but the world-building supplied a chapter of En's history that I was curious about. Ever since I saw the anime - which I do have to mention here, because I do not remember if this was the same in The Sea of Shadow - where Enki tells Youko about how he choose his king, I was interested in how he and Shoryu became as close as they were in Youko's story when Enki seemed to have hated kings so much at the beginning.
THE STORY TWISTS were nicely done. I was surprised when I should have been and while I doubted Enki's harsh judgement about Shoryu from the start, I did a lot of doubting Shoruyu myself and was pleasantly surprised with what was revealed throughout the story. The same is true for Atsuyu, just that it was the other way around ;)
I am sure there are some flaws I forget to mention here, because OVERALL I am so happy with The Vast Spread of the Seas that I seem to have forgotten all about them. -
The Vast Spread of the Seas is the third book in the Twelve Kingdoms series, but chronologically it takes place before the first and second novel and can also be read as a stand-alone.
This time the story concerns the kingdom of En. Where book 1 was structured mostly like a standard epic quest fantasy and book 2 focused on the mythology, The Vast Spread of the Seas is very much a political fantasy. We witness the first years of Shoryu's reign and the development of his relationship with Rokuta, while their government faces a rebellion. Despite this situation, there is actually very little fighting and a large part of the story is about which political schemes they employ in order to avoid a war. The flashbacks to Shoryu and Rokuta's meeting take place in Japan during the beginning of the Warring States and paint a very dark picture of the country.
The other half of the novel concerns the characters, mainly Shoryu and Rokuta, but there are also some impressive side characters, like Ribi. Among the cast of The Twelve Kingdoms, Shoryu and Rokuta are probably my favorites, because they have very individual (chaotic) characters and their interactions are always so much fun. Therefore it was really nice to read their, sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, story.
I've always loved how Fuyumi Ono explores the psychology of the kirins (basically were-unicorns, how cool is that anyway?) and in this volume, we learn about Rokuta's sad past and his profound doubts and even denial concerning his role. I wouldn't have minded more insight into Shoryu as well, but Rokuta's development was rather endearing.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Vast Spread of the Seas. It is a very short and fast read. The large amount of political measures and intrigues will probably not appeal to everybody, but the character development and world-building should be able to make up for that. A definite recommendation if you are a fan of political fantasies like
Attolia,
Lumatere or
Fire. A must read for anybody looking for a good Asian Fantasy and if you enjoy world-building with detailed mythology ... and unicorns. -
Oh how I adore Shoryu! Probably my favorite type of character: carefree fool-cum-strategic mastermind! I just love how almost everyone was fooled by his seemingly nonchalant attitude to everything. Oh but not I! I knew Shoryu had this in the bag, of course! He's the freaking Ever-King of En, duh!
Haha jokes aside, not only is this novel a hefty bite of delicious political intrigue, (which I adore), it gives you some insight into just how Shoryu and Rokuta were able to build up the magnificent Kingdom of En you see in volume 1 from practically nothing. Suffice to say, I've enjoyed this volume the most so far out of the Twelve Kingdoms series! -
Nếu phải liệt kê nhân vật nữ chính yêu thích của mình trong những truyện đọc gần đây (tất nhiên nhân vật nữ trong đó phải là trung tâm nữa) thì phải kể đến Hoàng Tử Hà trong bộ Trâm do Nhã Nam xuất bản vừa ra đến tập 3 mà mình chưa có tiền mua ;D và thứ 2 là bạn nữ chính Nakajima Youko trong series Thập nhị quốc ký này. Truyện và anime của Thập nhị quốc thì đã nghe danh từ mấy năm trước nhưng chỉ vì mỗi lần search thử lại thấy ngay hình bạn chính Youko chình ình giữa một đám trai đẹp mà bỏ cuộc (thật có lỗi với bạn Youko vì ban đầu đã tưởng bạn cũng thuộc tuýp nữ chính shoujo bánh bèo yếu đuối thiện lương, người gặp người thích =))). Rất may là sự nhầm lẫn tai hại này đã chấm dứt vào cuối tuần trước khi trong 1 phút xuất thần mình đã quyết định luyện cả bộ anime 45 tập này và tiến bước tiếp trên con đường lùng đọc novel. Cả novel và anime của Thập nhị quốc hẳn là phải được liệt vào list rất đáng khuyến nghị tìm đọc của mình, và trên thực tế bộ này đã rất nổi tiếng ở nước ngoài, mỗi tội không hiểu sao ở Việt Nam mình thấy không mấy người đọc lắm thì phải (thực ra mình suýt nằm trong nhóm này ;D).
Cơ mà cái này cũng không phải để PR truyện, mà cốt yếu để nói là cuốn 3 này là đã trở thành tập yêu thích nhất của mình trong series tính đến thời điểm hiện tại và cặp đôi chuyên bỏ nhà đi bụi anh vua En quốc Shouryuu và bạn kỳ lân Rokuta đã soán ngôi bạn Youko để trở thành cặp nhân vật ưa thích nhất trong bộ truyện của mình (rất xin lỗi bạn Youko lần 2 =))). -
1 page a day is all I'm allotting myself with this book, and the books that follow. They are that special to me. There are few books that have ever had the effect of bringing true tears to my eyes as the previous 2 did. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys anime and manga.
-
It was nice to read the story behind the Ever-King and Enki since in the previous books we've only seen them as rulers of the prosperous nation that En has become 400(?) years later.
-
In The Twelve Kingdoms anime, Enki (Rokuta) was my favorite character, but we only see a small piece of his story. So I was delighted when I found a whole novel written about him the lively, insolent, kind-hearted Kirin.
The novel showed his and his King's development in his reign's early years, and how Rokuta grew to understand the King, who acted like an irresponsible idiot, but knew exactly what he was doing. After reading this, I understand the relationship of mutual respect and annoyance, almost like an older and younger brother, between the King of En and his Kirin. -
My favorite so far of the three. I enjoyed the way Ono went about revealing the Ever King's background to us in pieces concurrently throughout the main story. It flips your impression of him on its head and gives meaning to his actions in a big way. Also, between Enki this volume and Taiki last volume, it's not easy being a kirin and I sympathize with them. They definitely get the short end of the stick in a lot of ways.
-
新版的封面意外的可愛, 延台輔娃娃臉也就罷了, 延王您的霸氣哪去了??隔壁的景女王都比你帥啊~是說山田章博重畫了整部的封面跟插圖, 仔細看了一下真的只有尚隆逆成長...為什麼啊🤣
即位20年的延主從面臨了第一個挑戰者...很好又來了一個不相信君權神授的🤣其實斡由做的事情也不奇怪, 只是很可惜的, 小野主上的世界就是信王者生, 就算是面對昏君, 只能等他慢慢自我毀滅, 起義討伐之流應該也沒用吧? 說起來百姓還真一點自主權都沒有, 超級悲哀.
老實說, 斡由最後黑掉是有點不得不黑的感覺, 不然連六太都快倒戈, 尚隆的面子往哪擺🤣小松家的滅亡看得讓人動容, 得到了曾經失去的國家後, 尚隆是不可能把百姓外包給別人的, 「我很貪心, 如果有一百萬人民和一百萬零一個人民, 我選擇後者。」看起來掉而啷噹的傢伙其實莫名的執著呢. (不過換作是陽子的前任-予王搞不好就欣然接受了? 虛位元首的概念)
不知道為何我對驪媚印象深刻, 整本書唯一沒有忘掉的就是她......被尚隆花言巧語(?!)騙去做吃力不討好的工作, 最後死在崗位上...怎麼這麼社畜啊(掩面) -
What is there to say. No surprises for me since I watched the anime more than ten years ago. Very good story. It's hard to think of them as separate things since all of them are connected. Maybe for themselves they don't make a great book, but the whole collection is sure to give a wide view of the 12 kingdoms.
-
I love the relationship between the Ever-King and the Taiho. I would read a hole saga to know how they build the 500-year kingdom, but the taste of the beginning of it is so good. -
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one deserve 6 star, it’s the best one of this series.
給六星，這是目前十二國記系列最棒的一本。 -
NICE BOOK.
-
這個系列真的很好看。無論世界觀或劇情其實非常複雜，但讀起來卻十分流暢，很容易理解。小野不由美老師的作品真的很捧！
-
20171111
#東の海神西の滄海 #十二国記 #小野不由美 さん #読了
延麒六太と延王尚隆のお話。まわりの官があぁ！もぅ！！というのが随所に出てきてクスリとしてしまう。毛旋の「済みません！おれ、大司馬を拝命してしまいました！」のところとか。延王みたいな上司の下で働いてみたい。色々大変だろうけど。 -
讀畢雜感流水帳：
1.記得以前全系列特別喜歡這本
2.這集的內容感覺比較多一點討論戰爭帶來的影響，也很迅速地透過故事展現尚隆的魅力，只是會蠻好奇斡由對於如果沒有走向崩壞之路的話，又會是怎樣的一場對決。
3.在十二國記裡面設定的國家好像時不時就都充滿動盪，一直在想由麒麟傳遞天意決定王的這種制度真的很神秘，在等待新的王與麒麟之間的出現之間，人民就只能不斷的面對天災，再怎麼趕進度勢必也要個5年10年吧？
4.重看尚隆在蓬萊時期與正宮的關係覺得有點震驚（未度新婚之夜正宮就懷孕），不知道這段描述想描繪的是什麼XD，NTR？
5.到目前為止回顧三篇，看了景麒被封印、泰麒在蓬山被人企圖捕捉以及六��在這集被威脅帶走的過程，覺得麒麟就算有使令，但感覺好項真的很難自保阿… -
This is one of those books that I probably would have liked better if I hadn't gotten an idea about what I was reading halfway through, and then the narrative changed on me.
So, in the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, divine creatures, kirin, are able to mystically sense the best person for ruler-ship and that person then becomes immortal and Heaven's chosen ruler of the kingdom. If the king is good at his (or her) job, the kingdom prospers. If the king is actually callous and cruel, the kingdom suffers, demons start showing up, and eventually the kirin gets sick and the king loses his or her immortality and dies, as the Mandate of Heaven passes from him/her, and the kirin (or a new one, if the kirin dies) has to choose a new king.
This story follows Rokuta the kirin of En and Shoryu, the king of En. Both lived in Japan for periods of their lives -- Rokuta was abandoned as a child when wars meant that his foster parents couldn't feed him, and Shoryu used to be a warlord's son whose people were slaughtered by a rival. The story stars out with Shoryu attempting to patch up the kingdom after the previous king went crazy and started killing people (and insisting that his underlings impose his draconian polices or he'd kill them). The regent son-of-the-governor of one of the provinces, Atsuyu, is trying to get the king to delegate power to him to fix the levees before the fall floods, but Shoryu is still trying to clear house of all the previous administration's corruption. So Atsuyu kidnaps Rokuta and tries to use him to blackmail Shoryu into giving him power.
Now, here was when I think that this is the possibility of having a protagonist and antagonist who are both right and decent people but stuck on opposite sides and cannot easily reconcile. Sadly, as Rokuta investigates, Atsuyu loses most of his virtuous appeal as a governor, which shows why he didn't attempt to seek out an actual appointed position. Turns out, he just wanted power, while Shoryu wanted a kingdom to make peoples' lives better, so it ended up being a more straightforward story, with a bit of cleverness in Shoryu's use of his limited resources.
One thing I liked was Shoryu mentioning how powerful the idea of a Divinely-Appointed King was -- that the people wanted to believe in that he was a good king because the Owl King left them next to nothing, and that could be used as a weapon as much as his army to keep everyone from gathering their own armies and marching on the capital. On the other hand, as Rokuta is quick to remember, even a good ruler can go bad -- the Owl King was divinely appointed.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good book and I enjoyed it. I just got stuck on an idea of something else, which cast a shadow over the rest of the book. -
This novel is number three in the Twelve Kingdoms series and it looks like we’re going to get one novel per kingdom. So we have all the same universe rules but not much in the way of repeated characters which, as far as a series goes, isn’t my favorite thing.
In this one the main players are Rokuta, a young kirin, his king, Shoryu, Koya, a human boy who tamed a demon and Atsuyu. Long story short, the Kirin pick the ever-kings in this verse. The kings and the divine advisors are all immortals. If the king screws up, the kirin slowly dies and the king follows as they’re supposedly picked by divine means.
Rokuta is the total pacifist. Shoryu seems to be more interested in gambling and whoring than being king. Atsuyu, the leader of the Gen providence decides he wants to be the over king and at first seems to be a good and kind leader. He is the only person who ever accepted Koya as he is (i.e. a demon tamer) and has the young man’s unquestioning loyalty.
The story begins with Rokuta accidently being swept away across the sea to Japan where the young kirin is raised for a while before being abandoned and brought back to the twelve kingdoms world. Koya’s family is so poor that he, too, is abandoned in the woods to have one less mouth to feed. He is found and raised by demons. He and Rokuta meet once as children then later as young men.
Rokuta and Shoryu are seen as poor leaders especially by Shoryu’s advisors and Atsuyu’s rebellion has quite a bit of support. However, neither leader are what they really seem to be. Rokuta is taken prisoner by Koya and Atsuyu and is in danger of being killed, ending Shoryu’s reign (though probably not improving Atsuyu’s standing given the divine nature of the kirin). The Machiavellian aspects to the plot were very good.
I have to admit that I like each book a little less than the one before it. Don’t get me wrong, they’re good but they do have issues. The issue in this one for me was two-fold. It’s told very non-linearly with multiple flashbacks so you have to be paying close attention. That was just minorly annoying. What bothered me more was that none of the characters were that likeable. I’m not sure they were meant to be. Koya is too narrow in his thinking. Rokuta is too laid back and creates his own troubles. Shoryu is the same. I’m still interested in the series but this one was the weakest (and I think the shortest) so far. -
Absolutely fabulous. Although the skinnest of the Twelve Kingdoms books by far, it packs in just as much story, perhaps because it no longer needs to explain as much of the world as in previous volumes. The focus is several hundred (at least) years prior to the first volume, concerning the affairs of the Kingdom of En, its kirin, and its king. Shoryuu and Enki are by far my most favorite characters from Twelve Kingdoms, and the author describes their lively personalities and exploits with just enough Japanese spareness to allow the imagination to fill in the blanks without distancing or frustrating the reader. The political sitations are handled with intelligence, and feels so much like various Chinese historical dramas/reenactments of Han Dynasty, etc. (albeit more simple) that I've seen that this fantasy world simply feels absolutely real. SO Chinese. And all without having to access the stereotypical "This Is What You Use To Create an Asian Setting!" trappings of yin-yang, zodiac animal symbology, dragons, mahjong, mysticism, monks, martial arts, incense, fortune telling, demure girls in cheungsam, Shinto priests, ninja, etc. etc. Not that there is anything wrong with the aforementioned....it's just been done so much! And this book avoids them all completely.
A must read, although I don't know if I would recommend it without reading the prior two. -
Third Book of the Series. Decent back story.
Fuyumi Ono has created this exciting and fantastical world of the Twelve Kingdoms. "The Vast Spread of Seas" is the third book in the series.
In the main story Rokuta, the Taiho of the kingdom of En, is captured and held prisoner by a man wanting to usurp Shoryu, king of En. The book also tells the story of how Rokuta reluctantly but eventually chooses Shoryu as the next king of En.
As with the first two books, there are 3-5 drawings scattered through the story [illustrated by Akihiro Yamada]. They are there to help establish the characters and settings which are cool and intriguing. It's nice to stop a moment and admire the detail in the art, though it'd have been nice if they were in color ^_^;;
The storytelling is simple but also engaging. If you haven't read the first two, i suggest doing that. Although this book is still good to pick up and go [the book technically happens before book 1, 'the Sea of Shadow']. If you are already a fan of the series, i don't need to tell you that it's a must read.
There are 6 books in the Twelve Kingdoms series and a seventh book comprised of 5 short stories all originally written in Japanese. The books are currently being translated into French, German and of course English. I can't wait for the next book to be translated -
SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY SEEN THE ANIME.
Book three in the 12K series. This is the story of both the Taiho of En and the Ever-King of En from the kirin's (Enki) perspective.
This story is told in the anime as well but as I mentioned in my volume 2 review, it's told a little differently because they connected the stories by having the characters in Yoko's story appear. This is not the case in this book at all and like volume 2 it stands alone as it's own story. In the time line, this book takes place between approximately 480-510 years before Yoko's story.
The writing of this one is a bit different from the first two as it switches constantly between the events that happened 20 years after the Ever-King took the throne and the events that happened from Enki's "birth" to his choosing of the Ever-King.
Enki is turning out to be one of my favorite characters in the series. His disparaging views on politics and "kings" are fascinating.
Again, this book was wonderful. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite from the first three. Will probably take a second read of them all to choose a favorite.
I can't wait for the next volume in the series to come out. I'll run out and get it right away. -
Let me first say that I was glad to see some of the issues I've had with the second book addressed here in the third, mostly the infallibility of the king-choosing kirin. But even aside from that, I loved the additional worldbuilding details (insights into the working of the kingdom of En, what the ministers do etc) and most of all the characters. Enki/Rokuta and Shoryu/Naotaka are of course the ones who stand out the most and I love both their development (Rokuta's) and the insight into their characters (Shoryu's). But the rest of the cast - Koya, Atsuyu, Ribi and the others - are also fascinating and skipping back and forth between different narrators, places and points in time actually improved the book's pacing.
Or I could just say "Awwwwsqueee, Rokuta and Shoryu! I love their dynamic and want more of it and more of the Twelve Kigdoms! Mooooore!"
![魔性の子 [Mashō no Ko]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344163435i/3079601.jpg)
