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Kaoru Kurimoto

Kaoru Kurimoto(1953-2009)
THE GUIN SAGA has been popular for decades in Japan and Kaoru Kurimoto (a pen name) wrote 126 installments. Since earlier days, the series has moved out of the heroic fantasy epic genre. Those presented here are early episodes which have recently been translated into English. There is a manga version (The Seven Magi) and an anime series based on the saga.
The Guin Saga

The Guin Saga — (1979-2008) The Guin Saga is in the process of being released in English in both hardback and paperback. Publisher: The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard’s Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise “The Marches Episode” arc. In a single day and night of fierce fighting, the Archduchy of Mongaul has overrun its elegant neighbor, Parros. The lost priest kindgom’s surviving royalty, the young twins Rinda and Remus, hide in a forest in the forbidding marches. There they are saved by a mysterious creature with a man’s body and a leopard’s head, who has emerged from a deep sleep and remembers only his name. Guin.

Kaoru Kurimoto The Guin Saga: 1. The Leopard Mask 2. Warrior in the Wilderness 3. The Battle of Nospherus 4. Prisoner of Lagon 5. The Marches KingKaoru Kurimoto The Guin Saga: 1. The Leopard Mask 2. Warrior in the Wilderness 3. The Battle of Nospherus 4. Prisoner of Lagon 5. The Marches Kingbook review kaoru kurimoto the guin saga teh battle of Kaoru Kurimoto The Guin Saga: 1. The Leopard Mask 2. Warrior in the Wilderness 3. The Battle of Nospherus 4. Prisoner of Lagon 5. The Marches KingKaoru Kurimoto The Guin Saga: 1. The Leopard Mask 2. Warrior in the Wilderness 3. The Battle of Nospherus 4. Prisoner of Lagon 5. The Marches KingKaoru Kurimoto The Guin Saga: 1. The Leopard Mask 2. Warrior in the Wilderness 3. The Battle of Nospherus 4. Prisoner of Lagon 5. The Marches King

The Leopard Mask: Probably better as manga

Readers’ average rating:

The Leopard Mask by Kaoru Kurimoto

The Leopard Mask, the first installment of The Guin Saga, is a rather uninspiring tale of two twins (Remus and Rinda) whose kingdom has fallen to an evil army and who are now trying to stay alive among all of the ghouls, demons, and other nasties who live in the marches. They are saved by an amnesic warrior (Guin) who, for some unknown but intriguing reason, has an irremovable leopard mask fused to his face.

The writing style is only serviceable. I don't know if this is due to the original Japanese text or to the English translation but it just doesn't grab me. The perspectives change abruptly, the dialogue is stilted, and the omniscient narrator tells too much — sometimes in a tone that would be used to teach children.

The plot of The... Read More

May 28th, 2010. ´s rating: | | SFF Reviews | no comments