Arata: The Legend, Vol. 8

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 15 MAR 2010

This appealingly illustrated fantasy yarn from the creator of Fushigi Yugitells the story of Arata, the heir to the throne of an extradimensional realm populated by magic-wielding men and gods. Unfortunately for Arata, the successors to the throne are all supposed to be female, but the royal family has produced no daughters in three decades, forcing the last princess to serve for two terms of office. As the time of ascension nears, Arata is forced to appear disguised as a girl, a situation he loathes, but an attempted political assassination/revolution exposes his true sex and sets in motion the arrival of his double from our world (also named Arata) and Arata's emergence into modern-day Japan and the angst-ridden high school soap opera of his put-upon doppelg nger. Meanwhile, our world's Arata finds himself in the midst of political intrigue and on the receiving end of a sentence of exile when he's framed for attempted murder, but he finds levels of courage he never displayed in his previous situation. As the Aratas of two worlds have no choice but to live as their mirror image, the stage is set for an epic and entertaining blending of the mundane and the mystical.