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Guardian of the Spirit (Moribito #1)

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 935 ratings · 207 reviews

You've never read a fantasy novel like this one! The deep well of Japanese myth merges with the Western fantasy tradition for a novel that's as rich in place and culture as it is hard to put down.

Balsa was a wanderer and warrior for hire. Then she rescued a boy flung into a raging river -- and at that moment, her destiny changed. Now Balsa must protect the boy -- the Princ...more

Hardcover, 248 pages

Published June 1st 2008 by Arthur A. Levine Books (first published 1996)

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May 13, 2008 Roxanne Hsu Feldman rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008, childrensbooks, fantasy, bestbooks, nominating

I think this one hovers just about 4.5 stars... not exactly perfect, but so so so good. So much about it I can praise:

It's a book that I can feel entirely enthusiastic about recommending to children who look for fast-paced and action packed stories with magic.

It's a book that features unusual characters: the protagonist is a 30-year-old warrior woman who wields a spear with great skills and who has a rich back story and an intriguing future story to look forward to.

It does not alter its sensibil...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Destyni rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a beautiful work, and an amazing translation. I love the characters; all of them, even minor characters, had a part to play and it all came together so well at the end. Every character felt so human; imperfect, but learning and progressing throughout the story. The writer does an excellent job at portraying various personalities and perspectives in an unbiased fashion; they were all so unique. I can't describe how much I appreciated that!

I love the fact that the culture did not get wash...more

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May 31, 2008 Betsy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Betsy by: Cheryl Klein

No one can look you in the eye and tell you that kids today don't read Japanese literature. A simple stroll by the manga section of any well-stocked bookstore will put your mind to rest on that particular matter. But what the kids aren't reading these days is Japanese prose. How many novels for kids, translated from Japanese, can you come up with off the top of your head? Living as we do at a time when children's literature is profitable and all encompassing, you would think that publishers woul...more No one can look you in the eye and tell you that kids today don't read Japanese literature. A simple stroll by the manga section of any well-stocked bookstore will put your mind to rest on that particular matter. But what the kids aren't reading these days is Japanese prose. How many novels for kids, translated from Japanese, can you come up with off the top of your head? Living as we do at a time when children's literature is profitable and all encompassing, you would think that publishers would be scrambling to fill the sudden need kids have for all things Japanese. I get ten-year-olds at my Reference Desk asking for information about Japan all the time and manga made it cool. Now it's time to expand their little craniums with some quality literature. Quality literature that involves egg-eating monsters, glorious fight sequences, strong female characters, and a clear-headed view of how politicians warp history to serve their own ends. Looking for a new kind of fantasy for the kiddies? Talk up something with a little more oomph. Talk up Moribito.

I'm sure you've heard of soldiers for hire, but bodyguards for hire? That's the job Balsa has had for years, and anyone who has ever met her will tell you that she's good at what she does. In fact, saving people is so ingrained in her that when she sees a prince thrown off a high bridge into the raging waters below she immediately saves his life. No good deed goes unpunished, however, and soon enough Balsa is roped into guarding the prince full time. It seems that the boy is carrying some kind of spirit within himself, and his father the Mikado is determined to kill his boy for the sake of the empire. To save him, Balsa will need to find out the truth behind long-forgotten ancient legends and fight off the Mikado's secret fighting force in order to save not just a prince, but an entire country as well.

I'm an adult reviewer of children's books. As such I'm supposed to carry around with me this lofty air, deigning me to be the guardian of great children's literature, and so on, and so on, and so forth. There's always that feeling that while I can judge a book from a critical standpoint, I'm not actually supposed to enjoy the book, per say. But I really loved reading Moribito. I did! From start to finish I found it fun, intelligent, and really well put together. Some authors never really establish a firm grasp on the world in which their characters inhabit. Others, like Ms. Uehashi, flesh it out so well that you're half convinced that you could buy a plane ticket there, should the fancy strike you. Uehashi also tackles several aspects of this book particularly well. She writes remarkable fight scenes, knows how to create three-dimensional characters (so that you're trying to determine if a villain is bad or just misinformed), and manages to tell kids a little something about powerful people and their weaknesses that in a lesser writer's hands might have turned didactic, or worse, dull. Instead, the reader is sucked into the book right from the start and you'll find your sleeping and eating cast aside in lieu of getting just one more chapter down.

Getting back to that comment I made about the villains in this piece, Uehashi has the uncanny ability to slip easily from one character's mind to another without forcing her narrative to become herky jerky. She recognizes that few people in this world would describe themselves as villains. As such, almost everyone in this book is under the distinct impression that what they are working towards is the greater good. Except, ironically enough, Balsa.

Why is it that whenever I run across a woman who becomes a hero in a physical sense, be it in film, television, or literature, the temptation is to always compare her to Buffy the Vampire Slayer right off the bat? Because that's the feeling Balsa creates in a reader. She exudes confidence. When you first see her she acts without hesitation in rescuing the prince. Too often when an author writes a tough female heroine, you end up in a head full of doubts and quibbles. What I liked about Balsa was the she was basically a jock. She's good at the physical stuff, at making decisions, and at protecting people. The subtleties of personal relationships and the like are not for her. Still, when you run across a heroine this singular your brain sometimes tries to think of similar characters so that you'll have some point of reference. At one point I even thought about comparing her to Kiki Strike . . . until I realized that for all her tough-woman attitudes, we feel much closer to Balsa than most females in other books. Uehashi really makes her likeable and strong in ways that stick with you.

Extra crispy and delicious kudos to the translation done by Cathy Hirano, by the way. Every once in a while I would have to punch my own leg to remind myself that I wasn't reading the original text. But how often do you find a translator willing to come up with sentences like, "Fire was anathema to a creature accustomed to living in the cold, dark mud,"? Not often enough.

People will tell you that boys won't read novels with girls on the cover. Not even one with a full repertoire of kicks, punches, dodges, and feints at her disposal. This is not always true but it is often the case (I've seen it first-hand). Moribito, in spite of its thirty-year-old female protagonist, may have an advantage over other books though, in part because it has a lot of points in its favor. First of all, the Moribito series (ten books in total) is very popular in Japan. The first book was even adapted into an animated series, and that's something you can talk up. Should this novel do well in sales, I could even see an adapted manga version being written/transferred to America as a companion piece. If a librarian/bookseller/teacher/parent wanted a kid to read this book, all they'd have to do would be to stress the action sequences (and the slam bang beginning will help in this matter), the Japanese heritage, and the cool anime series. Sell it to them well and those kids that already love Jeff Stone's The Five Ancestors series will come crawling back for more. This is a book that deserves to be discovered.

Ages 9-14.(less)

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Feb 25, 2009 Karlan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 10-up

This Batchelder prize book is an exciting read which I thoroughly enjoyed. There are several sequels available in Japanese, so I hope they are translated for us. The heroine is a vulnerable martial arts star who makes one care about the people caught in a wild fantasy.

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Jun 12, 2013 Rin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian-literature, young-adult-literature, fantasy, historical-fakery, adventure, quest, action-and-battles

This book should really be 4 1/2 stars-not exactly perfect, but very, very well done.

A seasoned warrior witnesses the second prince plummeting from a bridge to his death, and changes her life forever when she decides to save him. She is summoned to the palace, where the queen entrusts the life of the twelve-year-old prince to her care--permanently. A water demon, said to be destroyed by the Mikado (emperor) when the kingdom was established, has chosen him for a host, and now Balsa must use all...more

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Apr 14, 2013 TheBookSmugglers rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: diversity, fantasy-awesomeness, superheroes, non-european-fantasy, japanese-sff

Originally reviewed on Kirkus' Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog

“Your Highness,” she said. “I’ve already explained that no matter how much you might give me, it’s no good to me if I’m dead. Forgive my rudeness, but I must speak plainly. You have dealt me an unfair and cowardly blow.”
The queen went pale and began to tremble violently. “What do you mean?”
“I saved the prince’s life, yet you reward me by taking my life. What would you call that but unfair and cowardly?”

On the prosperous, island kin...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Miss Anne Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Non ho problemi a dire che questo sia il libro più originale e bello che abbia letto nell'ultimo periodo (sempre insieme a Hyperversum).
L'autrice, Nahoko Uehashi, ha creato il suo mondo rifacendosi anche alla cultura e allo stile di vita del suo Paese, il Giappone, e il libro si può considerare una variazione al Medioevo giapponese. I luoghi, le situazioni, la lingua e tanto altro, invece, sono frutto della fervida immaginazione di Nahoko.
Il libro è il primo di una serie di dieci, scritti tra il...more Non ho problemi a dire che questo sia il libro più originale e bello che abbia letto nell'ultimo periodo (sempre insieme a Hyperversum).
L'autrice, Nahoko Uehashi, ha creato il suo mondo rifacendosi anche alla cultura e allo stile di vita del suo Paese, il Giappone, e il libro si può considerare una variazione al Medioevo giapponese. I luoghi, le situazioni, la lingua e tanto altro, invece, sono frutto della fervida immaginazione di Nahoko.
Il libro è il primo di una serie di dieci, scritti tra il 1996 e il 2008, e sono stati ripresi in una serie di anime e manga, già visti in patria, e da un radio drama. Insomma Moribito è stato un vero e proprio fenomeno e spero di poter vedere l'anime presto anche qui in Italia (magari non in un canale del digitale terrestre, pare infatti che Cartoon Network ne abbia comprato i diritti).
Anche se è un libro inserito nel catalogo per ragazzi della Salani, è adatto a tutte le età ed è leggibile da chiunque, non è affatto lungo, si legge in poco tempo e i capitoli sono piuttosto brevi, ma ricchi di contenuti. I personaggi non sono stereotipati, anzi, sono sempre ben descritti e hanno sfumature di carattere molto particolari. Al di là della protagonista, il mio personaggio preferito è Torogai, la maga che in certi casi prende in giro i Sapienti delle Stelle e li fa sembrare dei poveri idioti. Ma non preoccupatevi, anche tra loro c'è chi si salva e riesce a capire come... risolvere il piccolo problema accorso al secondo figlio del Mikado.

Mi auguro che questa serie di libri possa avere successo anche da noi, perché il primo merita veramente e sarebbe un peccato se cadesse nel dimenticatoio, come capita a tanti altri fantasy che sono surclassati da cose assurde.
Il fantasy giapponese, come anche quello di altri Paesi, può e deve avere largo spazio anche da noi, perché gente come Nahoko, con cultura, talento e originalità, di sicuro c'è, basta solo cambiare alcune cose in certe case editrici e aprire le porte a chi davvero merita di essere pubblicato.
E dopo anche questa tirata sulle case editrici che non fanno un lavoro adeguato, che non c'entra molto con il mio parere personale al libro, spero che sempre più gente legga questo piccolo gioiello giapponese e che si sappia apprezzare l'originalità dell'autrice.
__________________________

Recensione scritta per il blog Veiled Mirror (less)

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May 23, 2012 Suci ays rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Karena telah menolong Chagum sang pangeran kedua, Balsa harus berhadapan dengan sang permaisuri. Ia pun harus memilih mati saat itu juga atau menyelamatkan pangeran dan menerima imbalan besar, namun menerima pekerjaan itu sama artinya dengan kematian yang tertunda.

Saat itu juga ia harus merencanakan pelarian sang pangeran, dengan bantuan sang permaisuri mereka kabur dari istana melalui terowongan air. Sejak keluar dari istana Balsa menekankan pada sang pangeran bahwa ia bukan lagi seorang anggo...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Martha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adults

I am such a clever girl. This is the book I posted with the Japanese titles. But that's being dishonest, because I can't read Japanese.

SPOILER ALERT:

Originally written in Japanese by Nahoko Uehashito, translated into English with the title: "Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit".

Balsa is a female samurai who saves a prince, and ultimately a kingdom, by protecting the second son od the powerful Mikado (king) Prince Chagum from supernatural forces and the real world forces of his own father, the Mika...more

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Feb 21, 2011 L11_Nick Mamula rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi

The themes in this book and the way in which they are presented are both powerful and wise. To start, the way in which Uehashi attacks gender roles in society is superb. Instead of relying on the males to represent the strength and power, Uehashi taps into the true power of the female. Throughout the story, it is the women who are subtly the wisest and the most brave. In addition to the gender issue, Uehashi makes sure to tap into ideas of moderation, and the importance of not being "more or les...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book was really good. I was a little hard to get into at first because I kept forgetting the character's names and had to keep looking them up in the back of the book. At first I was unsure if I would like this type of book since you had to use your imagination to let yourself believe that the things in the book were really happening. Once I let go of my disbelief I truly enjoyed the book. I like how the main character, Balsa, was a woman. People do not usually think of women as...more

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Jul 21, 2009 April Helms rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, multicultural

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, by Nahoko Uehashi. 2009 Batchelder Award Winner. I wondered from the beginning of this book whether this was a series, for even from the first chapter you get the sense of this huge universe, where only the surface is scratched. It is, indeed, a series, with manga and even an anime. The heroine is Balsa, a 30-year-old woman who is a bodyguard for hire. Balsa is a wonderful character; she's incredibly tough without being cold. There is no question of her skill, b...more

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Apr 27, 2009 Adrienne added it

Shelves: multicultural

Balsa is a fighter, skilled with the spear and in hand-to-hand combat. She has been hired by the Second Queen to protect Prince Chagum from assassins sent by his father. But Chagum has a secret: he is the guardian of the water spirit, and if he cannot keep the water spirit safe until midsummer, a terrible drought will ravage the land. Can Balsa and Chagum stay one step ahead of the assassins and the supernatural entity that wants to eat the water spirit?

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed t...more

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Feb 14, 2009 Candida rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: batchelder

2009 Batchelder Award Winner
I really enjoyed this book! The writer is Japanese and this is the first book of a 10 book series to be translated into English. It has been turned into a popular television and manga series in Japan. It is not a graphic novel but I hope it comes in manga form to the U.S. as well.
The story follows a bodyguard, Balsa, who rescues a prince, Chagum, and subsequently becomes his bodyguard. The prince's own father is trying to kill him and his mother has hired Balsa to tak...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Mayday rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, children, medieval, strong-female-lead

Read the first page, you know instantly this book is children book. I thought it was intended for young adult or adult since its main character, Balsa, was thirty year old woman. I watched its anime version first, and it is rare to watch PG-13 anime with mature woman as main character, well, there is eleven year old Chagum though to compensate it. Reason why I wanted to watch this anime was because Chagum was cute there. Shotacon here. But nope in this book, I kind dislike Chagum for personal re...more

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Aug 20, 2010 Anne Barwell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

This is the English novelisation of the anime Seirei no Moribito and apparently is the first in a series of ten set in a fantasy world with echoes of medieval Japan. I have the next one to read too, but not sure how many others if any have been translated into English. I'm hoping they are planning to do more.

The novel follows the anime fairly closely and is an easy read; it was good to get more insight into the various characters' thoughts and feelings with it being a different medium than the a...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Speakercoret rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Speakercoret by: Mery

Shelves: indonesian, raknya-petrik

Aku suka bisa melakukan banyak hal utk diriku sendiri. Hanya melakukan apa yg diperintahkan orang sangatlah membosankan. Aku tak mau terperangkap menjadi pangeran lagi.
..........
Tapi sekarang aku terperangkap sebagai sang Moribito, Penjaga sang Roh.

Dunia Chagum berubah. Setelah mengetahui didalam tubuhnya ada telur Roh Air, Permaisuri Kedua, memintanya utk meninggalkan istana, untuk menghindari usaha pembunuhan terhadapnya yang dilakukan atas perintah ayahnya sendiri, Sang Mokido dan Guru Penaf...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Tanya rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: tween

One of the best teen fiction novels I have read. I like foreign literature because it tends to surprise me.

Moribito blends Japanese class-ist culture with Australian aborigine mystic and outcast culture. This blend reflects the background of the author who is Japanese and studies aborigines.

The characters are from all of these walks of life, and another, foreign to both. Much of this book is about class systems. A British novel would handle it by fretting over the class system and then raising...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Andrea added it

Shelves: childrens, fantasy, japan, havedeadtree

Moribito is the story of Balsa, a spear-wielding roving bodyguard-for-hire, and Chagum, the second son of the land's Mikado. Chagum had become possessed by something, and attempts are being made on his life. Balsa saves him from one of these, and is hired to keep him alive.

There's a strong fable tone to this story. It's as much about the merging of cultures as it is the trials the two leads endure, and any change they go through.

The characters have a moderate amount of depth, but we don't really...more

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May 16, 2012 A_Esther rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-sci-fi

Moribito is a high fantasy tale with subtle hints of heroic romance. From the very first pages, the reader literally dives in with Balsa, a 30 year old spear wielding bodyguard for hire, who jumps off a cliff into dark waters below to save a young prince. Balsa is strong, courageous, observant, and a formidable warrior. But Balsa is also a commoner in a foreign land and a woman. Her reward for saving the young prince is a plea from his mother, the second queen, to protect his life from assassins...more Moribito is a high fantasy tale with subtle hints of heroic romance. From the very first pages, the reader literally dives in with Balsa, a 30 year old spear wielding bodyguard for hire, who jumps off a cliff into dark waters below to save a young prince. Balsa is strong, courageous, observant, and a formidable warrior. But Balsa is also a commoner in a foreign land and a woman. Her reward for saving the young prince is a plea from his mother, the second queen, to protect his life from assassins. While Balsa works to save the prince (who’s been charged with a supernatural mission of his own) from assassins of this world and another, we discover what makes her hard on the outside. The reader is privy to Balsa’s journey of self-discovery as she fights an internal battle to open herself to the love of a Yakoo healer or remain a warrior alone.

The text of the story is printed in dark blue ink and features manga-like drawings smattered as punctuation throughout. These drawing, also done in blue ink, provide a visual preview of events to come for the different parts of the story. Each page has a small blue symbol at the top with the same symbol inverted at the bottom. The images are connected by a dotted blue line, with page numbers in the center of the dotted line on the middle of the pages. The visual result is a world of fantasy framed within the boundaries of this delicate border.

This story seems suited for students in middle school and older. Younger students may appreciate the elements of fantasy in the story, but may not understand the nuances of more complicated concepts within the narrative, such as a duplicitous government intent on preserving their own legends at the expense of the native inhabitants as well as its own people. To help students understand this real-life phenomenon, I might pair this story with the nonfiction, Australia, by Anne Wallace Sharp. As students read Uehashi’s description of the indigenous Yakoo people, they will have real-world knowledge to extrapolate from and form a better understanding of these fictional experiences.

Moribito explores the themes of honor and discipline in a multifaceted manner, i.e., honor of family and duty, honor of heritage/traditions both native and new, and even honor among enemies. Discipline is demonstrated as the second prince listens to his mother’s final words before sending him into hiding, the star reader forgoing sleep and food to peruse through Nanai’s memoirs, and Balsa’s martial art practice. As an outsider, I can only assume that both themes are viewed as cultural strengths based on their presentation in the text.
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Jan 18, 2011 Feby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, favorites, romance, non-indonesian, owned-the-indonesian-translation

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 27, 2008 Sheila Ruth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit is an exciting, action packed story with amazing fight scenes. Yet, the book also has surprising depth and solid character development. The world building is amazing; New Yogo is a fantasy world, but there are definite Japanese cultural influences.

Read my entire review

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Nov 01, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mc-international

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi is a Japanese fantasy story written for middle schoolers. In the first book of the series, the protagonist Balsa is hired to protect Chagum, the second son of the Mikado. Little does she know that she will be forced to fight, not only the hunters of the Mikado and ancient spirits, but her past as well. Balsa must save Chagum and the ancient egg, defeat Rarunga the egg eater, and save all of Japan. Along the way she has help from Star Readers who...more Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi is a Japanese fantasy story written for middle schoolers. In the first book of the series, the protagonist Balsa is hired to protect Chagum, the second son of the Mikado. Little does she know that she will be forced to fight, not only the hunters of the Mikado and ancient spirits, but her past as well. Balsa must save Chagum and the ancient egg, defeat Rarunga the egg eater, and save all of Japan. Along the way she has help from Star Readers who can tell the future, Magic Weavers with magical powers, as well as villagers and their traditional stories that have been passed through generations of people that hold the keys to survival.

I liked this story, because it is fantasy. Most of the multicultural books we have talked about have been realistic fiction or historical fiction or nonfiction. This book was a change of pace. Additionally, while the main character is female, it is by no means a “girl’s book.” The supporting characters are male, in a society that is male dominated. As a strong female, Balsa breaks from the traditional. I don’t think that boys would have issue reading this book, once they got past the initial realization that it is about a girl. One of the weaknesses of this book would be the character names. There are many characters in the current story and many characters referenced from past events. Many of these names are similar, which makes the reading a bit laborious. I am not sure if these are the original names, or if this is caused by the translation.

This book would make an excellent read aloud for 4th or 5th graders. It would also be a good book to steer Manga lovers to, in order to expand their choices a bit. It has excellent themes of friendship, duty, for the good of others, and not being controlled by your past, respecting and treasuring tradition, or learning from past mistakes. Additionally this book could be used as a lesson in politics, parenting, or media, where people might change the facts to fit the situations and might mislead you. This book could also be used in a unit about storytelling and the importance early fables had in conveying “truths” or lessons.

Batchelder Award 2009
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Oct 05, 2009 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Guardian of the Spirit is the first book in a popular ten-book Moribito series of novels by Nahoko Uehashi. The fantasy stories are set in far-away lands long ago, with warriors, magicians, and magical creatures. The best reason to read these books, however, is for the main character. Balsa is a female body-guard who was forced to train at an early age after her father was killed. She's smart and clever, and a very strong and entertaining female character. In this book she is forced to protect a...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Angela Oliver rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, childrens, young-adult

Whilst an intriguing idea and a fascinating setting, the story itself seemed rather lacklustre. The plot moved along at a reasonable place, but the action scenes lacked tensions and the characterisation seemed rather flat. I cannot help but wonder if it lost something in the translation. The folklore was interesting, but dealt with in a way that felt like it was all just being explained to the reader, in a "this is what happened" kind of manner. Whilst the setting was interesting - I loved the r...more

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Oct 26, 2011 novia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, nihon-no-shousetsu

I first heard about Moribito from L’Arc~en~Ciel, their song entitled Shine was used as the opening song for the anime version of this book. When I saw the opening, I wasn’t impressed with it and decided not to look for the anime. Last year, a friend of mine (used to be my co work) told me that Seirei no Moribito (the title of the anime as well as the book) was awesome. I became more intrigued after reading the anime review by Kelly of The Gallery of Words.

On July 2011, I was visiting a book sale...more

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Aug 05, 2010 Mia Queen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: catch-me-if-you-can, fantasy, not-mine, touch-of-asia

Pinjeman dari Momo lagi *peluk peluk Momo*

Buku fantasi yang lain dari biasanya, kenapa? Karena nyebutin namanya berasa sampe monyong-monyong nih bibir :p

Ceritanya bagus, fantasinya dapet, moral storynya dapet juga. Berkisah tentang Balsa yang harus mengawal Chagum. Nah namanya aneh kan? :p
Ternyata si Chagum ini adalah moribito, penjaga telur yang tersimpan di dalam tubuhnya. Petualangan dimulai ketika ternyata ada beberapa pihak yang mengincar telur itu juga. Jeng jeng jeng...

Seru! Mudah-mudahan...more

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Nov 01, 2011 528_Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1-international, 2011

The story begins with Balsa, the bodyguard, saving the life of the second prince, Chagum. The action never lets up from there. Chagum's life is in danger because he is housing the egg of the water spirit, Nyunga Ro Im. His father, the Makado, has ordered his death. Balsa saves Chagum and defeats the egg-eater, Rarunga, with the help of Tanda, Torogai, and the Hunters. Balsa provides the story with a strong, likable female protaganist, somewhat similar to Katniss of the Hunger Games series. Morib...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Rebekah H. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

It's funny how much Japanese writing is like their culture. I suppose the same is true for most cultures, but Americans tend to copy and borrow so much from other cultures. This is especially true for fantasy.

It is interesting how Uehashi switches POV (it's in third person) so frequently. That's something they discourage in writing courses, but it works well for the streamlined narrative. And speaking of the narrative, there is a lot of it.

In short, Moribito:Guardian of the Spirit is the stor...more

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Apr 07, 2011 Jacob rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: yong-adoolt

For Balsa, life is a process of penitence earned through fighting. When she meets a boy with a special burden, she finds not only a kindred spirit but a way to repay her debts. In protecting this boy prince, she must fight Emporers and magical creatures. Will she fail on her own, or will others strengthen her ability?

This is a very basic storyline filled with very basic characters. That does not mean it is bad; but it means that it is not entirely surprising or engrossing. Those who enjoy fantas...more

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About Nahoko Uehashi

Nahoko Uehashi is the author of ten books in the Moribito series, which have sold more than a million copies and won many major literary awards in her native Japan. An associate professor at a Japanese university, she has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and studies indigenous peoples in Australia. She lives near Tokyo, Japan.

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Quotes from Moribito: Guardian of ...

“Fighting is in my very bones. I don't have any fancy, noble reason like anger at my fate. I'm just like a gamecock that launches itself into battle after meaningless battle. I like fighting. That's why I can't stop.” — 3 people liked it

“I know what the world is like. Nobody does anything unless there's something in it for themselves. But there are some people who do more than they have to for what they get in return, and those people are kind right to the heart.” — 3 people liked it

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Guardian of the Spirit (Moribito #1)

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