I've been reading alot more books these days. I guess that's a good thing, even if these novels are actually official translations of Japanese books of which the anime adaptations rank among my favorites. Some of the stuff I've been reading lately include the Berserk graphic novel, The Twelve Kingdom novel (which I have more to say about in another post), and I'm awaiting for the next Kino no Tabi book scheduled to be released in June. But what I want to mention was some things I've observed in Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War.

I have the following purchases inbound to me:

• Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Rose Collection/The Movie Boxed Set (Anime)
• Berserk, Vol. 1 (Manga)
• Seikai: Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War (Seikai Trilogy) (Novel)
• Steamboy/Memories (Anime)

I have the following on pre-order:

• The Twelve Kingdoms 1 (Novel)
• Kino No Tabi 2: Book Two of the Beautiful World (Novel)

I also have Full Moon Volumes 2-4 DVDs waiting to ship with Kino No Tabi.

A couple of days ago, I decided to subject myself to the English dub of Crest of the Stars, gave up and started rewatching Monster. The night afterwards, I put in the first DVD of Vision of Escaflowne and watched the first couple of episodes in Japanese with English dubs. A few things came to mind at the time concerning each of these shows.

Ah, I finally get to the end of the book, and get left a bit hanging. I expected this because the anime Crest of the Stars was based off of all three books in the trilogy. I am enjoying this book enough and I loved the anime enough that I'm planning on purchasing the next books in the series as they come out.

Nothing to do in a chapter like starting an intergalactic war, no? In this set of chapters, the Abh warship Gosroth gets caught up in an incident that is forshadowed to start a long, drawn-out war between the Abh and the "Four Nations Alliance". Since Jinto is still a civilian at this point, Lafiel is ordered to take a short range shuttle and evacuate the battle with the lander. They end up on a baron's territory, where we can forsee some probable delays in the couple's journey.

Before I go in too far, I do have to comment that the book does go through many digressions into Abh society and into description of the technology. Not too bad to annoy me, but other readers may not like this. Though the technology discussion is important for later events.

Written by Hiroyuki Morioka, this highly acclaimed novel was the source of one of my most favorite series of anime. Crest of the Stars is a space opera that, as an anime (along with its successors, Banner of the Stars I, II, and III), wasn't the most flashy sci-fi series ever, but had perhaps the best dialog, the best worldbuilding, the most intriguing "alien" race, and one of the most wonderful couples I've ever seen animated. Hence, I had high expectations when I picked up the book from Barnes and Noble. Did it meet those expectations? As of the first few chapters, I'd have to say yes, so far.