Seikai: Crest of the Stars Volume 2: A Modest War (Seikai Trilogy)

Book Description

Jinto and Lafiel escape from Baron Febdash's orbital palace only to fall into the clutches of the Human Unification Army. Thrust into the middle of an ugly battle for intergalactic supremacy, the lander noble and the Imperial princess must learn to work together if they want to survive. Experience the unfolding space opera adventure in Seikai: Crest of the Stars 2: A Modest War!

Customer Reviews:

Great translation!.......2007-08-27

For years, I have loved the anime. I was hoping someone would translate the books, and was happy to stumble across them in a bookstore. The books are better than the anime, and fill in some great details that the anime left out. It was also nice to see the artist's Ahb language that he created for the books. Though it can take a little getting used to the new words for things, I thought it added a nice, original element to the books. (The anime only used the true Ahb language for a couple words/phrases.) If you love the anime, you should read these books!

Reviews on this page do not refer to this title.......2007-03-29

I have not read the book yet so I cannot honestly review it.
My rating is based on the Anime which is absolutely awesome.
It is clear though that neither the editorial review abowe nor the other reviews on this page refer to the novel "Crest of the Stars II"!

A suspenseful thriller I recommend to young readers.......2007-02-08

A group of bored teenage girls, who all have problems they wish to run away from, enter the anonymous world of online RPGs only to find themselves in a more terrifying situation than their previous ones.
Although the ending was a little too...unpredictable for my taste, the story was engaging throughout and kept me squirming at the edge of my seat. The translations were pretty accurate as well and did a good job of maintaining the original author's voice. Overall, a thrilling, original, and startlingly realistic work.

Links in the Chain.......2007-01-20

Sawako, an overachieving junior high school student, is extremely lonely. Her mother is gone, her father distant, and her friends are non-existant. When she receives an email on her cell phone inviting her to be a part of an interactive story, she jumps at the chance to belong - even though the message came from someone she does not know.

Two other junior high girls receive similar emails on their phones: Mayumi, who lives in the shadow of her intelligent and athletic best friend, and Mai, who would rather go clubbing (for the music, not necessarily the scene) than deal with the high expectations of diplomat family.

They develop a story about a young girl, her tutor, her stalker, and a detective. Each girl writes for a certain character and posts their chapters at the website. The mysterious Yukari, the girl who started it all, writes the role of the stalker. As the story's suspense escalates, life begins to imitate art. Suddenly, Sawako goes missing in both stories, leaving the other girls to wonder what happened to her - and if it will happen to them next.

Chain Mail: Addicted to You by Hiroshi Ishizaki embraces the story-within-a-story format from the very beginning, and keeps raising the stakes until the vey end. Cell phones are ever-present, making this cautionary tale ultra-contemporary. While racing through the book to find out who done it, American readers will subconsciously learn about Japanese culture and schooling.

Chain Mail comes courtesy of Pop Fiction, a new teen fiction imprint from TokyoPop.

The continuation of a great SF saga.......2007-01-17

Crest of the Stars: A Modest War picks up right where the first novel, Princess of the Empire, left off. Which is a good thing since Princess of the Empire ended off with a cliffhanger: Jinto and Lafiel were being held captive by Baron Febdash, who captured them when their desperate escape from the United Mankind fleet brought them to his orbital palace hoping to obtain fuel and supplies. Princess Lafiel has decided to take matters into her own hands and has started a rebellion among the Baron's vassals.

Just to give a quick recap, Seikai is an immensely popular space-opera series by Japanese author Hiroyuki Morioka. Anime and manga adaptations have been available in English translation for some time, but this is the first time the original novels have been translated into English. It was well worth the wait.

In the second novel we get more insight into the psyche and culture of the Seikai series' primary focus: the Abh. They are genetically engineered warriors who have made space their home, disdaining the planets inhabited by "landers." Over centuries they have built a massive empire based on both conquest and trade. We learn more about their history, including the terrible "original sin" which burdens the prideful Abh.

The real delight of this novel is to see the blossoming relationship between Princess Lafiel and Jinto, the "accidental noble" lander who had his Abh title thrust upon him when he was a young boy. Brought together by chance, they now find themselves fighting for their lives and their freedom as both war and treachery threaten them at every turn. They become refugees, trying to hide and survive in enemy territory. Though their friendship grows and they are able to work together, their radically different backgrounds too often get in the way. They are very much an odd couple, and old prejudices threaten to tear them apart. But each comes to find unexpected sources of strength in the other, and they are able to persevere together for another day.

The Crest of the Stars trilogy will conclude with the third novel "Return to a Strange World." But that will be just the beginning of a long epic, hopefully we will see the rest of the story that is still being released and enjoyed in Japan.

I enjoyed the second novel as much as the first. The adventure and conflict is peppered with delightful moments of humor and irony. Fans of the anime or manga series should note that it is in the second novel where we really start to see a great deal of material which never made it into the adaptations. We finally get the story complete and unabridged.

Seikai Trilogy, The Volume 1: Crest Of The Stars (Seikai Trilogy)

Average customer rating:

Best. Manga. Ever.
Great Anime!!!
Great manga

Seikai Trilogy, The Volume 1: Crest Of The Stars (Seikai Trilogy)
Aya Yoshinaga , and Hiroyuki Morioka
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591828570

Book Description

After his home world is ruthlessly taken over by the Abh—a space-faring race that has conquered many worlds—a boy named Jinto begins an unforgettable journey that stretches the boundaries of the final frontier. With a beautiful princess at his side, he will attempt to unlock the secret behind Abh domination and discover that all's fair in love and interplanetary war.

Customer Reviews:

Best. Manga. Ever........2005-01-21

I am a huge fan of manga and anime, and this by far the best, along with the rest in the series. Anyone who likes manga or star wars will love this!

(Im to lazy to type more. :p)

Great Anime!!!.......2004-07-26

This is another awesome book put out by Tokyo Pop! The panels are open and clear so you don't have to go over the book trying to figure out the story, though the characters sometimes use words in another language and it's annoying going back and forth to the Dictionary in the back but that doesn't take away from the great work of Toshihiro Ono, Aya Yoshinaga and the original story writer Hiroyuki Morioka!

Great manga.......2004-06-21

I just got this manga, and I must say, I really loved it. I am a huge fan of the anime and I found this to be a must-have companion. The only drawback is that Banner of the Stars won't be released until August 3. Oh well.

Seikai Trilogy, Vol. 1: Crest of the Stars

Average customer rating:

Seikai Trilogy, Vol. 1: Crest of the Stars

Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417683775

Book Description

In Renate's spellbinding story, we're taken along on an incredible journey of survival that spans three countries and one remarkable life. In sun-soaked pages, Renate shows us life on the kibbutz and how a young country experiences the miracle of statehood. Part of Renate's gift is to give us vibrantly real and intimate glimpses of what it's like to be a young mother, nurse and doting wife during turbulent times and in a strange land. She doesn't sugarcoat, but instead shows us both the pleasures and the perils of her life, including the terrifying time when she and her husband, back in Israel, are separated from their children during the Yom Kippur War. Fearlessly honest in her writing, Renate spares no detail. This outstanding book occasionally breaks the fourth wall, allowing the author to talk with readers and reveal to them how freeing it has been for her to write about the traumas in her life. This boldness and strength of spirit give From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country its shining truth and intimacy. “We are meant to enjoy the earth.” Renate says, and in this moving memoir, we experience a woman who has, despite all the odds, found purpose and peace. – Ellen Tanner Marsh New York Times best-selling author

Customer Reviews:

Rina's Journey (Lucky To Have Read It).......2007-03-22

All in all, a very nice read.

I approached this book with the idea of gleaning, through the author's eyes, a first-hand account of what it was like for a person of Jewish ancestry to have live though some major pieces of modern history, starting with the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany, moving through the formation and early development of the state of Israel, and ending perhaps with a view, through biased eyes of course, of what makes peace in the Middle East seemingly forever beyond reach. Her later experiences as an émigré to Australia might be interesting too, I reckoned. Turned out that I got all of this and something more. That is, in reading the first 100 pages or so I was struck by and enjoyed the author's brightness of outlook and joy of life, and her mischievousness too which was often in evidence. (I took "strength of character as a "given" and was not wrong in the least in this pre-judgment.) I thought that she was reaching into memory to recreate these qualities, particularly the mischievousness, but then found that all of them stayed with her through out her entire 3-country passage of life.

I found it particularly noteworthy that that the time in her life when she most needs to draw on her inner strength is not, for example, when close friends from high school are killed in the war of independence. Rather, it is much later in life when she and her family come face-to-face with the power of a modern bureaucracy that decides to pursue the outsiders for reasons it never adequately explains, because it doesn't have to, and in an Orwellian manner, because it can. Rina, along with her family, prevails but in so doing one can sense that she and her husband retreat to a safer, more removed (physically on a boat for a while) style of life in which they seemingly live apart from their adopted home country rather than becoming enmeshed in the social/political fabric of it. I wondered, has she, figuratively speaking, rejoined the Jewish Diaspora that for centuries roamed in search of a homeland? But she has found her home; it is in her place of honor within a loving family.

Sorry, this review got long. Now I need to find a book that tells a similar story except maybe this time from the standpoint of a Muslim woman who, having grown up in a Middle Eastern, makes the passage to the West. (Suggestions?)

Courage, Adventure, Sadness and Joy.......2007-02-02

`From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country' - Renate
I was privileged to be one of the first to read `From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country' - an inspirational true account of Renate's life.
The book tells of the happy, and not so happy adventures, and the challenges faced by Renate and her family between 1933 and 1988 in four countries. - Germany, Eretz Israel, Australia and the USA.
It is a story of the enduring love between family members; between Renate and her husband Gerry, and the love they share for their three children and their families.
I was moved to tears and laughter. I was also educated in the customs and history of the different cultures, and encouraged to expand my mind by imagining the wide variety of circumstances and the diversity of experiences depicted.
Renate's parents demonstrated courage when they left Germany with their family to help settle Eretz Israel before the Second World War. With the same pioneering spirit in the 1950's, nurse Rinate and pilot Gerry migrated to an unknown country, Australia. With only a smattering of English, little money and nothing more than shear determination and willpower, they accomplished unbelievable things. They established their own private hospital in an outer Sydney suburb, and then migrated to the US to become qualified in chiropractic and radiology. They set up a thriving practice in Western Australia, whilst at the same time raising their children.
The adventures roll on one after the other, keeping the reader wanting to turn every page without putting the book down. Renate and her husband Gerry can truly be called `world citizens'.
Renate's style of writing is delightfully honest and from the heart. With English as a second language she transports the reader into other worlds through her turn of phrase and her view of her surroundings. Her descriptions paint visual images that can only be captured by the artist that she is, as she comments on details with a perspective uniquely her own.
This is neither a political commentary, nor a historical document, but Renate pulls no punches. If she has a comment which is important to make she makes it.
There is much in her life that Renate could resent if she chose to, but the energizing message of the story is `We can overcome' - and have fun along the way.
Reading `From the Promised Land to the Lucky Country' is an unforgettable experience that will inspire you to appreciate the world we live in and the indomitable human spirit.
I encourage you to do yourself a favour and claim a copy of Renate's book for yourself.
Joan Small - Author / Poet [...]

Rosalind Rosenfeld's Review from BookSurge.com.......2006-11-23

A compelling auto-biography that hi-lights the trials and tribulations of the author which starts in Germany in 1933. Renate takes the leader on a journey through Israel, USA and Australia. Her story gives an insight into the State of Israel from before 1949 and the British Mandate from the point of view of the natives of Israel. Even in the land of milk and honey, her fighter-pilot husband is hampered by bureaucracy: bureaucracy she finds, as a citizen of the world, is relevant to all countries that they live in. It is a determination of the spirit, sometimes against all odds to settle and re0settle in a foreign land. Her book is illustrated with interesting photographs bringing life to Renate's conversational style of writing. A good read that you will not put down to the end.

Review from BookSurge.com by Matt Mawson.......2006-11-23

Renate has created a well-written account of an eventful life, from growing up in the emerging nation of Israel, to her life as an artist and author in Australia. Running to 400 pages and illustrated with over 100 photographs, "From the Promised Land. . ." follows the author's battles and triumphs, disappointments, joy and humour as she and her husband raise a family while dealing with a wide range of challenges, including losing comrades in the Israeli war of independence, dealing with bitterly cold winters, setting up a successful chiropractic clinic and a nursing home, building and launching a yacht, fighting a mean-spirited bureaucracy and defending their reputations in a long court case. The hardships are outweighed by the good times and Renate's positive attitude to life.

Average customer rating:

another wonderful batya gur mystery
Amazingly good depiction of a kibbutz
A Real Kibbutz
An intriguing and educational mystery. . .

Murder on a Kibbutz: Communal Case, A
Batya Gur
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Jewish | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0060926546

Customer Reviews:

another wonderful batya gur mystery.......2007-08-25

I've come to Batya Gur late in my reading life and have relished every one of her mysteries but Murder on a Kibbutz is, in my opinion, her best. In addition to enjoying the pleasures of Michael Ohayon's company, we're introduced to a wonderful cast of kibbutz characters that, like Gur's Holocaust survivors, will soon no longer exist in real life. She gets them down exactly right, along with the kibbutz dining room and holiday festivities and endless communal meetings -- she's even got the refet exactly as it is. In a patriarchal country where careers in literature are hard to come by for women, Gur carved out a unique niche of her own. I'm so sorry that she died at 57 and that there will be no further work coming from her.

Amazingly good depiction of a kibbutz.......2004-09-17

I like mysteries, but this book far transcends that category. It is really a study of the ideology of the kibbutz -- the communal, socialist philosophy that the founders of this movement held. They were highly idealistic and sacrificed a lot to make it work. But the idea has proven faulty all over the world, including on the kibbutzim. Nowadays, the kibbutzim rely on a variety of capitalist businesses to stay alive. In this book, the founders can't let go of the idea even though most people there, especially younger people, don't want it. The brutality hidden behind their attachment to the ideal reminds me -- in microcosm, on a far lower level here -- of the brutality that has appeared in all socialist countries as the ideals have failed in practice.

In addition to all this, it is a very good read.

A Real Kibbutz.......1999-12-21

Ms. Gur does an outstanding job of describing and playing out life on a Kibbutz. This is the first of its kind that I have read. The place comes alive and the crime is certainly realistic.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Kibbutz life or a good mystery.

An intriguing and educational mystery. . ........1998-10-08

Subtitled "A Communal Case," this novel invites to reader into the idealized world of an Israeli kibbutz, where a policeman who is an outsider must try to solve the mystery of who could have possibly killed a member of the kibbutz family. Gur interweaves lessons in social history and a social critique of the effect of bourgeois ideas on socialist ideals. I find the novel an intriguing yet relatively traditional murder mystery. Some people might get tired of the social commentary, but people who like to learn as they are entertained will like following the mystery and find the social ingredients essential to the resolution of the mystery. The book is quite suspenseful and thrilling. If you like this one, Batya Gur has others, as this one is the third in her mystery series based on the sleuth Michael Ohayon.

Crisis and Transformation: The Kibbutz at Century's End (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies)

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Crisis and Transformation: The Kibbutz at Century's End (S U N Y Series in Israeli Studies)
Eliezer Ben-Rafael
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

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Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (Center Books in Anabaptist Studies)

ASIN: 0791432262

Book Description

This book examines kibbutz life following the Israeli economic crisis of 1985, focusing on the kibbutz's dramatic transformation from a well-defined social structure to a collective identified principally by its cultural preoccupations. It centers on the contradictions endemic to kibbutz identity. Ben-Rafael shows how the crisis brought together a general pro-change Zeitgeist with the interests of the kibbutz's stronger social segments and individuals to produce widespread changes and the fragmentation of kibbutz reality as a whole. The book's findings are based on a large-scale research investigation (1991-1994) headed up by Ben-Rafael that included twenty research studies and involved the participation of researchers from diverse social-science disciplines. The book also provides a statistical abstract and a comprehensive kibbutz bibliography.

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ACTS OF FAITH
Erich Segal
Manufacturer: Bantam NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0091751810

Average customer rating:

interesting study of some kibbutzim

The Kibbutz: Awakening from Utopia
Daniel Gavron
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0847695263

Amazon.com

The kibbutz, or agricultural and light industrial commune, was one of Israel's chief instruments of state-building. Initiated in 1910 as a socialist experiment in cooperative action, it provided work for newcomers, promoted their settlement in inland areas of Palestine, and afforded a sense of purpose and solidarity. At the time of statehood, Israel's national borders were largely determined by the location of the most distant kibbutzim, and, writes journalist Daniel Gavron, the kibbutz movement "held a unique position of prestige, providing many of the nation's best military commanders, as well as a third of its government."

Over the last half century, Gavron argues, and especially since the 1970s, the kibbutzim have lost some of their utopian sensibility. For example, where before each kibbutz worker held an equal share of the commune's holdings, there are now differentials in income, and decades of inflation and borrowing compromised the financial integrity of several of the most important communities. Many Israelis consider kibbutzim to be wonderful places for children and the elderly, but not for career-minded workers in the prime of life.

All that notwithstanding, the kibbutz continues to play an important role in Israeli life, Gavron writes, producing some 40 percent of the country's crops and about 10 percent of its manufactured goods. His study of this remarkable, and in the main successful, experiment is a useful contribution to Israeli history. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

One of the world's most fascinating societies and a potent symbol of the state of Israel, the kibbutz seems to be on the point of collapse as radical changes in its founding principles threaten its very existence. Focusing on the human story, journalist Daniel Gavron movingly portrays the fears, regrets, and hopes of members of kibbutzim ranging from traditional to modern, agricultural to urban. As an integral part of Israeli life, the kibbutz's disappearance would change Israeli society dramatically and permanently. Jews and all those interested in Israel will find this book a compelling portrait of a country trying to hold onto its past while facing its future.

Customer Reviews:

interesting study of some kibbutzim.......2001-01-21

On the positive side, the book presents interesting histories of several kibbutz settlements. It showcases the wide variety within in the kibbutz movement. It also explains the history of the kibbutz movement within the greater context of Israeli history, explaining some reasons for the rise and slow decline of the movement.

The one thing that seems to unify every kibbutz is the struggle to retain members past the 2nd or 3rd generation generation. I was disappointed that the book doesn't provide interesting answers to the central question of the future of the movement. Are the problems attracting new members and retaining children due to historic cycles or to a fundamental flaw in the utopian vision?

Book Description

A working stay on a kibbutz in Israel has long been one of the classic stopovers for the working traveller. This unique guide to kibbutz life gives their historical background and lists comprehensive details of 200 kibbutzim including the types of work available, working hours, leisure activities, facilities and how to apply whether in advance or on the spot; it also conveys the special atmosphere of these unique working communities.
Kibbutz Volunteer also covers the other short term work to be found in Israel, both paid and unpaid, including working stays on Moshavim, voluntary conservation work, joining archaeological digs, fruit picking, jobs in the tourist industry at Eilat and other resorts, au pair and hotel work etc. In addition the book includes a detailed visitor's guide to Israel giving all the information a visitor needs from entry and visa regulations to where to stay, the main sites to visit, how to travel, beaches, bargaining, etc.

Customer Reviews:

THE resource for kibbutz volunteer work........2000-05-03

A great book! Packed full of great information for planning volunteer duty in Israel. I am planning my trip with a full understanding of the culture and facts of kibbutz lifestyle, all based on what I learned from the book. I highly recomend this book to any one planning on spending time in the middle east!

the definative kibbutz guide.......1999-10-23

thinking about kibbutz? this is the book to get

one of the best books on kibbutz volunteerism........1998-02-06

gives a great overview on what to expect on any particular kibbutz you've been thinking about volunteering on.

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