PRAISE FOR THE GUIN SAGA
“A rousing tale of intrepid heroes, horrid villains
and wicked supernatural creatures.”
— Publishers Weekly
“The Guin Saga was the most influential [inspiration for Berserk]. I started reading it in junior high and I’m still reading the new volume every month.”
— Berserk creator Kentaro Miura
“Kaoru Kurimoto manages the flurry of situations being
set up and resolved like the trick of putting a hand on a table with fingers
spread out, then stabbing a blade between the outstretched digits.
The speed and coordination is that amazing.”
— Scott Green, Ain't It Cool News
“… a darn good thrill ride […]
The Guin Saga is enjoyable, fast-paced sword and sorcery.”
— Dave Hardy, Sword & Sorcery online
“Giving up no answers to its deeper mysteries, moving the heroes from one peril to another even more uncertain, The Leopard Mask feels less like the first book in a series and more like a rich chapter in a much longer novel. The rest of the tale can’t come soon enough.”
— Sarah Meador, Rambles (a Cultural Arts Magazine)
“A swashbuckling fantasy… action is
always center stage…dreamlike… intense.”
—The Seattle Times
“The Leopard Mask brought me back to my days of immersion in Robert E. Howard’s Conan, Michael Moorcock’s Elric and Jane Gaskell’s Cija/Atlantis tales. For the first time in a long time I was intrigued where the author was going to take the story, and how she was going to do it, which is a lot to say for one as jaded of heroic fantasy as I am.”
— George T. Dodds, SF Site
“This is classic fantasy at its best. […] the action and suspense are non-stop, with each chapter’s and scene’s ending drawing the reader on. […] There is a reason why this series is so popular in Japan: It’s good.”
— Book Sense (Fall 2003 Science Fiction and Fantasy Top Ten)
"Readers should be warned that once you start this journey, it will be nearly impossible to leave it unfinished.”
—SFRevu
“Japan’s answer to The Lord of the Rings.”
— The Globe and Mail
“This has to be one of the best translations I’ve yet read. The language is fluid and establishes a strong narrative voice.”
— James Michael White, SFReader.com
“The experience of reading the Guin books is like Robert E. Howard crossed with manga and a triple espresso—pure adventure fiction…”
— Robert K. J. Killheffer, Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine
“[The Guin Saga] is the purest, most unapologetically escapist thrill ride / movie-for-the-mind to come across in what feels like and what probably is decades. It hasn’t dated a day since it first popped out twenty-nine-years-ago, and I’m still divided as to whether that’s because Kaoru Kurimoto knew exactly what the heck she was doing the first time around or because we’ve been playing catch-up ever since.”
— Serdar Yegulalp, Advanced Media Network
PRAISE FOR THE GUIN SAGA MANGA: THE SEVEN MAGI
“Kazuaki Yanagisawa’s muscular character designs,
richly detailed backgrounds, and expertly executed fight scenes
breathe life into Kurimoto's story...”
— PopCultureShock
“The elaborate illustrations are the highlight of The Guin Saga: The Seven Magi, as the impossibly muscled warror struggles to save his kingdom. I don't think even Conan ever looked this good.”
— Manga Maniac Café
“A blanket recommendation forThe Guin Saga Manga goes out to three types of people: those who are already Guin lovers; high-fantasy fans; and anyone looking for something nicely off the beaten path.”
— Advanced Media Network
“[Yanagisawa’s] stacked women and super-hero proportioned Guin certainly set up an agenda for the manga … Like a kung fu movie, he'll set a fight in an alley, and let Guin and his monstrous adversary run up the walls, leap onto overhangs and the like … For fans of guy manga, Seven Magi is a bit of a treat… a nice, caffeinated experience.”
— Scott Green, Ain't It Cool News
“If you’re still fairly new to Japanese manga, as I am, [The Guin Saga Manga] will make a good introduction for you.”
— Ian Randal Strock , SFScope
