From Far Away: Vol. 13

by Kyoko Hikawa

Synopsis
After a terrorist bomb catapults her into an alternate universe full of magic and mystery, teenage Noriko finds herself the central figure in a political power struggle over a dark prophecy she's destined to fulfill, turn the man she loves into a monster that could ultimately destroy the world.

When Rachef and Tazasheena kidnap Noriko, Izark is forced to face the fact that the only way to saver her may be to do exactly what they've been trying to avoid: fulfill the prophecy of The Awakening.

Will Clairgeeta's wistful hope that the Sky Demon may not be evil turn out to be true after all? Or is this the end of Izark as we know him?

With their enemies lying in wait just beyond the city walls, and Noriko close to death, Izark may not have time to figure it all out before it's too late!

Review
Some really interesting things happen in this volume. First, Rachef kidnaps Noriko, but doesn't kill her right away, like they were planning to do. Tazasheena is the smart one, wondering why he doesn't, but apparently, he doesn't take criticism well, and slaps her. Then, in a move that shows that he didn't read The Evil Overlord's Handbook, he starts saying odd things like he wants her power, and he becomes angry when she rejects him. This is interesting because in an earlier volume, he mused about what made her so powerful, that it changed Izark in a moment when she arrived. I thought, "well, that sounds like something someone who had never been in love would say." Well, of course, he has no idea what love is, he thinks that she actually has some ability, and didn't seem like he could understand when Noriko said what she had for Izark was love.

Of course, I couldn't stop myself from thinking that perhaps this was just the characters acting stupid so that the heroine could win, but that is very uncharacteristic for this author. She seems to think about events ahead of time, and I think she used this opportunity to show us more about the Rachef character. Namely, how he was rejected by his mother, so he hates for people to reject him, and he wants to rule the world so that he won't feel like something is missing from his life. Apparently if he controls everything, nothing will be missing in his life. I can't help but think there is some flaw in this, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

The rest of the volume is Noriko escaping, because Tazasheena foolishly offered her the teleportation chimos, then she makes it back, but the teleporting took a lot out of her. Finally, Rachef and others make their move, so Izark decides to end it before they can hurt Noriko. We'll see how it turns out in the next book!

Final thought: I have to read the next book!