Book review – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol. 3 (Spoiler Free)

“Power does not inhabit a blade without bravery.”

• Title: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol. 3
• Author: Akira Himekawa
• Genre: Fantasy, manga/comic book
• Pages: 200 pages
• Publication date: March 13, 2018

I found The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Vol. 3 at a store in Florida, and I picked it up without looking at it much. Only after I got back to Texas did I realize that it was the third book in a series I hadn’t started. (Whoops.) However, since I’ve played the video game way too many times to count, I know the story by heart.

The third one starts with Link and Midna heading toward Death Mountain. Link battles with what he wants to do versus what everyone else wants him to do. Midna wants him to collect fragments of the Shadow Crystal for her, and The Spirits of Light want him to save the world. But he just wants to help his friends. He moves, but it’s clear through the art that he struggles inside.

Midna fumbles as well. She sways to keep her original goal: to stop Zant from taking control while not caring for this foreign world of Light. The drawings express what her words cannot say yet.

Also, all the art was fantastic.

For lovers of the game, this book does go a bit off the original path, but most of it stays the same. It only wavers in spots that are hard to show in a comic book versus in a game. Plus, everyone—including Link and the monsters—talk, which I found fascinating. They did it in a tasteful way. It was cool to see more into Link’s character versus keeping him mute/not seeing him talk like in the video game series.

My main critique would be that some translations felt off. They weren’t too distracting, but a few lines didn’t match the rest of the page as well. I would love to read this book in Japanese to see what the original words were.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it (but you might want to start with book one), especially if you love the games.

Score: 9.7
Average rating on Goodreads: 4.41/5