Brave Story
core novel 2003 Brave Story
Record
| First published | 2003 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  JA |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.19 (2,903 ratings, collected 2026-09-06) |
| Page count | 816 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781421511962 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Wataru Mitani is an ordinary fifth-grader whose family is thrown into crisis when his father leaves for another woman and his mother, devastated, attempts suicide. Before this happens, Wataru has already discovered an abandoned building containing a mysterious gateway, the Porta Nectere, which opens for only ninety days once every ten years. Urged on by a classmate who has seen the other side, Wataru decides to enter the gate in the hope of changing his family's fate, and passes into an alternate world called Vision. There an old man known as the Wayfinder tells him that as a "Brave Traveler" he must gather five gemstones, each tied to a different virtue, in order to reach the Tower of Destiny, where a goddess grants a single wish to whoever completes the journey. Wataru sets out across Vision to collect the stones, meeting both allies and enemies along the way.
Where it sits
- Universe: Brave Story
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Miyuki Miyabe
Notes
- Standalone portal fantasy: a Tokyo schoolboy escapes into the fantasy world of Vision to seek a wish-granting power that might restore his broken family. First published in two hardcover volumes by Kadokawa Shoten (Japan, 2003), after 1999-2001 serialization. Translated into English by Alexander O. Smith (Viz Media/Haikasoru, 2007); the English translation won the American Library Association's 2008 Mildred L. Batchelder Award for an outstanding children's book originally published in a language other than English.
Sources
← Brave Story dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.