Scrapped Princess - Ichiro Sakaki

Scrapped Princess
A Tale of Destiny
Ichiro Sakaki
TokyoPop/ HarperCollins

Young Adult/ Fantasy

Every year, the people in Linevan Kingdom await the newest prophecy, delivered by the priests. Each year, for more than 5,000 years, there has been a prophecy, and only two of them have not come to pass. That makes the prophecies infallible and non-questionable. So, when the 5111th prophecy tells the people that the Queen will give birth to a daughter, who, on her 16th birthday, will bring about the apocalypse, they’re stunned. When the prophecy orders the people to kill this child, they’re shocked. Prophecies don’t usually come with orders of action.

Later that year, the Queen gives birth to twins, a girl and a boy. She has the girl infant spirited out of the city and raised by trusted members of her guard. Rumor has it that the child was killed, and life goes on as normal. Fourteen years later, the girl, called Pacifica by her adoptive family is living in one of the outermost cities of the kingdom. Her adoptive parents hid her well, because it took that long for the assassins to find them. With her parents dead, she has to trust her brother, Shannon, a warrior, and her sister, Raquel, a sorcerer, to protect her.

This novel, the first in a series that inspired the hit anime series, introduces the characters and shows the siblings setting out on their endless journey. There’s nowhere that’s safe; they have to rely on their wits and skills to keep themselves alive. There are some very dark things that happen here, and some violence. Probably best for ages 12 and up, and ideal for those who enjoy anime stories, this is a promising beginning to the wanderings of the siblings.

Rating: 7
October 2006
ISBN# 1-59532-984-6 (paperback)