Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn (vol. 4)

[Chiwara]

For anyone who doesn't know yet, the fourth book by Tokyopop is already available for pre-order at some places. Here it is at Amazon.

I really hope we don't have a repeat of Vol. 3's hardcover sell-out, but I have a bad feeling. I got this in my e-mail today from Deep Discount: "Thank you for your recent order. Due to an overwhelming demand for the item(s)listed, we are temporarily out of stock. If you ordered with a credit
card, you will not be charged until the item ships. We expect to receive this
merchandise and ship your order within twenty-one days."

And I've had mine pre-ordered for a month now. Not sure why this happened (can pre-orders sell out?), but I went with Amazon instead.

[Juuni]

This title will be released on March 2, 2010.
Pre-order now!
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

I think we have to wait a bit longer...

[zitch]

So... tempted... to... preorder....

[zitch]

Indeed, I do plan on pre-ordering it soon. The question I need to work out is from where, though.

[jovemako]

I was able to find it right away at Barnes and Noble the day the 3rd one released. I plan on doing the same this year too.

[zitch]

Just a reminder, this book is coming out in a week! I've already preordered mine from Amazon (Mainly as part of a larger order that included the Evangelion 1.11 and Ponyo Blu-rays and other DVDs and books, as I'd normally just pre-order the book locally otherwise).

[Chiwara]

Amazon just told me they shipped mine. Can't wait to get it!

[zitch]

Same here, Amazon emailed me yesterday that the book was shipped! Can't wait!

[Chiwara]

I just got mine today. That was fast! This book is freaking huge, too. I'm sad to see the cover is all glossy like the last book.

[jovemako]

I was so annoyed!
I went to my local Barnes and Noble yesterday expecting to just be able to walk in and pick up vol 4 off the shelf (I did that very thing for the previous three volumes) only to find out they hadn't ordered any copies! I guess they've decided they don't want to actively carry it anymore. Told me they could order it for me and it'd be here in a week (same at Waldenbooks/Borders). I'm impatient though. I went home, logged onto Amazon.com and paid extra to have it at my door in two days. I'm sad I'll have to order it online from now on.
I don't know if my geeky little heart can take it! (j/k)

[Chiwara]

Oh, I hate it when that happens. If it's not super duper popular, then stores aren't likely to give it top priority. There's one manga title I buy that I've had to buy online because my local bookstores haven't bothered to carry it for a long time.

Even though I paid for regular shipping when I bought Skies of Dawn, it was still here in two days. That's pretty darn good, so I'm not too bothered with having to wait.

[Jinx999]

Mine's been shipped from Amazon, too.

Books have to be pretty mainstream to turn up at my local bookstores.

[zitch]

I was so annoyed!
I went to my local Barnes and Noble yesterday expecting to just be able to walk in and pick up vol 4 off the shelf (I did that very thing for the previous three volumes) only to find out they hadn't ordered any copies! I guess they've decided they don't want to actively carry it anymore. Told me they could order it for me and it'd be here in a week (same at Waldenbooks/Borders). I'm impatient though. I went home, logged onto Amazon.com and paid extra to have it at my door in two days. I'm sad I'll have to order it online from now on.
I don't know if my geeky little heart can take it! (j/k)

Actually, this is why you really need to go in ahead of time and put it on order at places like Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million. I did that with several previous books; heck, I actually got the first book several days ahead of the release date...

[jovemako]

I was so annoyed!
I went to my local Barnes and Noble yesterday expecting to just be able to walk in and pick up vol 4 off the shelf (I did that very thing for the previous three volumes) only to find out they hadn't ordered any copies! I guess they've decided they don't want to actively carry it anymore. Told me they could order it for me and it'd be here in a week (same at Waldenbooks/Borders). I'm impatient though. I went home, logged onto Amazon.com and paid extra to have it at my door in two days. I'm sad I'll have to order it online from now on.
I don't know if my geeky little heart can take it! (j/k)

Actually, this is why you really need to go in ahead of time and put it on order at places like Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million. I did that with several previous books; heck, I actually got the first book several days ahead of the release date...

I've never had an issue before. It's always just been there on the shelf. Normally when I can't find it on the shelf, I've had great luck asking at the counter where it turns out that it was still in the backroom. I was just so suprised that they dropped it like that! They've dropped 3 of my favorite series from the shelves (but still available through special order) over the last year. Even though I did have to order online, it did come on time and I'm already reading it. lol
And even though I give credit due for getting the first volume days before the street date, it's hard to come by those anymore. (I worked in a bookstore for 7 years). The publishers are now really cracking down on selling titles before the offical release date and fining the stores for doing that.

[jovemako]

I was so annoyed!
I went to my local Barnes and Noble yesterday expecting to just be able to walk in and pick up vol 4 off the shelf (I did that very thing for the previous three volumes) only to find out they hadn't ordered any copies! I guess they've decided they don't want to actively carry it anymore. Told me they could order it for me and it'd be here in a week (same at Waldenbooks/Borders). I'm impatient though. I went home, logged onto Amazon.com and paid extra to have it at my door in two days. I'm sad I'll have to order it online from now on.
I don't know if my geeky little heart can take it! (j/k)

Actually, this is why you really need to go in ahead of time and put it on order at places like Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million. I did that with several previous books; heck, I actually got the first book several days ahead of the release date...

I've never had an issue before. It's always just been there on the shelf. Normally when I can't find it on the shelf, I've had great luck asking at the counter where it turns out that it was still in the backroom. I was just so suprised that they dropped it like that! They've dropped 3 of my favorite series from the shelves (but still available through special order) over the last year. Even though I did have to order online, it did come on time and I'm already reading it. lol
And even though I give credit due for getting the first volume days before the street date, it's hard to come by those anymore. (I worked in a bookstore for 7 years). The publishers are now really cracking down on selling titles before the offical release date and fining the stores for doing that.

[hisenbr]

hello guys.
It's been a while since I logged in here. Just wanted to say I finished reading the 4th volume and I was so sad when I realized it was over!! 1 year until the next one!

Anyway, the story as always was fantastic! The only down side were the annoying grammar mistakes, one or two sentences that didn't make sense and Yoko's name not being properly displayed in Kanji towards the end of the book. This book sure could use some editing.

cheers!

[kupo]

Hello all. Such a great story!

For the next book, have Tokyopop announce anything? I can't see anything about the next book in the series in their website.

[Chiwara]

Kupo, they usually don't get around to announcing it until maybe four or five months before the release, but I'm approximating. You may not expect to see the next book listed until maybe late summer or early fall.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't even read the newest book yet. I have so many books I'm reading right now that I'm trying to finish them all up before I start it. I'm a slow reader.

[anderaina]

I just read up to the part where Yoko captured one of Koshou's men and demanded him to bring her to Koshou. Then the next page starts with attack on Shoukou.

Where is the part where Yoko talk to Koshou and asked him if he kidnapped Enho? Where's the part where Yoko join Koshou?

I must admit up to just before this point I am merely irritated by the errors and mistakes here and there. But now I am simply furious and cannot bear to continue read this!

What happened? The first 3 books are quite okay.

[kupo]

I just read up to the part where Yoko captured one of Koshou's men and demanded him to bring her to Koshou. Then the next page starts with attack on Shoukou.

Where is the part where Yoko talk to Koshou and asked him if he kidnapped Enho? Where's the part where Yoko join Koshou?

Hi Anderaina. My book is exactly like that too. Perhaps we can compare it to other translations to see if that part is really accidentally omitted? Also, the errors do get more frequent in the latter part of the book... Sadly, I don't mind it that much since I don't have any other options (short of learning Japanese) I guess I really love this series...

Edit: I just compared it to Eugene Woodbury's translation and Tokyopo really does skip a whole chapter!! This is really disappointing.

[Jinx999]

I just checked mine and found the same thing. Tokyopop has definitely screwed this up, it's not a printer error. I've been trying to contact them to complain, but their website is down.

[kupo]

The website is now back up. I see Aderaina has already posted about this issue. Hopefully, it will get Tokyopop's attention.

[Jinx999]

I put a rather . . . testy . . . review in Amazon.co.uk.

[kupo]

Jinx - which one is yours?

Edit: Never mind...

[Mab]

The only down side were the annoying grammar mistakes, one or two sentences that didn't make sense and Yoko's name not being properly displayed in Kanji towards the end of the book. This book sure could use some editing.

I just got finished reading the book(I know a little late buying this one), and I completely agree. Grammar mistakes everywhere, words being repeated, and characters being referenced improperly( I was really surprised at how often this happened ). I'm sad to hear that a chapter was left out though, I thought that maybe in the original book that's just the way it was(though I was doubtful). The poor editing and the omission of an entire chapter is a very unprofessional effort on the part of Tokyopop, I was very disappointed I'll admit. However, with all that being said, I still did enjoy the book.

As always, the story was much better developed in the novel than in the anime. Even with an entire chapter being omitted, I once again feel like I have a much better understanding of the story now that I've read it(instead of just having seen the anime).

I'll be ready next year to read the next book in the series, I can't wait to see what's in store. I just seriously hope we get some professional level editing next time.

Who knows, maybe they'll eventually reprint this book sometime in the future. It is much bigger compared to all the others so far, they obviously ran into difficulties. I wouldn't have minded if they had pushed back the release date to fix some of the errors in the first place though.