“Brave Story” by Miyuke Miyabe is the story of young Wataru Mitani, who travels via magical means to a fantastical realm where he must collect five gemstones and give them to a goddess in a tower so that his wish may be granted.

Wataru must travel the land of Vision and find five gemstones to place in his sword–the Demon’s Bane–to be able to get powerful enough to fight the final battle to get to the Tower of Destiny, where a goddess of fate awaits.

The land of Vision, the book’s setting, is an unfamiliar world that is reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s “Wonderland” and C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia.” Vision is made of the Northern Empire and the southern continent, both of which are a bit strange, with the inhabitants including lizard people, humans, cat people, and other beings.

Wataru’s ultimate wish is to have his family together again. Wataru’s father left his mother and himself, and his mother attempted suicide. However, when he is able to ultimately have his wish granted, he wishes instead for his rival–the mysterious foreign transfer student Mitsuru–to have his wish granted. The five gemstones represent charity, the power of lightness and darkness, bravery, faith, and grace. In each case, Wataru learns a lesson as well as gaining more power–to be brave, have faith, and so on–in order to move closer to his goal of reaching the Tower of Destiny.

When a Traveler–someone from the ‘real’ world–comes to Vision, they are given a test to see how equipped they are to be in Vision. Given their results, they are equipped with various levels of equipment that reflects how prepared they are to be there. It seems like some kind of video game at first, and Wataru makes the mistake of telling his close friend about the first time he stumbles into Vision. Wataru’s friend thinks he is just talking about the video game that the two of them have been looking forward to buying.

Out of all the lessons that can be seen in this book–both the obvious and the not-so-obvious- –I believe that the final lesson that Wataru teaches us is the most important: people make mistakes and life moves on. It is how you deal with the problems that come your way that makes you a hero.

Ultimately, I give this book five out of five spurs.