The Gate of Sorrows

by Miyuki Miyabe

Overview

A series of murders shocks Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, but Shigenori, a retired police detective, is instead obsessed with a gargoyle that seems to move. College freshman Kotaro launches a web-based investigation of the killer, and comes to find that answers may lie within an abandoned building in the center of Japan’s busiest neighborhood, and beyond the Gate of Sorrows. In this adult sequel to Miyabe’s The Book of Heroes, you will meet monsters from other worlds and ordinary horrors that surpass even supernatural threats. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421592060
Publisher:	VIZ Media LLC
Publication date:	08/16/2016
Series:	Gate of Sorrows
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	456
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Miyuki Miyabe's debut story, “Warera ga rinjin no hanzai” (Our neighbor’s crime), won a new writer award in 1987, and since that time, she has become one of Japan's most popular and best-selling authors. Miyabe's fantasy novel Brave Story won the Batchelder Award for best children's book in translation from the American Library Association in 2007. The Gate of Sorrows is an adult novel in the same universe as The Book of Heroes (Haikasoru, 2010). Her other works available in English include All She Was Worth, Cross Fire, The Sleeping Dragon, Apparitions, ICO: Castle in the Mist, and more.

Editorial Reviews

07/11/2016
Miyabe’s follow-up to 2010’s The Book of Heroes stands well on its own and is thematically timely, but it doesn’t always take its own lessons to heart. Strange occurrences are piling up in present-day Tokyo: an unfamiliar scythe-bearing gargoyle appears to be moving of its own accord, homeless people have gone missing, and a serial killer preys on the innocent. College student Kotaro investigates the disappearance of his friend Kenji; Shigenori, a former police detective sidelined by a leg injury, looks into the gargoyle phenomenon. Both cases collide when they encounter an entity brought to this world to harvest human desire, who may be the key to stopping the killer. Translator Hubbert skillfully maintains all the grammatical nuances of the original Japanese, a key aspect of understanding the novel’s themes. Miyabe has some valuable points to make about misconduct and harassment on the Web, and how online personas can’t be distinguished from offline selves. But despite all her emphasis on the importance of words and avoiding their misuse, Miyabe disappointingly kills off (and misgenders) a trans character for a little bit of cheap shock value, a shameful detail in an otherwise well-crafted adventure. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly