This is the second volume of the Twelve Kingdoms novel and a lot more action is going on than in the first book. I whole-heartedly agree with the Publisher's Weekly quote on the back of the book : "For those who enjoy getting lost in multi-layered adventures, this epic offers dense and challenging escapism." The summary on the back of the book gives you the gist of the story: "the second volume in this seven-volume fantasy epic, explores what it means to truly know yourself in the face of a destiny outside of your control." 

To start off, I highly recommend watching the anime (Japanese animation) first. Perhaps that's because I watched the anime first myself, but I feel that it gives a better understanding of the background of the story. I think that because I believe that all the unique terms the author uses in this book can become quite confusing and/or frustrating (for example - lamia, kirin, taiho, sirei, genkun, etc), and being familiar with the anime already makes it easier to follow the book. 

For those who haven't watched the anime, this is about a boy who has a dishearterning home life, where he can't do anything right. His grandmother criticizes him constantly, his brother uses him to blame things on, his mother is always crying after defending him from grandma, and his dad always shows disappointment in him. One day, out of the blue, he gets whisked away to another world, where things are totally different. He is revered and loved, but trusted with amazing responsibilities. He slowly learns that he needs to trust his instincts and not worry so much about disappointing others. There is a lot of fantasy incorporated into this book, and it's just fascinating to read about the different rituals, traditions, beliefs, animals - just a completely different reality - that the boy comes across. The author has a background in Buddhist studies, by the way. I found myself very absorbed in this book while reading it. People would talk to me while I was reading and I wouldn't hear them! I think that's the sign of a good book, don't you? 

For those who have watched the anime, this book goes into much detail about how Taiki is lost and found by Sansi and his life after he returns to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. It also goes into greater detail about how he chose his king, which I definitely appreciated, as it was cut short in the anime and I was confused as to what was really going on. This cleared it up for me. The only problem is that the story stops very soon after the new king of Tai ascends to the throne. I can't wait to read more! And this volume was much shorter than the first. It was disappointing to finish it so quickly, especially since Taiki's story is my favorite one.