Reviews

Picking up the third volume in the From Far Away series I thought I had a pretty good handle on where things were headed. We had a teenage couple set up against some pretty corrupt and evil governmental figures and some sort of magical prophecy bound them together. So I was stunned that within the first five pages Izark left Noriko! Their separation allows them to grow individually as they each go on their own adventures and yet something magical still ties them together. Not to mention that even through the language barrier Noriko is beginning to realize it and just how much danger that puts them both in.

There was also some adorable flash backs that showed the couple before they split up and it shows that they have grown in their relationship together. Though Noriko’s grasp of the new language is tenuous at best. They were still very cute to read about, though worrisome too as the more Noriko grows and learns about the world she has been transported too, the more danger there is of her letting slip to others just where she came from and how she got there.

This volume ends leaves you on the edge of your seat as the characters each are in the midst of their own dangerous adventure. But even though they are separated Noriko at least has not been totally abandoned and she finds strength in new allies as tries to survive in spite of an alien world’s political plots and machinations that want her dead, if they only found out just who she was.

P.S. About 1/3rd of this volume cuts away from From Far Away and tells a completely different story set in the real world about unrelated characters. Not sure why but thought I would warn potential buyers about the deviation from the plot. Fourth volume picks up with From Far Away again and we never hear about the real world characters ever again.

jennykeery's review against another edition

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3.0

This volume had some fairly heavy lifting to do in terms of the plot, as the first two books were much more character driven. We had some details already - that Noriko is The Awakening that will unleash the demon inside Izark and end the world (just normal couple problems, y'know) - but that's pretty much it. Vol. 3 introduces a lot of characters that are hunting for the two of them, and it suffers when Izark and Noriko are split up, because this exposes how flimsy the world and plot are without their 'on-screen' chemistry. Overall, From Far Away is an inconsistent but fun read so far, with a sub-par story propped up by two absolutely wonderful main characters.