Almost every Videogamer on the planet has heard of The Legend Of Zelda and nearly all Nintendo fans have played it at some point in their gaming career. The Series itself has spilled out tons of Merchandise from posters figurines, novels, comics and even cereals. However there are not many factual books about the franchise itself outside of the Official & Unofficial Game guides. This left a lot of blanks in the series’ storyline and many questions unanswered. Nintendo responded to this and finally published Hyrule Historia to help fill in the blanks in the many plot holes and inconsistencies that exist in The Zelda Series timeline. That book did very well tying up loose ends but it was somewhat lacking in providing detailed descriptions in the creatures that inhabit Hyrule and other realms. However it left an opening for another book to fill this niche and that is what I will be reviewing today. Allow me to present to you the “Legend Of The Hero” Field Guide by Kari Fry.
Though the book is Not an official field guide nor an affiliate to Nintendo in any way shape or form, it does however depict almost every creature, beast, races, weaponry and items you will encounter on your travels through Hyrule and other realms. It covers from the Otoroks from the NES days to the Loftwing in Skyward Sword. The only downfall with this book is that it tries really hard not to break copyright laws which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is Good because it allows this book to escape copyright claims, it is bad because it has to refer to enemies, for example the ReDeads as “Hominexanimus Sadistimortus; Undead Man, brings death for pleasure.” Other than that it is an excellent read and delves so much deeper into the behaviours of each creature like physical description, diet and habitat. It also refers to the Zoras and Gorons as “Riverfolk” and “Mountainfolk.” The first half of the book consists of the many enemies you can encounter throughout the game and the later pages cover the other races, masks, weapons, items, potions and more. It is beautifully composed with handwritten type font and hand-drawn pictures that makes this book look and genuinely feel like a proper field guide that you would want to take with you on your adventures.
This book comes in both Hard Cover & Paperback formats and are available at $35.00 and $26.00 respectively at Fangamer.com. They are both the same inside from cover to cover but the Hard Cover comes with a faux leather cover and a dust Jacket that doubles as a poster. I have genuinely enjoyed reading through this book and am truly glad to have this in my Legend Of Zelda collection. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that has a real passion for the Zelda Series and is looking for something that would prove beneficial and possibly essential to their own collection.
As a reminder, this is Not an official Nintendo product and therefore the Author and Publishers have been extremely careful as to not infringe copyright laws. This review is also my personal opinion and therefore should you choose to buy this product, please do so by your own means because you want to, I do not take responsibility for personal puchases
