![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sfintranslation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/tanaka1.jpg\")
<\/figure>translated by Matt Treyvaud<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Haikasoru<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n November 19, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 224 pages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n grab a copy<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n * here be spoilers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Haikasoru has done it. They\u2019ve published all ten books in Yoshiki Tanaka\u2019s Legend of the Galactic Heroes<\/i> series in English. Sadly, this was also one of Haikasoru\u2019s last publications, but we can take heart from the fact that they\u2019ve left us with a wealth of excellent Japanese speculative fiction in English translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But back to Legend of the Galactic Heroes Volume 10: Sunset<\/i>. Translated beautifully by Matt Treyvaud (who also translated Volumes 8 and 9), Sunset<\/i> brings the galaxy-spanning story of democracy vs. empire to a satisfying close. I say \u201csatisfying\u201d because honestly I didn\u2019t know how Tanaka would be able to gather up all of the many threads he spun out over 1,800-pages, but he did it without making it seem rushed or implausible (except, of course, for the Julian\/Katerose subplot). After all, we\u2019ve known from early on that Reinhard was suffering from some mysterious illness (which is only named in Sunset<\/i>), so his death at a young age is anything but a surprise. His marriage to the brilliant strategist Hildegard von Mariendorf and the birth of their son pretty much guaranteed that Reinhard was no longer needed on the galactic stage. As the narrator notes throughout the series, Reinhard\u2019s star burns so brightly that it is bound to go out sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Yang Wen-li, Reinhard fulfills his purpose over the course of the series, as if the boundaries of the story itself mark his particular destiny. These books are metaliterary, after all, with the narrator not only referencing other texts that discuss the struggles between the Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, but also calling attention to the text we have in front of us, which the narrator is \u201cwriting\u201d in an attempt to advance their own particular interpretation of events. (I say \u201ctheir\u201d because the narrator\u2019s gender is never made clear).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunset<\/i> does what it needs to do: it shows us how Julian Mintz has grown into his role as commander of the Revolutionary Army; it depicts the ultimate defeat of Church of Terra fantatics; and it points the way forward for Hildegard and her son, the second Kaiser of the Lohengramm dynasty. The strange \u201cromance\u201d between Katerose von Kreutzer and Julian, though, definitely seemed rushed and flatter than a sheet of paper, but I won\u2019t let that spoil the rest of the book. Tanaka offers the most optimistic kind of ending a series like this could have: the Empire will continue on, but instead of battling the Revolutionary Army until the latter is all but destroyed, it will begin to embrace certain elements of a constitutional government that will make the autocratic state less threatening to individual liberty. Of course, as Julian and his associates understand all to well, this could also be seen as an attempt by the Empire to slowly and cheerfully swallow democratic government whole, digesting it without incorporating any reforms whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been a wonderful experience reviewing this entire series over the course of the past three years. Honestly, I\u2019ve forgotten many things about the early volumes, and feel like a re-read of all ten books is a must, but alas, I can\u2019t embark on that journey just yet. I hope you, my readers, have found value in my thoughts on Tanaka\u2019s grand space opera and that, if you weren\u2019t already reading it, that you were convinced to go out and get yourselves copies. I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts on this finale in the comments section below. Thanks for accompanying me on this journey!<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Read my reviews of Volumes 1,<\/a> 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>, 4<\/a>, 5<\/a>, 6<\/a>, 7<\/span><\/a>, 8<\/span><\/a>, and 9<\/span><\/a>, as well as Charles Tan\u2019s series overview<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" translated by Matt Treyvaud Haikasoru November 19, 2019 224 pages grab a copy * here be spoilers Haikasoru has done it. They\u2019ve published all ten books in Yoshiki Tanaka\u2019s Legend of the Galactic Heroes series in English. Sadly, this was also one of Haikasoru\u2019s last publications, but we can take heart from the fact that<\/p>\n
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