ICO: Castle in the Mist

Castle in the Mist
Original cover (left) and 2008 reprint
Written by	Miyabe Miyuki
Publisher	Kodansha Ltd.
Pages	537 (original) 473 (reprint)
Released	Japan: May 11, 2002 (original) June 19, 2008 (reprint)
Dimensions	19 x 13.5 x 3.5 cm (original) 17 x 10.8 x 3 cm (reprint)
ISBN	978-4062124416 (original) 978-4061825581 (reprint)

Ico: Castle in the Mist (イコ -霧の城-) is a novelization of Ico, written by famed Japanese author Miyabe Miyuki. The story originally appeared as installments in Shūkan Gendai, a Japanese weekly current affairs magazine, from May 2002 to May 2003. The novel has not been translated into English (though it has been translated into at least Thai and Korean), and there are no plans to release it in North America.

The novel is Miyuki's personal interpretation of the story, expanding greatly on the Ico mythos and explaining how many of the characters came to be. The novel is thus considered to be non-canonical.

"Castle in the Mist" is also the name of one of the songs on the game's soundtrack.

A new version of this novel, with the same title was released on June 19, 2008. It features brand new cover art, done especially for the re-release, by Neonvision. It also includes a post card of the same cover art and a mini-poster of Ico and Yorda. The novel was published under Kodansha. There are still no current plans to release the novel in English.

Trivia

• The novel is divided into 4 lengthy arcs or sections and one very short epilogue -- all are named or titled. Each section is comprised of untitled, numbered chapters, which may be attributed to the content originally being serialized.
• In the "author's closing comments" section of the novel, Miyabe thanks the game producers and creators for allowing her creative freedom with the story, and is very happy the book was allowed the same cover image as the game.
• Also in the "author's closing comments" -- though honored if a reader decides to try the game upon finishing the novel, Miyabe warns that the novel's content probably will not be of much help in strategizing for the game.