The sorcerer of Pyongyang

Eleven-year-old Jun-su recieves from his father a manual for playing the cult game called Dungeons and Dragons. The initial introduction to the game’s content means for him an escape window out of the North Korea’s repressive political system. Despite his superficial fanaticism and poetic desire for preserving the mythological idealised image of his homeland, Jun-su gradually as he grows up discovers the cruelty of his homeland. Jun-su becomes a secret rebel and, inspired by the play’s characters, he dares more and more. But the hard hand of a ruler does not rest. This is a readable bildungsnovel that portrays the life story of an acquaintance of the author. (EZ)