Barely a week into its western release, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is a New York Times No. 1 bestseller. Shouldn't that designation come with an exclamation point or two? Fine! Here!!

Flipping through the Hyrule Historia book (which you can finally get in English) makes you realize that Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series isn't just a bunch of games. It's a mythology, one filled with personas that change their shapes, personalities and abilities in each new telling.

For the last year or so, the Hyrule Historia seemed like a piece of the powerful and legendary TriForce. Fans of Nintendo's mega-popular series knew the Japan-only book existed. But English-speaking Zelda acolytes had to go through out-of-the-way means—like maybe-not-legal scans and fan translations—to get at its…

We've already shown an exclusive sneak peek of the English translation of the Hyrule Historia, which is due out next year. Now, Kotaku gives you a full look at the 35-page manga that's included in the Zelda hardcover. Drawn by Akira Himekawa—the collective nom de plume for artists A. Honda and S. Nagano—the story…

I didn't know books had trailers now, but hey. At least there's no dubstep.

Serious Legend of Zelda fans in the West have treated Hyrule Historia something like a venerated text—and one in a language many of them couldn't read. Today, Dark Horse Comics announced that it at long last would be bringing an English-language version of the Zelda encyclopedia to North America, the UK and Australia.