Emperor of the Eight Islands : The Tale of the Shikanoko Book One (CD-Audio)

from cmolisani

A quick read, but perhaps too quick. Most characters are your standard fantasy tropes, and there's a lot of similarity to her other Japanese inspired series Tales of the Otori, which also clipped along at a brisk pace. I would like to see more focus on Shikanoko, and dice dweper into the magic am...

from lkernagh

This first book in a four-book series - all published in 2016 - by Gillian Rubinstein (writing under the pseudonym Lian Hearn) is a pretty darn decent read considering I don't usually go for the epic Japanese fantasy-styled stories of warring clans and sorcery-inspired magical elements. A fantasy...

from quondame

I enjoyed this book even more the second read. The relentlessly forward sweeping tale of a magical Japanese like struggle to gain and keep territory and position is full of betrayals trickery and can get rather gruesome but never shorts the individuals who make the story mean something.

from Karlstar

An enjoyable fantasy novel, possibly meant to be historical fantasy, set in a feudal Japan. A young boy is driven away from his home by his scheming uncle and becomes the 'deer spirit' warrior. While he is wandering from master to master, the Crown Prince is overthrown by a rival faction and sets...

from Tanya-dogearedcopy

Stylized like a translation of a feudal Japanese tale, this is a story of magic, passions, political power and shifting allegiances. It is spare prose that yields rich imagery, a slender book that bears an epic story. The internal beat or meter of the story is reminiscent of medieval chansons de ...