I have only really genuinely enjoyed one short story collection in my life, and it was my introduction to the Yamada Monogatari series (Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter). The War God’s Son is the second full novel, and likely third to last publication in the series according to a comment on the author’s blog. It is however this first novel not directly rooted plot-wise in one of the short stories. The first novel, To Break the Demon Gate, was an extension of one of the short […]
Broken steampunk promise
I was ready to like Stormdancer, love it even. But when you promise me “a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world with a flavor of feudal Japan”, that’s what I should get. The dystopian label is fine; I take no issue with that. The book delivers. If this back cover blurb were more accurate, it should say “feudal Japanese world with steampunk flavor”. The book is far more historical fiction than it is steampunk, and the two elements don’t meld together very well at all. This […]