Customer Reviews

Sword of the Demon

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An unusual book, this is a sword & sorcery novel set in medieval Japan. I am no expert on Japanese history, but I found what it presented convincing, and after all, it is primarily a fantasy novel intended for entertainment. Beautifully written, this book is a rare treasure. Every extra copy I can find goes to friends, but it has become quite scarce in recent years. If you see it, buy it and read it. You'll thank yourself!

This book is just there. Yes, it's different in the fact it's written in a type of prose-like style that gives the reader the impression they are listening to a TaleTeller speak around a firepit at night. It's advertised as a story where a woman warrior strides about Ancient Japan wielding a magic sword and fighting demons. Um..no. That's not what it's about. It's a mish mash of Japanese Folklore that plods along with some of the characters finding closure but the main character not. It just ends, and not in a satisfying way. I wouldn't spend the cash, but it's worth checking out of your local library for a quick read. Not anywhere worthy of the praise given it by the other reviewers, in my opinion of course.

The juice in this book is not so much the tale it tells as the dream-like, atmospheric tone it delivers, by way both of its elegant descriptive language and of the archetypal mythic scenes it portrays as its protagonist sequences through episodes of Japanese folklore.

This is a too-often-overlooked bijou of a book.