At the very least, if a white writer is going to write a novel depicting a culture not their own, they should use their different vantage point on that culture to tell stories that people in that culture wouldn't or can't, and to do it well, rather than succumb to tired and offensive sexist and homophobic clichés and stereotypes. Given her failings on these counts, Hearn's novels fail to justify her having written them, let alone me or anyone else reading them.

The following 5-star review of books 2-4 in The Tale of Shikanoko series was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday on 10/16/16:

Would that all 4-book series were published this way! Emperor of the Eight Islands (review here), book 1 in The Tale of Shikanoko, came out on April 26 of this year. The remaining three books—Autumn Princess, Dragon Child; Lord of the Darkwood; and The Tengu’s Game of Go—were all released in the next five months, with the final book out September 27. They’re also admirably brief, each weighing in at fewer than 300 pages.

It all adds up to a tale that’s at once epic and digestible. A tale that balances modern storytelling with the Japanese classics. A tale that balances the superversive with deep tragedy. A tale that’s hard to write a review of because it’s so uniformly excellent.

Autumn Princess, Dragon Child picks up after the horrific events that closed book 1, and it ends on a similarly dark note. It also moves very quickly. Lord of the Darkwood, on the other hand, is the true bridge book of the four. Book 2 ends several plot threads (and lives along with them). Book 3 explores the new ones it started, giving them time to grow. A lot of time—far more time elapses (over a decade) in Book 3 than in any of the other books. It’s the sort of thing that can be dissatisfying and very frustrating when you’re waiting two years between books (think The Path of Daggers or Crossroads of Twilight from the Wheel of Time books), but it’s no problem at all when you can just pick up the next book (especially when the book is short to begin with).

I read Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings not that long before picking up Emperor of the Eight Islands, and Liu’s sequel The Wall of Storms is going to be my next read after The Tengu’s Game of Go. It should be no surprise that I associate the two, even going so far as to give the Tale of Shikanoko books the tag for the sub-genre Liu named—silkpunk. The big thing is that they both owe very much to the classics. Of course Liu is looking to the Chinese classics while Hearn is looking to the Japanese classics, but I don’t know that that distinction is that important. Liu, after all, is quite open that he is looking to Western classics as well (and to modern works with the same sort of scope and feel like War and Peace). Liu is also serious about the punk half of silkpunk. That mainly comes through in the technology (battle kites and airships and rudimentary submarines) in The Grace of Kings, but Liu promises a deep look at social design in The Wall of Storms. The Tale of Shikanoko is very much about the restoration of the rightful emperor. But it’s also clear that the empire has changed indelibly and largely for the good.

5 of 5 Stars.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary advance copy of Autumn Princess, Dragon Child; Lord of the Darkwood; and The Tengu’s Game of Go via NetGalley.

“He sleeps beneath the lake,
The dragon child,
But he will wake
And spread his wings again,
When the deer’s child comes.”

Sounds so peaceful, right? Pastoral, almost.

But the Tale of Shikanoko is a bloody game of thrones inspired by medieval Japan and told in riveting, heartbreaking fashion.

About : If you haven’t read book I or at least my review of book I, my recap of the plot won’t make much sense because there’s sooo much going in this series. Lian Hearn’s spare style allows for constant action, and the politics of the large cast is fairly complex, so if I try to recap every important plot line, my entire review will be one long recap and you won’t need to read the book anymore!

But here’s the short version of volumes 1-2:

An impostor prince sits on the Lotus throne and the Heavens take out their vengeance on all as the true emperor hides his identity from his scheming enemies. Shikanoko, The Deer’s Child of the prophecy, retreats to the magician Shisoku to mend his broken deer mask, following a humbling magical defeat by the Prince Abbot. While there, his heart softens toward a dangerous new threat, the five Spider Tribe demon children birthed by the Lady Tora. But despite the chaos all around him, all Shikanoko can think about is the true child emperor and his guardian, the lovely Autumn Princess…Autumn Princess, Dragon Child is an adult fantasy written by Lian Hearn and published June 7th 2016 by FSG Originals. Paperback, 288 pages.

About : “The Tale of Shikanoko” series contains four volumes, but it’s really one long story published in four installments.FSG Originals published all four in quick succession in 2016. I read the first installment back in August 2016, so I worried about keeping track of the large cast after so many months; but with a little patience and piecing together, I was able to pick up the story again. (I do, however, recommend reading them all within a shorter space of time than I did. I’m reading volume three right now.)

As in volume one, the main form of currency in volume two is power. Although the women vary in motivation and personality, the men all ruthlessly take power to protect themselves and their own families and tend to blend together to some degree. (I felt the same way about the genders in Across the Nightingale Floor, Tales of the Otori #1; but my antipathy toward the bland male characters in that earlier book was much stronger. I do find the characters in The Tale of Shikanoko much more interesting, as a whole, as well as finding the larger plot and style much improved.) But Hearn has a way of changing my mind about seemingly-irredeemable primary and secondary characters. I always end up caring about them by the end.

Shikanoko’s character develops in particularly interesting ways. His defeat at the end of book one broke him, and during the course of book two, he starts to grow from used child to adult warrior/sorcerer. His new humility proves to be a strength, by the end of this volume. His character development is one of my favorite things about the story.

Each volume ends with a monumental choice by Shikanoko—usually a combination of glorious victory and terrible mistake—and each time this poignant victory/defeat has made me eager to to pick up the next installment (although I didn’t get the chance to do that after volume one). Many readers have concluded that combining Shika’s story into one large volume would have made more sense, since the four small volumes (all well under 300 pgs, extremely short for adult fantasy) have very little in the way of self-contained plots. But regardless of this publishing model, the story is just as compelling in one or four volumes.

Overall : So far The Tale of Shikanoko series is very dark and very adult, nothing like what I remember from Across the Nightingale Floor. I’m completely hooked!

Plot: 3.5/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 4/5

Recommended To : If you enjoy literary fantasy and Asian settings (specifically feudal Japan, in this case), I highly recommend this series. Not recommended to readers wanting fast, action-oriented or “magic-systems” fantasy; though the spare, impactful style never wastes a word, the tale’s emphasis on character and political machinations leaves little room for action or humor. And although magic exists and influences the story in interesting ways, it remains completely mysterious to readers, used for atmospheric and structural elements.

Thank you so much to Lian Hearn, FSG Originals and Netgalley for my free review copy! I loved it.

The opinions I share are completely my own and in no way compensated for by publishers or authors.

Blog Review: https://christyluisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/04/07/autumn-princess-dragon-child-tale-of-shikanoko-2-by-lian-hearn/