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With Rokugan on the brink of chaos, Akodo Kaneka, a bastard son, abandons his siblings pursuit of power to take up the gauntlet defending the helpless and destroying those who prey on the people of Rokugan, but he soon discovers that his destiny as a son of Toturi must be fulfilled. Original.
275 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 28, 2020
Second book in a series. A young nobleman tries to escape his obligations, but destiny comes calling.
Shallow.
Shallow.
June 17, 2019
what a frustrating book. on the one hand, it has perhaps the most compelling story of any of the L5R novels, and in fact up until about halfway through I might give it five stars, or 4.5 rounded up accounting for some moments where the writing falters. Kaneka is great, and this really feels like quality ~samurai drama~ or whatever it is people describe L5R as. it has perhaps the most satisfying simple, human moment in any of the ten books I’ve (re)read this past week:
“Mayumi carried a bamboo tray up the stairs. On it were two small cups, a bottle of chilled sake, some rice crackers, and an assortment of dried fish. She moved slowly, watching the stairs in front of her rather than the tray. She had always found that if she trusted the sake not to leap from the tray, it generally stayed put. If she watched the tray as she ascended, she couldn’t pay attention to where she was headed, and the sake resented that. They had a little agreement, she told herself as she reached the top of the stairs.
No matter how many times she carried trays up the stairs, she always dreaded it. It had been a long time since she had spilled even a drop. Perhaps that was because she was so careful each time. She laughed. What harm would come if she spilled a little sake? None, she told herself. Still, the possibility of her spilling her tray made her nervous.
‘Funny,’ she said softly. ‘What strange things we collect for ourselves in a lifetime.’”
but then. first we got to the (voyeuristically presented, literally since Kaneka is magically watching) gratuitous sexual violence. one star off for that extremely tasteless and unnecessary addition. and then after that the book suddenly becomes a tedious slog through gory battle after gory battle. I know Kaneka’s the Wind of War but after having made such a concerted effort to show that he is perhaps the most human(e) of the Winds it feels like going several steps backward to devote so much of what should have been the (cautiously, imperfectly) triumphant emotional climax of the novel to loving descriptions of people being dismembered and disemboweled.
also my eyes rolled out of my head (not literally, unlike that one guy Mayumi kills in the final battle) at Bayushi Akira referencing his grandfather Bayushi Kurosawa. we get it! you’ve seen Rashomon! at least the upside of these books (so far, anyway) is that they lean way less on people’s terrible Japanese.
finally, endgame should have been Kaneka/Ijiasu, and I am absolutely penalizing the book for not doing that. not that I didn’t like Mayumi, and I know it was 2002, but still. lazy.
“Mayumi carried a bamboo tray up the stairs. On it were two small cups, a bottle of chilled sake, some rice crackers, and an assortment of dried fish. She moved slowly, watching the stairs in front of her rather than the tray. She had always found that if she trusted the sake not to leap from the tray, it generally stayed put. If she watched the tray as she ascended, she couldn’t pay attention to where she was headed, and the sake resented that. They had a little agreement, she told herself as she reached the top of the stairs.
No matter how many times she carried trays up the stairs, she always dreaded it. It had been a long time since she had spilled even a drop. Perhaps that was because she was so careful each time. She laughed. What harm would come if she spilled a little sake? None, she told herself. Still, the possibility of her spilling her tray made her nervous.
‘Funny,’ she said softly. ‘What strange things we collect for ourselves in a lifetime.’”
but then. first we got to the (voyeuristically presented, literally since Kaneka is magically watching) gratuitous sexual violence. one star off for that extremely tasteless and unnecessary addition. and then after that the book suddenly becomes a tedious slog through gory battle after gory battle. I know Kaneka’s the Wind of War but after having made such a concerted effort to show that he is perhaps the most human(e) of the Winds it feels like going several steps backward to devote so much of what should have been the (cautiously, imperfectly) triumphant emotional climax of the novel to loving descriptions of people being dismembered and disemboweled.
also my eyes rolled out of my head (not literally, unlike that one guy Mayumi kills in the final battle) at Bayushi Akira referencing his grandfather Bayushi Kurosawa. we get it! you’ve seen Rashomon! at least the upside of these books (so far, anyway) is that they lean way less on people’s terrible Japanese.
finally, endgame should have been Kaneka/Ijiasu, and I am absolutely penalizing the book for not doing that. not that I didn’t like Mayumi, and I know it was 2002, but still. lazy.
October 11, 2022
The second installment in the Winds series, this time focusing on late Emperor Toturi’s bastard son. While the first book showed quite a lot of Tsudao and her struggles to keep clans of the empire together, this one was definitely a smaller story. Kaneka travels to a small town where he meets a beautiful woman. Unfortunately the bandits and ronin (and pesky Scorpion clan members) regularly terrorize the town, which leafs to Kaneka stepping in to protect the inhabitants. I didn’t mind the idea of this book, but the execution was lacking. It was basically just one action scene after another, so many that I skimmed through them after a while—our superhero wasn’t in real danger anyway. The sequences were written strangely too, weapons seemed to do most of the work themselves and we were always cutting to a shot of the warrior standing totally still, waiting for the result of his sword strike to be revealed. It was a little repetitive. Overall, I see how this furthers Kaneka’s story and leads him to seek the crown against his siblings, but it felt a bit long-winded for such a little story.
October 3, 2007
Befor u read this book, i think u should read the first book.
Bayushi Kujo the Lieutenant in Lord Bayushi Zuto's army, An Arrogant Lieutenant but have a strong character ..
the story is complicated for me to make understandable review ^_^"
Bayushi Kujo the Lieutenant in Lord Bayushi Zuto's army, An Arrogant Lieutenant but have a strong character ..
the story is complicated for me to make understandable review ^_^"
June 11, 2013
The least compelling story of The Four Winds saga which narrates the story of the Bastard son, but more than that there really is nothing else. As opposed to the other components of the saga, this particular book doesn't carry as much depth in terms of story even though it is a fun book to read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews