What do you think?
Rate this book
The Gunpowder Chronicles #2.5
The Warlord and the Nightingale
A Gunpowder Chronicles steampunk short story.
Hanzo the karakuri puppet maker is summoned to Koriya Castle to build a mysterious device for a fearsome warlord. Within the walls, he encounters a beautiful courtesan who must sing from dusk until dawn to chase away nightmares. Caught in a madman’s domain, will Hanzo find his escape, or sacrifice himself for the sake of love?
A classic fairy-tale retold with a steampunk twist in feudal Japan.
The first novel of the series, Gunpowder Alchemy, is set in China, and the second, Clockwork Samurai, ventures into 19th century Japan. For more information, go to: www.jeannielin.com.
Hanzo the karakuri puppet maker is summoned to Koriya Castle to build a mysterious device for a fearsome warlord. Within the walls, he encounters a beautiful courtesan who must sing from dusk until dawn to chase away nightmares. Caught in a madman’s domain, will Hanzo find his escape, or sacrifice himself for the sake of love?
A classic fairy-tale retold with a steampunk twist in feudal Japan.
The first novel of the series, Gunpowder Alchemy, is set in China, and the second, Clockwork Samurai, ventures into 19th century Japan. For more information, go to: www.jeannielin.com.
46 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 4, 2015
7 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Jeannie Lin
47 books1,023 followersUSA TODAY Bestselling author Jeannie Lin grew up fascinated with stories of Western epic fantasy and Eastern martial arts adventures. When her best friend introduced her to romance novels in middle school, the stage was set. Jeannie started writing her first romance while working as a high school science teacher in South Central Los Angeles. After four years of trying to break into publishing with an Asian-set historical, her 2009 Golden Heart Award–winning manuscript, Butterfly Swords, sold to Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal with The Dragon and the Pearl listed among Library Journal's Best Romances of 2011.
Titles by Jeannie Lin:
Gunpowder Alchemy (Gunpowder Chronicles #1)
The Jade Temptress (The Lotus Palace #2)
The Lotus Palace
Butterfly Swords
The Dragon and the Pearl
My Fair Concubine
The Sword Dancer
For updates, sign up for her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/42oZL
Find out more about Jeannie Lin online at http://www.jeannielin.com
Titles by Jeannie Lin:
Gunpowder Alchemy (Gunpowder Chronicles #1)
The Jade Temptress (The Lotus Palace #2)
The Lotus Palace
Butterfly Swords
The Dragon and the Pearl
My Fair Concubine
The Sword Dancer
For updates, sign up for her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/42oZL
Find out more about Jeannie Lin online at http://www.jeannielin.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
December 15, 2015
I won this adorable Japanese steampunk fairy tale book from Yvette's always entertaining blog at Bookworlder
Thank you, Yvette! Now I want to read the rest of The Gunpowder Chronicles series, intriguingly described as "an Opium War steampunk adventure set in the 19th century empires of China and Japan."
Thank you, Yvette! Now I want to read the rest of The Gunpowder Chronicles series, intriguingly described as "an Opium War steampunk adventure set in the 19th century empires of China and Japan."
June 26, 2018
This was probably the most boring book I've ever read.
Weird insta love ✔
Literally no character development✔
Ugh✔
Would not recommend
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Weird insta love ✔
Literally no character development✔
Ugh✔
Would not recommend
**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
June 17, 2021
Hanzo the karakuri (automaton) maker is tasked with making a special karakuri for Lord Mizunaga. While working many late nights, he hears Lady Yura, a courtesan, sing for hours to keep the warlord from experiencing nightmares.
It’s short, but got me intrigued by this world.
It’s short, but got me intrigued by this world.
February 13, 2021
This is perhaps my favourite novella written by Jeannie Lin, which involved a young - and perhaps slightly naive, but no less knowledgeable - karakuri (similar to European automatons) master named Hanzo.
Employed by a chancellor of the much-feared Lord Mizunaga, Hanzo slowly becomes entranced by a young courtesan, employed to sing to Mizunaga through the night while he sleeps.
I love the imagery of the story, but somewhere between the second last and last chapter, there was a leap in the story, where realisations were had, and certain actions were undertaken, which made me bring down the story from 5 to 4 stars.
Employed by a chancellor of the much-feared Lord Mizunaga, Hanzo slowly becomes entranced by a young courtesan, employed to sing to Mizunaga through the night while he sleeps.
I love the imagery of the story, but somewhere between the second last and last chapter, there was a leap in the story, where realisations were had, and certain actions were undertaken, which made me bring down the story from 5 to 4 stars.
December 28, 2019
I never really got the feel for this one, it should have been a full novel. i need to try those instead cos her historicals are amazing
September 20, 2017
This is a story set in the Gunpowder Chronicles world. It was a short story that felt very much like a fairy tale fantasy. The mechanisms were a major factor in the story without pushing out the color and fantasy of it. The narrator is a simple man with certain skills and artistry in creating beautiful puppet like works including a clockwork Nightingale or a life-size Samurai warrior and this man finds himself caught up in the sophistry and intrigue of a feudal Japanese court and in love with a mysterious and forbidden woman who sings like his nightingale. Beautiful storytelling!
August 17, 2015
I received this book from Netgalley as part of a multi-work collection (Once Upon A Fairy Tale: A Collection of 11 Fairy Tale Inspired Romances) in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Short stories can be pretty hit or miss for me--usually I either like them or I don't. This one ended up somewhere in the middle though. While there were things that I think could have been fleshed out a little more to give the story more than just bones, the bones that were there were good ones. It had a clear beginning, middle, and end where some might just have a beginning and get partway into a middle before stopping. (Therefore supposedly encouraging you to read more in the series or whatever.)
One of my big hangups is that this wasn't steampunk. It was a retelling of the nightingale, but it wasn't steampunk. The creations of the main character were not powered by steam, but by winding and springs and the like. They were like one of those boxes that plays music except the music also contains controls for certain movements and the box looks like a person or animal. The theory behind how his mechanical bird works is interesting, but...again...not steampunk.
Of course any more it seems as if you slap a gear on something, or make it brown, or add goggles and it's ~*~magically~*~ transformed into steampunk.
That aside, while some of the transitions to move it along felt about as mechanical and pre-programmed as the automatons the MC builds, it still made for an interesting and entertaining story.
More to the point, it made me curious to check out some of the author's other works which is a win for one of these collections.
Short stories can be pretty hit or miss for me--usually I either like them or I don't. This one ended up somewhere in the middle though. While there were things that I think could have been fleshed out a little more to give the story more than just bones, the bones that were there were good ones. It had a clear beginning, middle, and end where some might just have a beginning and get partway into a middle before stopping. (Therefore supposedly encouraging you to read more in the series or whatever.)
One of my big hangups is that this wasn't steampunk. It was a retelling of the nightingale, but it wasn't steampunk. The creations of the main character were not powered by steam, but by winding and springs and the like. They were like one of those boxes that plays music except the music also contains controls for certain movements and the box looks like a person or animal. The theory behind how his mechanical bird works is interesting, but...again...not steampunk.
Of course any more it seems as if you slap a gear on something, or make it brown, or add goggles and it's ~*~magically~*~ transformed into steampunk.
That aside, while some of the transitions to move it along felt about as mechanical and pre-programmed as the automatons the MC builds, it still made for an interesting and entertaining story.
More to the point, it made me curious to check out some of the author's other works which is a win for one of these collections.
July 7, 2015
I am a long-time fan of Jeannie Lin; she is a terrific writer. I have liked everything I have read from her and THE WARLORD AND THE NIGHTINGALE is no exception! Part of Ms. Lin’s new steampunk series the Gunpowder Chronicles, THE WARLORD AND THE NIGHTINGALE is set in feudal Japan. Hanzo Karakuri is a puppet maker, and he is summoned to Koriya Castle by Lord Mizunaga to oversee the construction of an unknown device. One evening, when his work on his automaton is not meeting his expectations, Hanzo goes for a walk inside the castle walls and that’s when he hears a woman singing. It’s the beautiful courtesan Lady Yura whose main task is to chase away the nightmares of Lord Mizunaga, her master.
THE WARLORD AND THE NIGHTINGALE is a beautiful, wonderful, and magical story. Ms. Lin’s descriptions are so vivid and poetic, I could picture Lady Yura and Hanzo very clearly; both are complex, engaging, and intriguing characters and their story is touching as well unusual. Ms. Lin made feudal Japan come alive for me, along with the dastardly Mizunaga. It’s superbly well written, as times very lyrical, and even though it is very short, it’s a complete story, down to the stunning and most gratifying! I hope that in the future, we get to see more of Hanzo and Lady Yura because I liked their story so much. THE WARLORD AND THE NIGHTINGALE is well worth getting this box set, and I’m sure the same applies for every author included in this collection. Thank you, Ms. Lin for another superb story!
THE WARLORD AND THE NIGHTINGALE is a beautiful, wonderful, and magical story. Ms. Lin’s descriptions are so vivid and poetic, I could picture Lady Yura and Hanzo very clearly; both are complex, engaging, and intriguing characters and their story is touching as well unusual. Ms. Lin made feudal Japan come alive for me, along with the dastardly Mizunaga. It’s superbly well written, as times very lyrical, and even though it is very short, it’s a complete story, down to the stunning and most gratifying! I hope that in the future, we get to see more of Hanzo and Lady Yura because I liked their story so much. THE WARLORD AND THE NIGHTINGALE is well worth getting this box set, and I’m sure the same applies for every author included in this collection. Thank you, Ms. Lin for another superb story!
July 22, 2016
Note: I received this bonus story via a giveaway.
A maker of mechanical puppets or karakuri, Hanzo is constructing his best creation yet at Lord Mizunaga’s behest. In the meantime, he falls in love with Yura, the courtesan with the lovely voice. The romance between Hanzo and Yura builds slowly and sweetly; Hanzo’s karakuri are wonderful and described in absorbing details; add those to the twists that I didn’t see coming, and you have a thrilling and confidently written steampunk romance.
A maker of mechanical puppets or karakuri, Hanzo is constructing his best creation yet at Lord Mizunaga’s behest. In the meantime, he falls in love with Yura, the courtesan with the lovely voice. The romance between Hanzo and Yura builds slowly and sweetly; Hanzo’s karakuri are wonderful and described in absorbing details; add those to the twists that I didn’t see coming, and you have a thrilling and confidently written steampunk romance.
September 27, 2020
This might be one of my all-time favourite short stories... The writing is beautiful and the author creates a mysterious and creepy atmosphere and interesting characters in the limited space a short story provides.
The theme reminded me of the amazing stories about mechanical devices that E.T.A. Hoffmann used to write at the beginning of the 19th century: the wonder and beauty of the invention, but also the horror that lies just beneath the surface.
Although this story is part of Lin's "Gunpowder Chronicles" universe I think it works fine as a stand-alone story. To enjoy it you probably should be a bit familiar with Japanese culture because the author drops us right into the middle of a Japanese warlord's court, with its strict social structure and rules and the focus is on character dynamic and the mystery, not world-building.
The theme reminded me of the amazing stories about mechanical devices that E.T.A. Hoffmann used to write at the beginning of the 19th century: the wonder and beauty of the invention, but also the horror that lies just beneath the surface.
Although this story is part of Lin's "Gunpowder Chronicles" universe I think it works fine as a stand-alone story. To enjoy it you probably should be a bit familiar with Japanese culture because the author drops us right into the middle of a Japanese warlord's court, with its strict social structure and rules and the focus is on character dynamic and the mystery, not world-building.
December 26, 2020
I was intrigued by the Gunpowder Chronicles and I started with this novella as an entry to the series. I found the story captivating and the characters interesting, I read it quickly and enjoyed it a lot. The style of the author and her world that I catched a glimpse of in this novel made me want to read other of her works.
March 2, 2021
I adored this short story. It caught my attention from the very beginning and still surprised me by the end. I didn't at all see that revelation coming but once it was made I could see the trail that led up to it. And I was also very fond of the two of them.
October 18, 2017
Terribly romantic and very suspenseful.
May 19, 2018
I love this series, and only wish there was more here, as it was a short story with lots left to fill in. Glad it exists and I’d love to know more about where these characters go.
January 19, 2025
Sweet though violent very short story. Love the world!
July 30, 2015
Short story set in Jeannie Lin's Gunpowder Chronicles universe. A clockwork puppeteer Hanzo is challenged to make an elaborate karakuri worthy of his daiymo. Struggling to find his inspiration and purpose, Hanzo discovers Lady Yura, a lovely courtesan tasked with singing Lord Mizunaga to sleep every night. Hanzo stumbles on the true reason for his commission, but rather than being frightened or angered by it, he seems to embrace the challenge. Lady Yura is more than she appears. I enjoyed the descriptions of Hanzo's karakuri puppets, especially how he approached each piece as a puzzle to be solved, which gear he needed or which adjustments to make. I look forward to reading the other Gunpowder books.
August 4, 2016
A beautiful retelling of The Nightingale (Hans Christian Anderson) featuring a man who makes clockwork automata, a samurai warlord, and a beautiful singing courtesan. I haven't read anything else by Jeannie Lin before, but this story is set in the Opium War steampunk world of The Gunpowder Chronicles, which apparently I now need to read. A unique steampunk twist on a classic tale that is very beautifully told, I came to care for the main characters despite the shortness of the story.
Read
March 9, 2016I wanted more from this story, which made it emotionally unsatisfying, but it intrigued me enough that I want to read the other books in Jeannie Lin's series. I've read others of her books and I know she can create more emotional involvement in the characters, and I really liked the feudal Japanese setting with the steampunk genre twist.
November 8, 2016
I've been meaning to give this author a try for awhile so I couldn't resist picking up this free novella. Plus, Japanese steampunk! Too cool. Well-written, but told in the fairytale style. The warlord in the title is actually the villain and the hero is a lowly karakuri (spelling?) maker of clockwork puppets who falls in love with the beautiful singer kept by the warlord.
January 15, 2018
***available in the Once Upon A Fairy Tale collection***
I wasn't impressed...I wasn't anything, really, except feeling disconnected from the story and the characters.
I wasn't impressed...I wasn't anything, really, except feeling disconnected from the story and the characters.
April 25, 2019
This is a short story, but it's a complete story. I wasn't quite ready for the ending, but it totally fits the story.
I don't normally read "historical's", but this is part of Jeannie Lin's Gunpowder Alchemy series, so, I had to read it...glad I did.
I don't normally read "historical's", but this is part of Jeannie Lin's Gunpowder Alchemy series, so, I had to read it...glad I did.
Want to read
December 28, 2015recommended by Sunita
April 17, 2016
Intricate, but not quite romantically satisfying enough for me. I'd've preferred more relationship building.
March 28, 2016
I was so certain there couldn't possibly be a happy ending to this story but the author pulled it off splendidly. Loved this fairy tale.
March 29, 2016
Fantastic! A short story that fit nicely into the space, but left you wanting more. I loved that it's steampunky but still very much about the characters and situation. Beautifully done/
April 18, 2016
A very short fairy tale with a lot of atmosphere and automatons.
May 5, 2016
This is a pretty cool little short story.
September 10, 2016
loved this!
October 6, 2016
Beautiful, lyrical and fantastical, but with some sharp edges you discover along with the protagonist. Love the twist at the end as well!
December 29, 2023
Steampunk feudal Japanese historical romance is a subgenre I didn't even realize I was missing omg
CW: Violence, murder, slavery
CW: Violence, murder, slavery
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews