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Bakunawa Rising #1
The Chanter's Blade
The moon-eating serpent is coming.
Tasked to complete the seven blades, Makanas has traversed many lands, spending countless gold and waging wars. But when the last chief he has to face isn't blinded by gold nor fear the blade, Makanas employed his last weapon—deceit to infiltrate his household.
Just when he thinks his plan is going well, colonizers who now rule the land uncover the chief's traitorous plan. Lin-ay, the chief's secluded daughter awakens the blade to protect her family—something Makanas has trained for and failed.
To defeat the giant moon eating serpent, he must get Lin-ay to the bolo warrior village, but first, she must trust him.
Inspired by Bakunawa from Philippine mythology, The Chanter's Blade is perfect for fans of Shadow of the Fox.
Tasked to complete the seven blades, Makanas has traversed many lands, spending countless gold and waging wars. But when the last chief he has to face isn't blinded by gold nor fear the blade, Makanas employed his last weapon—deceit to infiltrate his household.
Just when he thinks his plan is going well, colonizers who now rule the land uncover the chief's traitorous plan. Lin-ay, the chief's secluded daughter awakens the blade to protect her family—something Makanas has trained for and failed.
To defeat the giant moon eating serpent, he must get Lin-ay to the bolo warrior village, but first, she must trust him.
Inspired by Bakunawa from Philippine mythology, The Chanter's Blade is perfect for fans of Shadow of the Fox.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 20, 2020
17 people are currently reading
204 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 24, 2025
I don’t know.
April 6, 2021
It was cool to read a book that had Filipino mythology and Filipino history, but the characters, story, and writing wasn't that good. There was little character development and a few characters were very likeable to me. The two main characters were made a few questionable choices or seemed dumb during certain parts of the story. The story's pacing was also confusing and had too many parts to it. There could have been more action included in the book. The ending also seemed rush and kind of out of nowhere. Maybe in book 2 there will be more consequences for the two main characters' actions and more of an explanation of some characters. Finally, the book could use some editing. There were parts where a space between sections would help make the story less confusing, some character typos, and also parts of the story where characters in the scene were forgotten. Overall, I appreciate a book that has Filipino influence, but the story was weak and confusing.
April 5, 2021
The Chanter's Blade has an exciting premise. However, the execution left me desiring more. For me, the world building stumbles along from confusion to confusion. The characters never seemed to become real for me. Check out the book for an imaginative idea that shines through even the smoke screen rendered by the world and character building or lack there-of.
December 30, 2021
Read this first book of the Bakunawa Rising Series to get the check mark on Reddit Fantasy's 2021 Bingo Square Self Published, qualifying for Hard Mode as it has fewer than 50 ratings (currently 19) on Goodreads, this review will be the 20th. This will be the entry for my second 2021 R/fantasy bingo card that has all BIPOC authors.
Self published books are quite interesting because a lot of the work is done by the author without much help from the traditional publishing houses. There are great ones like The Sword of Kaigen but a lot of them normally aren't as popular either because they're not a good product or suffer from a dearth of publicity. In this case, the first evidence of the lack of quality control is evident in the back cover itself:-
"To defeat the moon eating serpent, he must get Lin-ay to the boko warrior village, but first, she must trust him. Inspired by Bakunawa from Philippine mythology, The Chanter's Blade is perfect for fans of "
And that's where the sentence ends. Fans of what? We'll never know, I guess. Ouch. This is quite a shame as the front cover is gorgeous and by all accounts the book seems like a professionally bound product, but this ... this ... is just ... I don't even know how to finish that sentence.
The very little I know about the mythology of the Philippines was learned from reading Isabel Yap's Never Have I Ever, so I have a vague familiarity with Binukot and the Bakunawa legend. The problem with this book is the story isn't very good, the characters are plastic and the writing is only average in comparison to the Bakunawa story in Never Have I Ever.
The fact is instead of creating a nuanced character, Lin-ay is the worst kind of Mary-Sue, plus, she has the double annoying tendencies of being the selfish "I want what I want, don't care about others" AND she gets other people into trouble by not thinking about what to do. They then end up paying the price for her reckless mistakes. It is personally difficult for me to empathize, like or root for people like that so it negatively impacted my enjoyment of the story. It's no fun when the reader doesn't like they who are supposed to save the world.
So I did not like the heroine, or Makanas who seems like an unreliable, 2 faced guy with daddy issues. Luckily, the book does have some other more interesting secondary characters, one of those who was meant to be a caricature of the "always comes in second in main lead's affections" actually ended up being the most interesting character in the book.
Una grinned. "Don't try to copy me. It's my job to complain."
The good - the world building and mythology are done well. There's plenty of places for the story to go as many threads are not resolved yet, so at some stage I suppose I will read the next book in this series.
Self published books are quite interesting because a lot of the work is done by the author without much help from the traditional publishing houses. There are great ones like The Sword of Kaigen but a lot of them normally aren't as popular either because they're not a good product or suffer from a dearth of publicity. In this case, the first evidence of the lack of quality control is evident in the back cover itself:-
"To defeat the moon eating serpent, he must get Lin-ay to the boko warrior village, but first, she must trust him. Inspired by Bakunawa from Philippine mythology, The Chanter's Blade is perfect for fans of "
And that's where the sentence ends. Fans of what? We'll never know, I guess. Ouch. This is quite a shame as the front cover is gorgeous and by all accounts the book seems like a professionally bound product, but this ... this ... is just ... I don't even know how to finish that sentence.
The very little I know about the mythology of the Philippines was learned from reading Isabel Yap's Never Have I Ever, so I have a vague familiarity with Binukot and the Bakunawa legend. The problem with this book is the story isn't very good, the characters are plastic and the writing is only average in comparison to the Bakunawa story in Never Have I Ever.
The fact is instead of creating a nuanced character, Lin-ay is the worst kind of Mary-Sue, plus, she has the double annoying tendencies of being the selfish "I want what I want, don't care about others" AND she gets other people into trouble by not thinking about what to do. They then end up paying the price for her reckless mistakes. It is personally difficult for me to empathize, like or root for people like that so it negatively impacted my enjoyment of the story. It's no fun when the reader doesn't like they who are supposed to save the world.
So I did not like the heroine, or Makanas who seems like an unreliable, 2 faced guy with daddy issues. Luckily, the book does have some other more interesting secondary characters, one of those who was meant to be a caricature of the "always comes in second in main lead's affections" actually ended up being the most interesting character in the book.
Una grinned. "Don't try to copy me. It's my job to complain."
The good - the world building and mythology are done well. There's plenty of places for the story to go as many threads are not resolved yet, so at some stage I suppose I will read the next book in this series.
March 28, 2021
Before saying anything about this story, I will admit that I know next to nothing about the history and stories of the Bakunawa. I conducted a bit of research before diving into this story in hopes of making this a better reading experience for myself, but my knowledge is still lacking.
As a lover of fantasy novels, I was really excited to not only read a new fantasy story but one that worked with actual mythology as well. While I enjoyed the plotline of this story and the incorporation of the Bakunawa story with interesting characters, I ultimately found the characters a bit lacking. Despite alternating between a couple of viewpoints throughout the story, I never felt like I truly got to know any of the characters, or that they were thoroughly fleshed out, relatable ones. And, even though a romantic subplot was approached, it never felt natural or like it fit into the story.
This novel is a decent start to a series, though I’m not sure I’ll continue it. This story may suit people that know the Bakunawa lore better than I do, but I can’t speak with certainty on that point. I received a free copy of this story from Hidden Gems and am choosing to leave an honest review of it.
As a lover of fantasy novels, I was really excited to not only read a new fantasy story but one that worked with actual mythology as well. While I enjoyed the plotline of this story and the incorporation of the Bakunawa story with interesting characters, I ultimately found the characters a bit lacking. Despite alternating between a couple of viewpoints throughout the story, I never felt like I truly got to know any of the characters, or that they were thoroughly fleshed out, relatable ones. And, even though a romantic subplot was approached, it never felt natural or like it fit into the story.
This novel is a decent start to a series, though I’m not sure I’ll continue it. This story may suit people that know the Bakunawa lore better than I do, but I can’t speak with certainty on that point. I received a free copy of this story from Hidden Gems and am choosing to leave an honest review of it.
October 29, 2020
The story opens up with a discussion on Lin-ay being a binukot. Then the next event is Lin-ay's father being murdered. This event triggers Lin-ay to awaken the bakunawa blade her father owned. Her family is held captive until they are sold. Lin-ay is able to be "rescued" by Makanas, a Bolo Warrier, who takes her back to his barangay. Lin-ay then transforms, over time, from a binukot to a warrior. She is on a mission to save her family and Makanas is on a mission to help his father slay the Bakunawa, the serpent that eats the moon.
I enjoyed the book because it was nice to explore another culture. I enjoyed the magical aspects to the story as well. It was interesting to see the transformation of Lin-ay during the story as well. I will be adding the second book to my to be read list.
I enjoyed the book because it was nice to explore another culture. I enjoyed the magical aspects to the story as well. It was interesting to see the transformation of Lin-ay during the story as well. I will be adding the second book to my to be read list.
March 16, 2021
The Chanter's Blade is a beautiful, richly written book with heartbreaking characters from the first word to the last. The story introduces us to the lush world of the Philippines during the 1500s Hispanic conquest. Lin-ay and Makanas are trapped between the domination of their people and the rising dangers of their own mythology.
The language and pacing are very well done, and the introductions to the elements of pre-colonial and colonial era Filipino culture are sufficient to introduce the unfamiliar to the basics while not bogging down the narrative. The Spanish antagonists and their collaborators are as much of a risk as the legendary threat in its slow process of rising. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
I highly recommend this gem of a book to all.
The language and pacing are very well done, and the introductions to the elements of pre-colonial and colonial era Filipino culture are sufficient to introduce the unfamiliar to the basics while not bogging down the narrative. The Spanish antagonists and their collaborators are as much of a risk as the legendary threat in its slow process of rising. I was on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
I highly recommend this gem of a book to all.
November 16, 2020
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's wonderful to read about a different culture. Without giving away too much this is an action packed book about strong women and men who each have their own goals. They would do anything to obtain their goals even going to the extent of betraying others, but at the end of it all everyone realises the everyone did what they did because of their duties towards their families. I loved that about this book and I'm eager to read the next installment.
August 7, 2021
I loved the setting and the Filipino history & mythology referenced in this book, but I couldn't get past the flaws. The characters all felt flat and often reacted in confusing ways, it was hard to follow some of the reasons for plot twists, and my copy had enough typos and copyediting errors that I had to go back and re-read sections to figure out what the author was trying to say. Overall, a bit disappointing.
April 18, 2021
Interesting start to a series, hopefully the following books will be equally as good.
The plot line is straightforward but emotions get in the way a few times which leads to some side action.
The relationship between Lin-ay and Makanas is complicated further by their inability to talk frankly to each other. Hopefully this will be sorted out in later books in the series.
The plot line is straightforward but emotions get in the way a few times which leads to some side action.
The relationship between Lin-ay and Makanas is complicated further by their inability to talk frankly to each other. Hopefully this will be sorted out in later books in the series.
June 19, 2021
First and foremost, I know nothing about Filipino culture or the history and stories about the Bakunawa so this would be the first story based on a myth that I had no previous knowledge about.
It took a moment since I am not Filipino and a few google searches to understand some of the roles and terminology but Lee makes it easy to get very quickly without dumping a large amount of information at you.
The book started and a really fast pace which continued until the very end. Usually, this is something I enjoy, I like things to move quickly and I did, to begin with here however, there were some relationships and plot points that I felt could have been better with longer time spent on them.
Despite that, I did enjoy the plot, while it essentially is very simple with a clear goal, many other elements of it worked not only as detours but places of growth. It brought a lot to the overarching story.
The characters I don't particularly have strong feelings about, though I love the growth of Lin-ay and I felt that Makanas's growth was natural and felt real.
Overall, I enjoyed myself. I have so many questions and theories because it is just enough for you to think one thing but still have so many questions and be curious about the outcomes of other things. I will be reading the second book and I would recommend it because it's fun and interesting and it's a story about a myth I've never heard before.
It took a moment since I am not Filipino and a few google searches to understand some of the roles and terminology but Lee makes it easy to get very quickly without dumping a large amount of information at you.
The book started and a really fast pace which continued until the very end. Usually, this is something I enjoy, I like things to move quickly and I did, to begin with here however, there were some relationships and plot points that I felt could have been better with longer time spent on them.
Despite that, I did enjoy the plot, while it essentially is very simple with a clear goal, many other elements of it worked not only as detours but places of growth. It brought a lot to the overarching story.
The characters I don't particularly have strong feelings about, though I love the growth of Lin-ay and I felt that Makanas's growth was natural and felt real.
Overall, I enjoyed myself. I have so many questions and theories because it is just enough for you to think one thing but still have so many questions and be curious about the outcomes of other things. I will be reading the second book and I would recommend it because it's fun and interesting and it's a story about a myth I've never heard before.
December 2, 2024
I was excited to read a book with influences from Philippine folklore and mythology and what bits of these that did appear were pretty cool to see in print. Unfortunately, the book suffers from pretty poor pacing and editing which made it difficult to finish. Very little happens for the first three quarters of the book, then the plot threads are hurriedly tied up in the last few chapters. The author often chooses to tell, rather than show, with characters explicitly stating their motivations and intentions in expository monologues. Characters appear and disappear at random and seem to act according to chance, rather than according to their self-described motivations. I don't think I would recommend this in the future.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews