Once upon a time, a peasant boy of dubious parentage from a Doomed Home Town was saved from an evil overlord (which earned his undying hatred, of course) by a wise mentor, learned some awesome new skills, saved the day and got the girl. Sounds like just about every other fantasy novel in existence, but this one is set in Japan! With ninjas! And magic! How could it not be awesome?
I'll be telling you soon.
Before I start, I must say a few things: I liked the books, truly I did, but they could have been so much more. As it is, I've read only the trilogy, not the sequel nor the prequel so perhaps there are things I'm missing. And Lian Hearn is writing for young adults, not nineteen-year-old uni students with a slight addiction to TVtropes.com. Still, I came away feeling that it was competent. And that's not such a good thing when you're writing feudal Japan fantasy. But I digress.
I'll be telling you soon.
Before I start, I must say a few things: I liked the books, truly I did, but they could have been so much more. As it is, I've read only the trilogy, not the sequel nor the prequel so perhaps there are things I'm missing. And Lian Hearn is writing for young adults, not nineteen-year-old uni students with a slight addiction to TVtropes.com. Still, I came away feeling that it was competent. And that's not such a good thing when you're writing feudal Japan fantasy. But I digress.