This novella is a very typical Tor.com offering, which is to say, long on style and luxuriant immersion, and rather short on plot. It has been highly This novella is a very typical Tor.com offering, which is to say, long on style and luxuriant immersion, and rather short on plot. It has been highly praised in reviews, and I feel like an old crank saying "Is that it?"
The Empress of Sand and Fortune is prettily written. There are many vivid descriptions of food and festivals and robes and glowing lakes and a talking bird and war mammoths from the north (the latter described only by reference — no actual mammoth battles in this story, more's the pity.) But it's the well-trodden tale of a vengeful woman plotting the downfall of her conquerors. Akira Kurosawa did it better in Ran.
Related second-hand by a scholar-cleric collecting historical narratives, a one-time handmaiden to the empress tells of that empress's long plot to avenge herself and her people against the emperor who took her as a wife and then exiled her. There's a lot of understated tragedy, what with expendables being expended, and some offhand reference to things like magic and war mammoths, but it was really all just a woman scheming revenge, with some lesbian sex to spice up the Asian fantasy.
I was somewhat interested in continuing the series, because the writing is fine, but it's rather more feminine than feminist, and I couldn't make myself care what happens next....more
Eight Million Gods reads like an otaku fangirl letting all her freak flags fly. A fan fiction writer heroine goes to Japan to escape an evil domineeriEight Million Gods reads like an otaku fangirl letting all her freak flags fly. A fan fiction writer heroine goes to Japan to escape an evil domineering bitch of a mother, becomes possessed by a cute Samurai boy kami, hauls a katana around Japan and gets in battles with gods and monsters, and winds up with the hot cat-dude in the end.
Nikki Delany suffers from hypergraphia, a kind of OCD that compels her to write on any available surface. When given writing materials and an outlet, she writes gory horror stories and yaoi fan fiction. Her mother, a U.S. Senator, has kept her locked up and hospitalized for much of her life, appalled by both her disorder and the things she writes. Nikki has escaped her mother, with some money from an advance after actually getting one of her novels sold, and now she's in Japan, with a small but loyal fanbase. Things go wrong when a Japanese police officer overhears her describing to one of her friends her latest murder scene - a gaijin businessman in Japan is murdered in his apartment by having a blender shoved through his stomach.
Problem is, it turns out that a gaijin businessman in Nikki's city was just murdered in his apartment by having a blender shoved through his stomach. Understandably, the police have a few questions for her.
At this point, the story goes off the rails and only occasionally regains direction. The author packs the story with every manga trope you can imagine. There are manic pixie Japanese dream girls who use aikido on lecherous groping sararimen. There are kami and spider-geishas and Samurai ghosts and Susanoo hiding magic spears and gods possessing shrine maidens and gaijin running through a Japanese street festival chased by yakuza tanuki and secret anti-supernatural government organizations (run by a man named "Shiva"). Nikki, it turns out, is actually an oracle whose writing is describing actual events, which means whenever we need some exposition or to get over the next plot bump, she scribbles a scene from some other character's point of view. The plot is about saving the world from a vengeful goddess, which involves a lot of MacGuffin hunts and lengthy teeheehees about how very Japanese Japan is.
Wen Spencer is lucky she's not a YA author — she'd be canceled faster than you can say "weeaboo."
Nikki has a final confrontation with her evil mother (family secrets are revealed, but not how even a U.S. Senator can have a basically functional adult involuntarily committed), and then she winds up with her growly half-Japanese cat-dude (you can tell who's the love interest right away because he "growls" practically all of his dialog) after facing down the Big Bad.
This was a brainless magical cat girl of a novel, cute and fluffy and entertaining in the way that stuffing your face with candy is entertaining, but leaves you feeling empty and a little queasy....more
A strange little story, whimsical and tragic and comic all at once. Doi Saket is a tiny Thai village that benefits from the annual Loi Krathong festivA strange little story, whimsical and tragic and comic all at once. Doi Saket is a tiny Thai village that benefits from the annual Loi Krathong festival, in which people from Chiang Mai and all over northern Thailand send wishes downriver in the form of little floating lanterns. The villagers of Doi Saket have begun collecting the money and other gifts included with these lanterns, believing that they are granting the wishes written therein.
It turns out that the "wish-granting" is a conspiracy among some corrupt monks, but that's not the point of the story. Rather, it's more like a "butterfly effect" story - one thing causes another thing to happen which triggers another series of events, and after being treated to the wishes and aspirations of everyone mentioned by name, we see karma come due for everyone in some fashion or another.
Is it fantasy? Well, some things happen that could hardly be explained by anything short of supernatural intervention, and in fact, a goddess does briefly appear.
The plot winds and meanders, like the river it is centered on. The images and sounds of the Thai village are easily imagined; the people are practical, vulgar, high-minded or depressed, kind or venial, like any assortment of villagers, all wishing for something, and the punchline is how those wishes are granted....more
Jessica Amanda Salmonson is in my opinion one of the most underappreciated fantasy authors of the 20th century. She wrote and edited several paperbackJessica Amanda Salmonson is in my opinion one of the most underappreciated fantasy authors of the 20th century. She wrote and edited several paperback fantasy novels in the 70s and 80s, but has faded into relative obscurity since, which is a shame. A terrible shame.
My favorite work by her is the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, about the eponymous woman warrior of Samurai legend. Ou Lu Khen and the Beautiful Madwoman is even more obscure, a stand-alone novel about a peasant named Ou Lu Khen who falls in love with a girl named Yeung Mai Su. Mai Su is "mad" in the sense that she is completely oblivious to worldly concerns, and while she sings like an angel, she never speaks a word. Blessed as she is by the Buddha, Ou Lu Khen cannot hope to realize his dream of marrying her. However, when the burdens of being the eldest son of his impoverished family weigh on him too heavily, he renounces them and flees into the wilds with the trusting, otherworldly Mai Su.
Their quest takes them to the tombs of the Lost Dynasty, an evil empire that ruled for a thousand years with such wickedness that history has forgotten them, though legends have not. However, Lu Khen and Mai Su are followed by Lu Khen's little sister, Koy, and his great-grandfather, Ou Po Lee, who wish to bring their prodigal family head back. And all of them are trailed by a disreputable villain named Harada Fumiaka, an exile from an island nation who has a grudge against them all that started with Ou Lu Khen stealing his boat.
This is in many ways a classic adventure tale, alternating between three parties: Ou Lu Khen and his mystical maiden companion, who proves to have a vision and powers far beyond anyone's expectations, the charming and unlikely adventurers Koy and Po Lee, a tiny girl and a hundred-year-old man, who also both show amazing resilience on their quest, and finally, Harada Fumiaka, who tracks them Gollum-like to the tombs of the Lost Dynasty, where there is a Gollum-like final confrontation, but with a very different outcome.
I loved this book. I really, really loved it. The writing, the splendid fantasy bursting across the pages, from Po Lee and Koy discovering a tribe of tattooed aborigines whose ancient, oracular wise woman turns out to be a long, long-ago lover of Po Lee (a revelation he is most embarrassed about revealing to his little great-granddaughter) to the guardian spirits and the terrible demons and monsters who appear in the climax. Despite being very high fantasy with a decidedly (and culturally appropriate) Asian feel, it is fundamentally a human tale. We see Koy growing up on her journey, learning new things (like the fact that her great-grandfather is not infallible) and trying to be a heroine... and only kind of succeeding because she is not a little ninja, she's just a kid. Ou Lu Khen is well-intentioned and good-hearted, but also selfish and short-sighted. As he realizes that not only is he not worthy of Mai Su, but that their quest is much bigger than either of them and not about him at all, he struggles to be true to her while having no idea what his role or purpose is. And Harada Fumiaka, while the villain of the story, turns out to be more pitiable than despicable.
Koy was forever a combination of obedience and obstinance. But the fact was, she had no intention of fighting the Naga with Harada's sword. Po Lee, however, was not privy to her feelings about the sword. It was natural that he should fear that she was holding it in order to do something stupid. Certain that she had some plan impossible to accomplish, he rushed out from cover and started toward her, scolding all the while, "Did I tell you you could take it from the scabbard?"
"It is only a good luck charm!" she shouted in defense, and stamped a foot as much from frustration as anything else. She was sad to see her great-grandfather angry with her.
The writing isn't just surprisingly nuanced in its psychological and cultural portrayals, it's also very fine writing for its own sake. Salmonson is a storyteller par excellence.
Really, this book needs to be read by more people. Look how few reviews it has! It is a tragedy. If you love traditional fantasy, well-written but unabashedly old-school fantasy, in an Asian setting that is not just trappings and Chinoiserie but actually takes history and culture and religion into account, then read Jessica Amanda Salmonson's books. I've never been disappointed by her....more
A retelling of a Japanese fairy tale, with Gaiman's Sandman characters grafted onto certain roles. This is not a comic book but an illustrated novellaA retelling of a Japanese fairy tale, with Gaiman's Sandman characters grafted onto certain roles. This is not a comic book but an illustrated novella. It's a decent story, though it isn't up to the caliber of his best Sandman stories. What distinguishes this book most is the lovely multi-page spreads of Yoshitaka Amano's artwork. Worth having if you are a Sandman or Amano fan....more
This is one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time. This is basically the story of the 12th century civil war in Japan that established the samuraiThis is one of my favorite fantasy novels of all time. This is basically the story of the 12th century civil war in Japan that established the samurai class, and it's historically accurate except that it's set in an alternate-earth version of Japan where magic and magical beings are real. Thus, Japanese history and myth are combined in an exciting, epic tale.
Tomoe Gozen was an actual historical figure, though of course Salmonson has created a completely fictional version based on what little is known of the real person....more
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