You have the Tomoe Gozen books? I hate you with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Only, not really. I still need to get Musashi, too...
A few other good ones, though more fantasy, are Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori series, set in a fictional world that mirrors medieval Japan and is very historically accurate. There's also Kij Johnsons Fudoki and Fox Woman. Fox Woman is ok and is a fairly traditional tale of the Fox Woman myth. Fudoki isn't really fantasy...it's the diary(fictional, of course) of a Heian era princess chronicling her life, and in it, she creates a fable about a cat. (There's also Leah Cutter's page mage, which has some magic and is set in medieval china, but that's Japanese.)
A good, if occassionally frustrating, is Laura John Rowland's Inspector Sano mysteries(though really, they're as much mystery as the Amelia Peabody books...)
Also...Yoshitsune has as much politics as Musashi, Damo and Emperor of the Sea combined...if it's a politics scene, I've actually been ffing and just reading the subs unless it involved Takki, Shun, Abe Hiroshi or Tomoe Gozen.
I also own Musashi :) Am about halfway through it :P
Thanks re fantasy! I don't read too much fantasy but am always willing to give recommended ones a try (I dislike high fantasy but this doesn't seem to be it).
probably will skip the mysteries. With my reading endings first, I am the world's worst mystery reader. The only ones I managed to love were Lord Peter and Amelia books.
Re: politics. At least in ep 1, I am finding all the politics super fun. Which is scary :)
Well...Musashi I'm fairly certain I can get...I just have to get around to it(the drama and the manga Vagabond are based on the book...)
Nope, none are high fantasy. Honestly, I hesitate to even call Fudoki(though I may be wrong and it's Fudoku) fantasy as it's a fantasy story woven into fictional memiors...it's part heian storytelling and mythology, part lifestyle. The Hearn books are more "historical epic with some fantasy elements" and of the ones I mentioned, they're the ones that have the OTP that gets to be together. Paper Mage was the first "asian fantasy" novel I read...most of the magic is simply based on the idea that there are people with the ability to make paper animals briefly come to life, and that they work as bodyguards and such. It also has an otp, but it plays a smaller role(I liked them, though)
I almost didn't mention the mysteries because I figured you wouldn't go for them, but did just in case.
The politics are good and interesting, but at some point, it seemed the political narrative started to drown out Yoshitsune's narrative, and we didn't need as much as we were getting them...I'm still enjoying the politics, just enjoying most of them at a faster clip.
A few other good ones, though more fantasy, are Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori series, set in a fictional world that mirrors medieval Japan and is very historically accurate. There's also Kij Johnsons Fudoki and Fox Woman. Fox Woman is ok and is a fairly traditional tale of the Fox Woman myth. Fudoki isn't really fantasy...it's the diary(fictional, of course) of a Heian era princess chronicling her life, and in it, she creates a fable about a cat. (There's also Leah Cutter's page mage, which has some magic and is set in medieval china, but that's Japanese.)
A good, if occassionally frustrating, is Laura John Rowland's Inspector Sano mysteries(though really, they're as much mystery as the Amelia Peabody books...)
Also...Yoshitsune has as much politics as Musashi, Damo and Emperor of the Sea combined...if it's a politics scene, I've actually been ffing and just reading the subs unless it involved Takki, Shun, Abe Hiroshi or Tomoe Gozen.
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Thanks re fantasy! I don't read too much fantasy but am always willing to give recommended ones a try (I dislike high fantasy but this doesn't seem to be it).
probably will skip the mysteries. With my reading endings first, I am the world's worst mystery reader. The only ones I managed to love were Lord Peter and Amelia books.
Re: politics. At least in ep 1, I am finding all the politics super fun. Which is scary :)
Reply
Nope, none are high fantasy. Honestly, I hesitate to even call Fudoki(though I may be wrong and it's Fudoku) fantasy as it's a fantasy story woven into fictional memiors...it's part heian storytelling and mythology, part lifestyle. The Hearn books are more "historical epic with some fantasy elements" and of the ones I mentioned, they're the ones that have the OTP that gets to be together. Paper Mage was the first "asian fantasy" novel I read...most of the magic is simply based on the idea that there are people with the ability to make paper animals briefly come to life, and that they work as bodyguards and such. It also has an otp, but it plays a smaller role(I liked them, though)
I almost didn't mention the mysteries because I figured you wouldn't go for them, but did just in case.
The politics are good and interesting, but at some point, it seemed the political narrative started to drown out Yoshitsune's narrative, and we didn't need as much as we were getting them...I'm still enjoying the politics, just enjoying most of them at a faster clip.
Reply
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