Synopsis
From the depths of Yomi’s dark realm, the First, queen of the yōkai, prepares her vengeance on the kami. Her wrath will not be stopped, not even by the members of the Yaseki and the Daughter of the Sun they’ve just saved, for her power and that of her four tengu sons is too great.
The only thing she fears is a story passed down through the centuries in Yomi. The story of a human speaking with the Voice of the Kami. This power, if it truly exists, would tip the balance in the war with the yōkai.
Ren, however, doubts any of it, for the bearer of this knowledge is none other than one of the four tengu, and unsealing this Voice means heading back to Aokigahara and the ghosts of his troubled past.
Review
“You knew I was coming?” _____ asked as ___ fingers finally let go.” “Yes,” the tengu replied. “And I longed to meet you, dear Voice of the Kami.”
This book was riding on enormous expectations as its predecessor Blood of the Kami was one of the best books I’ve read and it didn’t feature on my top 10 books of the year last year, only because another of Baptiste’s books (Undead Samurai) beat it. I cried with both of those books but I’m saying this with no recency bias – this book is so much worse (for the reader that doesn’t want to feel emotional pain.) I literally cried on 5 different occasions and when I expressed all the emotional hurt I was feeling to Baptiste – he just laughed at me and said that my tears are like crack to him. This is not an embellishment in any form, if one joins his discord and goes to the relevant channel, they can literally follow this conversation (GIF of Elmo snorting coke and everything.)
Baptiste is an extremely skillful writer and his balance and flow only seems to improve with each book. I already appreciated this in book 1 but it appears he has added to his strengths in this book. He also shows off how beautiful his writing can be- I have not read someone’s gruesome death be written so poetically. Another thing that deserves to be highlighted is how vivid Baptiste’s writing is- the mental movie that ran through my mind from beginning to end is impeccable. He also takes some risks with this book and ultimately delivers a more rewarding reading experience for the reader.
One of the risks is a new cast. I was looking forward to the found family I was introduced to and loved in book 1 but only two of them are together at the beginning of this book. Side note: I loved the banter between Ren and Fuyuko in this book and somehow liked them both even more in this book. We get a host of new characters including someone who Ren hates. And since I’ve been in the head of Ren for quite a while now, I automatically hated him too. What I didn’t realize is how devilish authors are. Without spoiling anything, both Ren and I had to eat some crow. One of the new characters has even become my 3rd most favorite character in the series- even with me having traveled a lot longer with some of the original cast.
Another risk or I should say deviation from Book 1 is the structure this book has. Book 1, for all intents and purposes, was more of a fast-paced, linear adventure with Ren & Suzume having to go from point A to point B and then back to point A and everything was happening in the present. This book, though, uses a dual timeline narrative and the plot is also not very linear. There are actually 3 different plots progressing at the same time and with the help of the dual timeline, Baptiste expands the scope of the epic fantasy he’s trying to pull off and also widens the breadth of the world. It is simply sumptuous.
He also takes the mother of all risks (not a deviation, R-I-S-K risk this time) with the ending. I think it might actually be difficult for some readers to fully digest. Now, this is my fourth Baptiste Pinson Wu book and so far his score is one 4-star and three 5-star reading experiences for me- so I have complete faith that he will pull it off. It is just that the ending is left in such a place that I need Book 3 yesterday. The story has veered off into a very wild direction but also I need more.
I was almost about to conclude my review but I cannot without mentioning Fukuyo’s character arc. Now the Yasekagi Monogatari series is still very much Ren’s journey and the plot revolves around him majorly- but Fukuyo has absolutely become my most favorite character in the Yokai hunting universe. She had her moments in book 1 but her growth in this book is electric. Character transformation moments have become the things that evoke the most emotion out of me in fantasy books and Fukuyo has more than one epic reveal in this book.
In conclusion, I loved the book and simply love Baptiste’s writing. If you’re looking for a series that focuses on Japanese mythology whilst also having great character moments, epic fight scenes, warm found family vibes, and compassion- you need to pick up this series. If that doesn’t entice you, the author has stated verbatim that the goal of this series is to extract as much pain as can be done from the reader.
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