Honeyed Words (Sarah Beauhall #2)

Honeyed Words by JA Pitts is the second book in his series featuring Sarah Beauhall - a smith who repaired an ancient sword, restoring it magic and gaining the attention of the creatures around Seattle.

As Sarah settles into her new view of the world - one that includes dragons, dwarves, gods, witches and Valkyries - and recovers from battle wounds, she feels responsible for the other people who got hurt. Sarah is doing what she can for her boss's business while her boss, Julie, recovers.

The smiths around Seattle are taking up the slack and working with Sarah, who is still an apprentice, to keep Julie's clients happy. One of the smiths who is willing to help out lives way out of town in the mountains.

Anezka is a strange woman. She seems to be a great smith, but her house has a strange feeling. There is almost a force field around it. And she has a demon living with her.

Pitts has created a world within our own - filled with creatures from Norse mythology, witches, dragons, and more. Sarah Beauhall is a flawed character who is doing her best after discovering the hidden truth around her. Like many fantasy trilogies, the second book is about growing and/or recovering but overall I love this series.

Pitts, J.A. (2011). Honeyed Words. New York: Tor.

Black Blade Blues (Sarah Beauhall #1)

Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts is the first book in the Sarah Beauhall trilogy. Sarah is a smith who lives in Seattle. During the day she works the forge and at night she works for a low budget movie as prop manager.

Sarah has loaned her favorite sword to the movie - a black blade she got at an auction. When the annoying main actor swings the sword and does not pull up, but hits the edge of the stage, it shatters.

As a smith, Sarah will be able to fix the sword, but it will not be easy. And she wants to do it right. One of the movie extras (who claims to be a dwarf) wants to watch. He says the sword is old and was not properly repaired or it would not have broken.

When Sarah fixes the sword things begin to happen. With the power of the sword restored, dragons can feel its power. A world Sarah never knew existed is taking notice of her.

Some of her friends in her medieval re-enactment group, including her girlfriend Katie, believe that the stories told as mythology are true. They are ready to help Sarah in the coming battle.

Pitts has created a fascinating world within our own. Sarah is a great, but flawed, character who is trying to overcome a childhood of brainwashing and learn to be happy in her life and with her girlfriend. This is a great book for fangirls everywhere.

Pitts, J.A. (2010). Black Blade Blues. New York: Tor Books.

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas is the second book in her Throne of Glass series - a great fantasy series about a female assassin in a medieval setting where magic has been forbidden.

The King's Champion, aka Adarlan's Assassin, Calaena Sardothien is not your average champion. She hates the king she works for and would love to overthrown the crown. But her role as champion is a trade - four years of service for her freedom.

Princess Nehemia, from the land of Eyllwe, that the king recently conquered is staying at the castle and has become Calaena's best friend. Together they are trying to defy the king without getting caught. Nehemia wants her land to be freed and knows that the king is using some ancient power to keep the people in line.

Though magic has been outlawed, Calaena is finding evidence of it under the castle in the ancient catacombs. She will continue to explore and study the wyrdmarks to find out how the king came to power so quickly and how to free those he has enslaved.

Maas has created a great fantasy series. Fans of Kristin Cashore will love this series!

Maas, Sarah. (2013). Crown of Midnight. New York: Bloomsbury.

Year of the Demon (Fated Blades #2)

Year of the Demon by Steve Bein is the second book in his Fated Blades series - revolving around ancient Samurai swords created by the Inazuma, who put so much into each blade he created that the blades were though to have magical properties.

Detective Sergeant Oshiro Mariko of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department works in narcotics. She is famous in the papers for a sword fight she had against a yakuza enforcer that ended in his death. In her latest case she is about to join a SWAT raid of a drug buy at a warehouse owned by the Kamaguchi-gumi.

Okuma Diagoro is a Samurai who lives in the late 1500s. He inherited the sword, Divine Victory Unsought, from his father. The sword will help the wielder win every battle - as long as it is an honorable fight and not for glory.

Kaida, an Ama diver who lives in a fishing village in the late 1400s. She is a young girl who spends her days diving for oyster and abalone. But she dreams of getting out of her village where her step-sisters make her life hell. Her only consolation is that she is a better diver than they are, even with only one hand. When outsiders come to her village in search of something lost, she may get her wish.

All three main characters, separated by time, are linked by either Glorious Victory Unsought, or by a demon mask that seems to seek the sword. Each of their lives will be greatly changed by the intention that apparently comes from the mask by altering the desires of its wearer.

Bein has created an amazing series combining mystery, Japanese history, and compelling characters. This series will appeal to many readers and each one will likely wait impatiently for the next installment of the Fated Blades series. This is a read-alike for the Tales of the Otori series by Lian Hern.

Bein, Steve. (2013). Year of the Demon. New York: A Roc Book.

Brilliance of the Moon (Tales of the Otori #3)

Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn is the third book in her Tales of the Otori series about a fictional feudal Japan. Originally the series was a trilogy, but later she added two more books.

Otori Takeo is of three domains - he was born into a community of the Hidden, a religion forbidden in the Three Countries. He has the blood of the Tribe - a line whose members have extraordinary powers and are strictly controlled by the will of the family. And he was adopted by Ortori Shigeru, a Lord and rightful heir to a powerful family in the North. But Takeo must make his own way. He will go against many engrained customs to get there.

Shirakawa Kaede was born into a world where women have little power. But she is heir to the Maruyama domain - one of the few whose land follows the female line. She has already been used as a pawn in political relations between families and tribes. Now she plans to make her own way.

Takeo and Kaede will marry - regardless of custom or family obligations - for love. But in a time of turmoil when Lord Arai plans to take over all of the Three Countries through war, hostage or alliance, love will not be seen as reason enough to go against the grain.

Hearn has created a great series. It reads as if it is translated from ancient Japanese lore. Luckily for fans, following the trilogy there are two additional books - one 16 years later and one that takes place before the time of the trilogy. Read them all!

Hearn, Lian. (2004) Brilliance of the Moon. New York: Riverhead Books.

Grass for His Pillow (Tales of the Otori #2)

Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn is the second book in her Tales of the Otori series set in a fictional medieval Japan.

Otori Takeo is a member of the Tribe - a group of people genetically linked by blood and trained to be assassins and spies. Though he wants to live the life of an Otori, the Tribe has offered him a choice - join them or be killed. Since his father was killed when he left the Tribe, Takeo feels he had no choice but to join them and accept their training.

Shirakawa Kaede was promised to marry Otori Shigeru. She is heir to two lands - Murayama where it is traditional for women to inherit land, and Shirakawa where she will have to fight to be seen as the leader. Either way, she has decided to make her own fate - she will not be married off to someone she does not know or love.

Hearn's tales of clans and alliances set in this imaginary medieval Japan encompasses all that is great about historical fiction, epic fantasy, and great storytelling. This series is brilliant! Read it now!

Hearn, Lian. (2003). Grass for His Pillow. New York: Riverhead Books.

Stormdancer (Lotus War #1)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff is the first book in his Lotus War trilogy - set in the fictional world of Shima that resembles Japan and lead by a Shogun.

The Shima Empire is run by one man - the ninth Shogun of the Kazumitsu Dynasty. Though he is in charge of the running of the empire, he is more concerned with getting what he wants personally. And others in the Tiger Clan as well as the other three clans (Fox, Dragon and Phoenix) must no offend him or they will be killed. What he wants now is a thunder tiger - a mythical griffin-like creature that has been extinct for years.

Yukiko will join her father on a wild griffin chase to the Iishi mountain range - a place where humans do not travel due to legend of demons - knowing that failure will result in the death of the whole hunting party.

When Yukiko and a thunder tiger meet, her secret gift of being able to communicate with animals may be the only thing that will save her life.

Kristoff has created a dystopian world where the Blood Lotus is destroying much of the population - either with it opiate or by destroying the land in which it is planted. The regime is oppressive and ripe for someone to challenge it.

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1)

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn is the first book in the Tales of the Otori series set in a land that resembles feudal Japan.

The 3 countries are at an uneasy peace. Lord Iida plans to take over all three countries. He already controls on and the land he won from the Otori in the last battle. But war is not the only way between clans. Otori Shigeru loathes Iida both for his brutality in the previous battle and for stealing his family's land. But even more so, he hates him for the death of Shigeru's brother. While he appears calm, he is plotting his revenge.

Tomasu was raised in a village of pacifists called the Hidden. Their religion teaches them to harm no creatures. Their religion is opposed by  Iida. He and his men are seeking the Hidden and killing them. While Tomasu was picking mushrooms in the hills above his town, Iida and his men raided the village and killed all of the residents. Now Tomasu is running for his life.

Shirakawa Kaede is a hostage. She was taken by Lord Iida and placed in the household of one of his trusted men in order to keep her father in line. Now she is told she will be married off as a bargaining chip to avoid war. She knows not where she is being sent. Indeed she has spend the last 10 years working as a servant instead of being educated as a woman of her class.

Hearn has created a wonderful series. She captures the feel of feudal Japan and weaves her stories around the culture and art of time period. Readers will race to read the entire series. There are five books in the Tales of the Otori series.

Hearn, Lian. (2002). Across the Nightingale Floor. New York: Riverhead Books.

Daughter of the Sword (Fated Blades #1)

Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein is the first book in his Fated Blades series - written around three swords created by Master Inazuma who put so much focus into his work that his swords are said to be cursed / magical.

Mariko Oshiro is a police detective in Toyko. The only female detective in the city. She is surrounded by a tradition and culture that does not have female officers for anything higher than meter maid. Some blame her quest for a man's job on the fact that she lived in the United States as a teen. Either way, she is working in Narcotics on a one year probation during which she has to prove she belongs. And her new lieutenant has promised to make sure she fails.

So instead of working on drug cases, Mariko has been loaned out to a suburb to investigate the attempted theft of an ancient sword. Professor Yasou Yamada is a scholar of all things Samurai. Someone, and Mariko thinks he knows who, has tried to steal a sword created by Master Inazuma and said to have mystical powers over the one who wields it. While Mariko is too modern to believe in the magical legend of the sword, she has a lot to learn from Dr. Yamada.

Bein has created a legend and woven it within a modern mystery. With flash backs highlighting some of the men who have owned Inazuma's swords, this well crafted blend of story types will appeal to a variety of readers. Daughter of the Sword is a beautifully written story. I will be stalking the author until he completes the next installment in the series.

Bein, Steve. (2012). Daughter of the Sword. NY: Penguin.