Hi guys, how are you all doing? I’m back today to share a review – I am sure you guys know the routine now :). I haven’t done a 5 reasons to read style review for a while, so I thought I would do one today. Sometimes it’s easier to organise my thoughts this way. You can see from the title what I’m going to be talking about so I’m just going to get straight into it :).

1. The setting is amazing. It is set in a mythical medieval Japan, which is what drew to this book in the first place. I absolutely love this setting – it is definitely one of my favourite things about this book. The world building is fantastic and it is such an interesting world.

2. The characters are all interesting and complex – I like that the characters are not good or evil, they are a bit of both. The way that it is written means that it is sometimes a little hard to feel connected with the characters, but it is still interesting to see how they progress and I didn’t have an issue with it. One thing to note is there are quite a lot of characters, so it is a little tricky to keep track of everything at first, but I found it resolved itself after a couple of chapters.

3. I love the mystical feel of this book. It very much feels like you are reading an old myth, and I wonder whether if you have more knowledge of Japanese myths, you would get more enjoyment or a better understanding of things. It is by no means necessary to have that background knowledge though.

4. More good points about this book include a great twisty plot, a interesting and well done magic system, political intrigue and great action. Also the covers are stunning :).

5. If you like mythology, especially Japanese mythology, then I think you will enjoy this and I would definitely recommend checking it out.

There you have it – 5 reasons to read the Tales of Shikanoko series. I loved these books and I look forward to reading Hearn’s other series. This is definitely not going to be for everyone – I think because of the writing style it can seem quite impersonal and therefore hard to connect with the characters. I didn’t have an issue with that, but perhaps it is something to be aware of. Have you guys read these books? What did you think? I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

Pippa