Dragon sword and wind child

This was a rare impulse buy for me since I'd never heard of this book until I came across it at the bookstore. I was very glad I read it. It's a translation of a Japanese fantasy book written in the tradition of the common British and American fantasies based on Celtic mythology, only using Japanese mythology from the Kojiki as the basis for the story. I loved the fantasy elements and am definitely planning to pick up the second book in the Tales of the Magatama, which has also been translated into English!

Full Review

I really enjoyed the Asian mythology infused into this book, it was certainly refreshing from the medieval European fantasy that's a dime a dozen. I enjoyed the story for the most part, although I found I wasn't super fond of the characters. They were decent enough, but I just didn't find a huge connection to any of them, so it dampened the otherwise good story. I wasn't biting my nails or worrying about them after I closed the book, so I guess it didn't quite hit that sweet spot that I find with my favourite books, however, I did still enjoy reading it. The world, the mythology and adventure were enough to keep me interested, if not completely invested. I probably would have ended up with 3 1/2 stars if 1/2 stars were allowed, but since it was somewhat more unique in it's Asian influence, I went up to 4.