Spirits of Vengeance

This is book three of the Mortal Techniques. They all function as standalone stories, but reading them in order does definitely add a bit to each as two and three feature side characters turned leads. 
This one was a bit drawn out for me. The opening felt overlong and towards the middle of the book it still only had a singular plot point. I don't necessarily think books need a reason to exist though, I just didn't find the ‘why' for a while. 
Haruto is immortal and promises to rid the world of evil spirits. He uses ritual staffs to cleanse the world of them, and it's a clever choice by the author to have the staffs get re-blessed in between each use. This allows for the main to not be all powerful. It also has some unfortunate repercussions for our hero. 
Haruto is accompanied by an old, ornery poet, who may or may not have a familiar past. They go from town to town, removing spirits, destroying kimonos, drinking wine, and getting paid. They also pick up a couple more friends along the way. Additional connections everywhere!
The combat is great, unique, and thrilling. The use of so many different spirits keep things fresh along the way with different abilities and what it takes to stop them. 
Personally a 4/5* for me, Never Die still hails as king.