This series kickoff features plenty of elements familiar to fantasy readers but soon veers off in an unexpected direction. When it begins, young siblings Aisha and Milucha Keluahn are on the run; they\u2019re eventually captured by the forces of Lord Jookuchi. Aisha figures out that Jookuchi is being poisoned, which saves the siblings\u2019 lives. Imperial inspector Masyu Kashuga\u2014whose work involves \u201cconsidering the empire as a whole\u201d\u2014connects Aisha to Olie, who is considered to be the reincarnation of the deity Lady Kokun, and with whom Masyu shares a romantic history. Olie seeks to prevent an agricultural catastrophe brought on by the arrival of insects called giant yoma. As it turns out, Aisha\u2019s preternatural ability to recognize scents suggests that she, not Olie, is the true successor to Kokun, which may have broad political implications for the empire. As Olie points out, \u201cthe Kokun is like a beautiful statue of a goddess that has been given an important role to play.\u201d Our heroes attempt to piece together the true history of the Umal Empire, and what hidden documents can tell them about the true location of \u201cthe land of the gods.\u201d Uehashi\u2019s attention to detail, in Hirano\u2019s translation, should impress readers fond of palace intrigue, and the cliffhanger ending suggests a shift in direction for subsequent volumes. While some of the dialogue can be overly expository\u2014\u201cThey\u2019re descendants of Keluahn\u2014a ruler so despised that his own people drove him from the throne!\u201d\u2014the attention to sensory detail and the theme of history as deception make this an enveloping read. You might be surprised how much dramatic tension can arise from crop layouts.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This series kickoff features plenty of elements familiar to fantasy readers but soon veers off in an unexpected direction. When it begins, young siblings Aisha and Milucha Keluahn are on the run; they\u2019re eventually captured by the forces of Lord Jookuchi. Aisha figures out that Jookuchi is being poisoned, which saves the siblings\u2019 lives. Imperial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}