{"id":13523,"date":"2022-06-09T09:46:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T15:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=13523"},"modified":"2022-06-09T10:11:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T16:11:54","slug":"the-onis-shamisen-book-9-the-toki-girl-and-the-sparrow-boy-by-claire-youmans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=13523","title":{"rendered":"The Oni’s Shamisen Book 9: The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow Boy by Claire Youmans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

An immersive, satisfying read\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youmans\u2019s ninth installment in her ambitious The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow Boy series is a carefully plotted, engrossing historical fantasy with plenty of twists and turns. Japan, 1877. The Satsuma Rebellion is contained, and the rebels are defeated. Princess Otohime needs help as she makes arrangements for her ambitious project of resettling refugees displaced by the rebellion. Azuki, Shota, Iyrtsh, Renko, and Akira are doing their best to help. When Oni asks Azuki for help, the Toki-Girl knows she must find a way to help Oni. Meanwhile, Eastern Dragon King Ryuujin and Western Dragon Queen Rizantona ponder the future of their species and the planet. Youmans\u2019s characters are solid and easily likable. The historical setting of the Meiji Era Japan is crafted with skill\u2014the norms, the culture, the superstitions that ruled the minds of the masses, the gender disparity, particularly the practice of female infanticide in certain situations, socio-political situation and economic reforms\u2014all of it come alive. Similarly, the diversity of the people who inhabit it \u2014both dual-natured characters and their human counterparts, their physical abilities and psychological burdens\u2014is refreshingly visible. The narrative follows a linear structure: there are conventional character interactions; moral, philosophical, and political dilemmas; humans and the dual-natured protagonists\u2019 personal struggles; and a nation on the brink of industrial revolution. The cultural diversity of the cast is presented in extensive, agreeable strokes, with Azuki\u2019s passionate spirit consistently at the center. The dual-natured characters\u2019 interpersonal dynamic with their human counterparts is rooted in reality. The plot bounces nicely alongside Azuki and her friends\u2019 various explorations. Susu\u2019s boyish enthusiasm comes to the fore throughout the narrative and rubs off on other dual-nature characters. Fascinating challenges and intriguing explorations are in plenty. However, the story lacks the visceral tension, generated by both the internal and external dangers threatening to shatter the peace of the nation, that gave the previous installment its edgy brilliance. That said, the book is an engrossing read, with a story that provides continuous surprising twists. The accompanied photos and detailed artwork provide extensive information, adding plenty to the text while grabbing the reader’s attention with entertaining visuals. This is an ambitious story: with its extensive cast and vast scope, the novel cannon be read as a stand-alone. New readers will benefit from reading the series in order. An entertaining installment in an ambitious series that does not neglect the vitality of its plotline. A must-read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oni’s Shamisen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book 9: The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow Boy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Youmans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pub Date 19 Apr 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISBN 000B09Y4FY8QG<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PRICE $6.99 (USD) Kindle edition, $11.21 Paperback<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An immersive, satisfying read\u2026 Youmans\u2019s ninth installment in her ambitious The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow Boy series is a carefully plotted, engrossing historical fantasy with plenty of twists and turns. Japan, 1877. The Satsuma Rebellion is contained, and the rebels are defeated. Princess Otohime needs help as she makes arrangements for her ambitious project of resettling refugees displaced by the rebellion. Azuki, Shota, Iyrtsh, Renko, and Akira are doing their best to help. When Oni […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":13533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[7223,91,3328,178,92732,1136176,1473,1008073,309,349],"class_list":["post-13523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-historical-fiction","tag-indie-books","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-reviews","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-3w7","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/toki-girl-9-1.jpg?fit=318%2C500&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13523"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13535,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13523\/revisions\/13535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}