Thousand Shrine Warri

I found the first book of this trilogy (Tomeoe Gozen) at a library sale, and was captivated. Everything about it; from the unique character, to the inventive alternative Japan, to the elegant writing style, to the unbelievable amount of sheer STORY packed into the first 66 pages, was remarkable. Not easy to find the rest of the out-of-print series, but wonderfully rewarding. Very involved storytelling, complex and somehow very Japanese. And I can say that the heroine, Tomoe Gozen, starts out a complete original and is uniquely transformed by her (frequently awful) experiences, right up to the heart-wrenching final scenes of the last book. Be warned, though: happy endings, dreams fullfilled, walking towards a sunset hand-in-hand towards some happily-ever-after future...not prominently featured. Tomoe Gozen is, throughout, a tragic figure I cannot recommend this highly enough to fans of fantasy, samurai stories, excellent writing, sword fighting, mythic adventure and japanophiles in general.

Jessica Amanda Salmonson is one of the two best Fantasy authors I have encountered in my entire, very prolific, reading career.Thousand Shrine Warrior is the third book in the Tomoe Gozen trilogy (The first two being Tomoe Gozen, and The Golden Naginata, with the currently-in-print Disfavored Hero being the reprint/uncut version of Tomoe Gozen) and it does an unthinkably breathtaking job of continuing the already entrancing series at a height that is as complex, beautiful, and thought-provoking as the first two books.I got a lot out of this book. Characters in this book affected me, and I have had insights because of this book. Far apart from her brilliance in writing a complex, engrossing, female-positive (at a time when having a female heroine was unthinkable!) fantasy novel set in an exaustively-researched mythological Japan, Salmonson is also an incredible writer in the literary sense as well. I cannot imagine anyone taking the effort to acquire this book and this series and not being esctatic about the decision after reading them. In all sincerity; this author may rekindle your faith in and love for the Fantasy Genre.