Urban Fantasy/Mystery Review: Daughter of The Sword by Steve Bein

Daughter of The Sword by Steve Bein (Fated Blades #1)

bought

Synopsis from Goodreads
Mariko Oshiro is not your average Tokyo cop. As the only female detective in the city’s most elite police unit, she has to fight for every ounce of respect, especially from her new boss. While she wants to track down a rumored cocaine shipment, he gives her the least promising case possible. But the case—the attempted theft of an old samurai sword—proves more dangerous than anyone on the force could have imagined.

The owner of the sword, Professor Yasuo Yamada, says it was crafted by the legendary Master Inazuma, a sword smith whose blades are rumored to have magical qualities. The man trying to steal it already owns another Inazuma—one whose deadly power eventually comes to control all who wield it. Or so says Yamada, and though he has studied swords and swordsmanship all his life, Mariko isn’t convinced.

But Mariko’s skepticism hardly matters. Her investigation has put her on a collision course with a curse centuries old and as bloodthirsty as ever. She is only the latest in a long line of warriors and soldiers to confront this power, and even the sword she learns to wield could turn against her. 
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9/10

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It's not often I have such mixed feelings about a book, peeps. It's also very rare that I would give such book high rating, but I had to with this one.

Daughter of The Sword is a mixed genre book - partly urban fantasy, partly historical fiction and a mystery all the way.  It takes time to get into it because it's pretty damn slow, but if you persevere it's full of rich cultural details on different historical eras of Japan down to modern time.



It's no secret I collect and treasure paranormal fiction based in Asia, and in that regard this book absolutely does not disappoint. Mariko Oshira is a first woman detective on a prestigious police force in Tokyo. Her drive and her stubborn streak forcing her fight through sexist culture which looks at her as a freak of nature are what endear her to the reader straight away. In some regard she reminded me of Eve Dallas from Nora Roberts' famous futuristic detective saga.

Mariko is demoted by her new boss to an insignificant case of an almost stolen sword in the beginning of the book, but when she starts to connect the dots between recent murders of drug dealers in town and a certain bloodthirsty ex-student of the man whose sword was almost stolen, she puts herself into a path of powerful swords capable to change history.

The book goes from present time investigation into different historical eras to tell us the story of each sword several times. It takes time to get used to, and I have to say that the prose is not for everyone, but it sucked me right in.

You can't help but immerse yourself into the atmosphere completely, and as the pace picks up towards the end, your tension mounts along with the main heroine's. Would she find the killer in time? Will she save the swords? Will she prevail over her sexist superiors?

I think this book is beautiful, atmospheric, and you need to take your time to enjoy it. Recommended, although it's not for everyone.

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Безумно интересная, хотя и очень медленная книга, которая понравится далеко не каждому читателю. 

Постоянным посетителям блога хорошо известно, что меня неудержимо притягивают к себе паранормальные книги, повествование которых происходит в Азии.  Дочь Меча - частью городское фэнтэзи, частью детектив, частью исторический роман, происходящий в Японии на протяжении нескольких исторических эпох.

В настоящем времени Марико Оширо - первый детектив-женщина на службе полиции Токио расследует кажущееся незначимым преступление - попытку кражи древнего меча, не подозревая, что она встала на путь столкновения трёх знаменитых мечей, способных изменить историю, когда она начинает видеть связь между её делом и серией убийств продавцов наркотиков в её городе.
 
От настоящего времени читатель время от времени погружается в различные эпохи истории Японии, чтобы каждый из мечей мог рассказать свою историю перед тем как они столкнутся друг с другом на пути Марико и Фушимы - мелкого сошки из якудзы, одержимого одним из смертоносных мечей.

Книга, несмотря на то, что временами скучаешь, затягивает. Легко погружаешься в менталитет японки Марико и такие различные от западного мира культурные детали. Под конец, когда все нити повествования соединяются, удержаться от напряжения и учащённого пульса невозможно, и я, несмотря на противоречивые чувства по поводу писательского стиля, получила огромные удовольствие, и Дочь Меча советую и вам. Своеобразно, но читать стоит.