Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter

Impoverished nobleman Yamada no Goji is a demon hunter in an ancient Japan, where the existence of ghosts and yōkai is a fact of life. His craft is difficult and requires intelligence and understanding as often as it requires his blade or tailsmans and his trade draws him into the schemes of humans seeking power, as well as those of the demons themselves.

This book has a lot going for it. The main story is broken up into a series of interlinked shorts, each involving a different task. All are plot heavy and there wasn't a point in the book that my interest wasn't held. The characters are good, the descriptions beautifully written and the mysteries intriguing.

Brian Nishii's performance was impressive, partly because he can clearly speak both Japanese and English fluently, helping evoke the setting of the story. He has a great voice to listen to and I really enjoyed the way he acted out the parts of the different characters.

There are two reasons this is a four star, rather than a five star listen for me. The first is that earlier on in the book both author and narrator fail to give a completely credible impression that the world we're visiting is ancient Japan. The language and the way the hero speaks are a bit too modern at times and the narrator also often lapses into a more Americanised accent for the hero. Also, it didn't give me what my audio-book group describes as a 'book hangover', that feeling where nothing else seems as good and you can't wait for the next one to come out.

Overall if you only have one credit a month and don't get through many books a year there are better fantasy books out there to spend it on. On the other hand if you read a lot like myself and enjoy paranormal fantasy books with plot as well as punch, I really recommend this.