Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter

By: Richard Parks

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

In an ancient Japan where the incursions of gods, ghosts, and demons into the living world is an everyday event, an impoverished nobleman named Yamada no Goji makes his living as a demon hunter for hire. With the occasional assistance of the reprobate exorcist Kenji, whatever the difficulty - ogres, demons, fox-spirits - for a price Yamada will do what needs to be done, even and especially if the solution to the problem isn’t as simple as the edge of a sword. Yet, no matter how many monsters he has to face, or how powerful and terrible they may be, the demons Yamada fears the most are his own.

©2013 Richard Parks (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Demon Hunter mini stories

This is a series of short stories presented in order. There isn't a lot of spells and sword play being done. Instead our hero is a down his luck noble who is hired or finds demon related jobs. This novel gives an insight into demons and the like from a different culture. The setting is in an ancient time. I enjoyed it a lot. I especially enjoyed narration by Brian Nishii. It is obvious that he has some degree of being bilingual. But his voice is English speaking with the foreign words being spoken correctly. This adds an enjoyable flare to the stories. I recommend this for those looking for something different.

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

A new kind of fantasy world

Japanese mythology is richly woven into this collection of adventuring tales. Two unlikely companions meet oni, ghosts, fox demons and worse - mortal treachery in this well performed audio book. Great fun for lovers of samurai fables.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Boring

I had great hopes for this book but i was sorely disappointed. The main character is supposed to be a Demon Hunter as the title suggest but he is more like a Demon Soother He brings comfort and well tiding to monsters everywhere. I can literally count the number of times he use his sword on one hand. Now don't get me wrong I love a good story where the hero uses his mind instead of brown. But in every situation the problems were so simply solved that the people with the problems should have solved them long before he ever arrived.
Plus all of the spell work and important life saving stuff was all done by his side kick a disreputable monk. who is like Watson to his Holmes.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Enjoyable

It was like short murder mysteries written in time of the samurai. I wish there were more.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

The stories are great

I have read a few Yamada stories in their original publications and listened to a few as well in podcast form. I think the narrator for this version is much better at capturing the tone and voice of Yamada and Kenji, but at times goes a bit over the top when it comes to the voices of the supernatural beings.

Ghosts, Goblins, and Fox Spirits

Uses the tropes of traditional Japanese supernatural to tell thrilling stories involving characters we care about.

Hard to Follow

What disappointed you about Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter?

I thought this book was hard to follow. The story is interesting but still lacking in some manner. I normally finish all my books but this one I turned off early into the story. I'll just have to move onto the next book in my library.

Good Fun with nice atmosphere

I enjoyed this series of semiconnected stories. They have a touch of the Dresden Files short stories in their structure.

A very nice book

Short and interesting and well narrated. I would recommend it to those who love "detective" type stories.

Different than I expected bu in a good way

Any additional comments?

I was expecting a typical hack and slash heavily western influenced style ninja novel. It was more of a detective novel than an adventure novel however I like books with characters that use their brains as much as their skills so I liked this. I also liked that the author got the right feel for the Japanese. Having lived in Japan and worked with the Japanese for over 10 years I was expecting lots of cringe worthy Western stereotypes. I didn't get them which was a pleasant surprise.

A mixture of Dresden Files and Japanese folk tales

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.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Constantine/Buffy/Sherlock Holmes

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story. Little clues here and there that later turn out to be huge clues because of the way the main character engineers things. It's very derivative.

What could Richard Parks have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

A story about demons and ghosts is going to be hard to make 'convincing' but this is just Sherlock Holmes with demons and ghosts and Kitsune!

Have you listened to any of Brian Nishii’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Not really. It's like teenage fictio.

Could you see Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Brian Nishi is the only good thing about this book. Brilliant as ever.

Any additional comments?

If you want a very simple, drab sort of story to listen to, one that'll help youget to sleep, but this book!