Year of the Demon (A Novel of the Fated Blades) Mass Market Paperback – September 2, 2014

I really enjoyed reading this book. It leaned a little more heavily on the historical fiction than the modern story, but the historical fiction part was so good that I didn't mind too much. I did feel that the characters in the modern part of the story were a little slower to catch on to important details than they should have been. Definitely worth reading if you enjoyed the first book, and leads directly into the third which I feel improves on the balance.

This sequel continues the contemporary story from Daughter of the Sword, following a new police case for Tokyo detective Mariko. As with the predecessor, 2/3 of the book actually tells a story set in feudal Japan involving samurai and warlords. This time, instead of an ancient sword, the mysterious McGuffin is an old No mask; and as with the previous book, there appears to be some sort of curse attached to it.There's more than one Interrelated story here, and I found the contemporary story a bit more interesting than the samurai era, even though it was the shorter of the two. But both had some interesting characters, and it was an enjoyable read.

Set in modern day Tokyo, this police procedural featuring a female narc, is well written and is fast paced. Two artifacts from ancient Japan who are somehow connected inspire a fanatical cult to shake up the yakuza/law enforcement status quo. For anyone who is a fan of Grass as his pillow and the Nightingale Floor, this book may be of interest. The historical portion of the back story was the most interesting to me, while some of the characters in the present day fell flat. The cult figure was perhaps not developed enough, we'll see if future stories bring his motivations to light.

in this episode Mariko's character is challenged by evidence rules and the need to prevent a major terrorist threat.As in all of the Fated Blades series, I highly recommend reading them in order. The history of a few surviving Samurai katana blades and their influences on the characters is the basis of these stories. The Japanese male dominated society challenges our heroine constantly. The setting flips between feudal Japan and present day Tokyo keeping you on your toes and how the history intertwines. A good read.

The three alternating narratives didn't seem to weave together as well in this one as they did in the first. The main story of the Tokyo detective is the strongest with the other two not as well developed. They end up being more of a distraction than anything. I'd rather read one full novel devoted to the modern day detective.

I think my expectations for the series is why this book disagreed with me as much as it did. I saw book 1 as a set up book. So I thought book 2 would be a bit different than it was. All in all its two different stories combined in the same book. One Tokyo detective story and one feudal Japan story. I really had no interest in the feudal story with characters I didn't care about. Mariko stops on page 31 and doesn't come back until 131. That's a lot of pages to take away and it doesn't end there. I found it to take away from what I wanted to read.Mariko's sword gets stolen right away which isn't really as important as it seems. Because all that training Mariko does in book 1 doesn't mean anything at all in book 2. If it was a complete detective story it would be better. It feels like half a book. I won't be continuing the series.

I liked book 1 better.

Books with martial arts themes are often one-dimensional. What Steve Bein has given us is a fascinating ride through three periods of time. Often, authors trying such literary gymnastics get lost trying to tie it all together. Bein has managed to do that while still maintaining a mysterious link between characters in three different places at three different times. A good read.