Daughter of the Sword

Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein, Fated Blades #1

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.

When I encountered Daughter of the Sword, I had this constant little voice in my head that kept telling me how amazing this book would be. It was right, spot-on. With a story taking place in Tokyo, Japan and of course not to forget swords with their magical abilites! And not to forget the mention of the legendary swordcrafter Master Inazuma, the premise of the part just got way more interesting. However just to mention, this book is categorized as an Urban Fantasy book, but it actually holds more of a blend of contemporary and historical fantasy. Daughter of the Sword isn’t full of magic and the supernatural. Instead Steve Bein opted to make the sword element the most alluring. They contain power.. for better and for worse.

In the Daughter of the Sword you not only closely follow Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Sergeant Mariko Oshiro’s story but actually there are three other stories woven into the main storyline each contributing immensely towards adding another level into this book. The story picks up in the present day and then starts alternating, going from present day 2010 to 1308 back to 2010 and to 1587 etc.(see below). Its quite hard to put this stream of thought on to paper but I hope to do it as logically as possible. This alternating between the different stories added a great pacing to the book but moreover made Daughter of the Sword a full and rich story. Not only showing the dark streets of Tokyo with drug dealers and the yakuza. But also highlighting in the parts where the story that goes back in time, the history and heritage of the swords. These unique and interesting story lines and lets not forget that you also see the powers they hold... All of these parts followed near seamlessly into each other even though you skipped a few years back and forth there was no hassle, and the way all the history was told felt natural and common as a fact instead of that you were present with too much. They all stood out and came together completely. This probably owed to the writing style that allowed you to completely immerse yourself into Daughter of the Sword.

The first storyline that centers around Mariko takes place in 2010c.e. the Heisei-era. Mariko being the only female officer on the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department faces constant struggles. Not being fully accepted as that she is a female officer doing quite well, she is assigned a task to demean her and “put her into place”, however this case that follows up on this breaking and entering case, is of a much greater scale than Mariko could have guessed. During this case Mariko meets up with the Professor Yasuo Yamada, who points her in the right direction and educates her with a few tricks of his own.

The second storyline goes back quite a few years to 1308c.e. the Kamakura-era. In this part you encounter the first Inazuma blade “Beautiful Singer”. Here the story centers around the samurai time in Japan and you follow the footsteps of Saito Toshiro. He is “stumbles” upon one of the Inazuma blades, and in this part you already get to glimpse of the power and influence that Beautiful Singer has, quite destructive..

The third part goes again back in time to the Azuchi-Momogama-era in 1587c.e. Again taking place in the times of the samurai and this time you follow Okuma Daigoro. Also in this part you learn more about another of the Inazuma blades this time its “Glorious Victory (Unsought)”. Okuma Daigoro inherits his father blade and his brother is jealous about this fact. As this part of the story progresses you again learn about the power hidden within Glorious Victory. It is different than Beautiful Singer but nonetheless as powerful.

The fourth storyline goes back in time to 1942c.e. the Showa era. Here you follow the footsteps of young army lieutenant Kiyama Keiji who serves the Japanese army during world war II. Though this part feels a bit out of place being forwarded to the more modern time, there are no samurai’s left here. But you do get to feel or at least have an estimate of what power the last sword holds, the “Tiger of the Mountain”. Next to Keiji there is another important character in this part. Hayano Shoji, who guides Keiji in his endeavors. Though this part leaves it a bit open. There is a great revealing of this fourth part with the storyline set in 2010 and Mariko, and it had a definite impact and wow factor! it made a lot of things fall into place.

As the pages of the book slowly become less, all the things told in the different parts collide with each other in the present part with Mariko. So far I have only mentioned the different storyline and the swords. The most important actually takes place in the current time where Mariko is on the hunt for man with vicious intent driven by supernatural forces. It falls into her hands to put a stop to this. It is more by the things that you learn about this particular sword that this person became more and more dangerous and unpredictable in my eyes. Adding another bit of a thriller aspect in their as well. The ending of the book, did feel a bit rushed, after having spent time in the rich history of the different storylines. It was as if some aspects had to be fitted in their. However on the whole it falls away deeply into the background of everything. 

Daughter of the Sword is a story that blends historical and contemporary fiction to the fullest showign full force what is possible with each theme and letting them build-up on each other. By putting a focus on the current day and age storyline with Mariko and sporadically letting loose the powers of the swords therein, Daughter of the Sword had me on the edge of my seat for the whole time. Especially when you continue to learn more and more about them, I just wanted to see them in action full swing. Steve Bein has created an immensely rich new series with the Fated Blades, definitely a series to watch and of course, to read!