I love when I have had a book on my TBR list for years (15 in this instance), and I actually don’t regret finally picking it up. This was a book I enjoyed from beginning to end, and actually made me want to read the rest of the series.
Inspired by a historical figure yet set in a fantastical version of Japan, The Disfavored Hero tells the story of Tomoe Gozen, a female samurai serving a local lord during the time of the Shogun. While in battle against the supernatural forces of a Chinese sorcerer, Tomoe dies and discovers herself in Hell. Fighting back to the land of the living, she must reclaim her honor after being enslaved by the aforementioned sorcerer. How she goes about doing that, the people she meets and the adventures that ensue are what occupy the remainder of the book.
Tomoe, a strong, forthright yet very traditionally feudal Japanese, character, stoic, and overly obsessed with honor, her place in the world, and who comes across a little unaware of social mores. This is just makes her real. No “Ellen Ripley off to best the Alien Queen” vibe. She may be a samurai, yet Tomoe never forgets that in the end, society will demand she put down the sword and pick up the wedding kimono. And she accepts that that is how her life must be. Props are to be given for the fact that she is written as a queer character; in fact there are several in the book, the majority of them women. Seeing as the writer herself makes no secret that she’s gay, it’s not that surprising.
The writing style is very Japanese; with dialogue being very formalistic and almost poetic, characters very archetypal and definitively formed, and the passage of time largely uncommented on. The story itself is written as a series of vignettes, with a central connective backbone that appears and disappears in the text. Characters fall in and out of appearance, and some fates are left up in the air. I will also say you probably need to have a decent grasp on Japanese mythology to make complete sense of what is going on. I believe that most people would be able to enjoy this book even if they are not too familiar with Japanese mythology, however in my opinion you would probably be missing a considerable amount of the nuances. If you don’t like Akira Kurosawa movies, then you are not most likely going to like this book. In fact, that is probably the best way to describe this book; a Kurosawa movie novelized.