The Market of 100 Fortunes: A Legend of the Five Rings Novel

4.5Prolific fantasy author Marie Brennan adds another book to the series and world of The Legend of the Five Rings. I read my first one in 2000 (by another author) when the first volume was published and was in love with the world, the clans, the characters, and the mythology/supernatural elements ever since.Perfect for fans of anime, historical shows, and Asian mythology including yokai, horror, and elements usually part of the famous Night Parade, but the approach is very light. Good for those who don't know much about Japanese mythology.It's appropriate for younger readers. The relationships are very respectful and there is no gore or violence. It is more humorous and cozy.Even if you never read the series, you can still enjoy each volume as a standalone because each book is an isolated episode and we get the characters well and their relationship. In this volume, the story starts around chapter seven that's when you stop feeling like you're catching up.The authors are careful to give us an insight into previous books or adventures and that will just make you curious enough to want to collect the rest.In this volume, Sekken (my favorite intellectual samurai/witch gay character of this series who sometimes has a temper... ) goes to a small town with his fiancé in search of Bakeneko Sayashi who has gone missing, she is not the only one missing and they find themselves again in a magical world where humans don't rule. There are other side quests as well.These are easy to read, light, and cozy, like the trend nowadays, you'll enjoy them if you like light novels. It's always nostalgic to return to these so I don't mind, but if you are a hardcore fan of L5R you'll end up wanting more depth.I love these covers.Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this e-ARC.

The Market of 100 Fortunes is the third Legend of Five Rings game world book by Brennan. They follow Isao Ryotora and Asako Sekken, two samurais of Rokugan Empire, a priest and a scholar who are drawn into dangerous supernatural situations. I’ve read them back-to-back and have liked them all, but this was perhaps the weakest one.Ryotora and Sekken are preparing to travel to the Dragon Clan’s lands together to marry there, when an urgent request from Sayashi, the cat spirit who has been their reluctant helper in both cases, calls them to Crane Clan lands. But when they arrive there, she’s disappeared.She may be in the market of 100 fortunes, a place no one believes exists. The men start to investigate with the help of a Scorpion magistrate who may have an agenda of her own, and a little orphan girl. Turns out, finding the market is easy. Getting out of there is less so.This was slightly less interesting read than before. In the earlier books, the men had full chapters in their point of view, which gave a lot of space for character development. Here, the point of view changes in the middle of the chapter, leaving less room for the characters, as the plot dominates the pace. It would’ve required more drama early on to keep a reader’s interest. Now it took a bit too long before anything happened.There are also a couple of chapters from Sayashi’s point of view. She wasn’t quite as interesting as I’d hoped, and I felt they didn’t really add anything worthwhile. At the very least, the reason for her actions should’ve been brought up earlier on to make the great revelation at the end work better. Now it came a bit out of blue and didn’t have the impact it could’ve had.Nevertheless, once the mystery got going, it was intriguing. Again, the solution wasn’t easy, requiring great sacrifices. The men worked on their peculiar connection, coming to terms with it, and their relationship remained the best part of the book. The ending was good, and gave a notion that this is the last book. If that’s the case, I’m happy with where the men ended up. But I’d really like to read more.

Marie Brennan writes excellent fantasy and this an intriguing and well plotted novel that mixes fantasy and mysteryI had fun and thoroughly enjoyed this novelHighly recommended.Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Market of 100 Fortunes is part of a series and should be read as such. I started with this book and admit that at times I felt a little lost. When a friend is in need, Asako Sekken and Agasha no Isao Ryotora postpone their marriage to find their friend and give her help. Magical creatures and mystical markets pit out heroes against ghosts and ancient mythical beings in a paranormal adventure full of action and loyal friends. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.