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Title: Cold Sake: Yamabuki vs. the Undead

Author: Katherine M Lawrence

Narrator: Melissa Sternenberg

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 09-21-16

Publisher: Toot Sweet Ink

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Not all vengeance is exacted by the living.

In 12th-century Japan, Yamabuki, a woman samurai 17 years old, travels deep into the Oku wilderness.

Along a lonely road, at a forgotten inn, she seeks shelter, warm food, and cold saké.

But as darkness falls, she ends up fighting for her life, and she finds that there are terrible things under heaven that no weapon can vanquish, and that her only way to survive is to heal that which cannot be healed.

Members Reviews:

The start of an exciting new series

There are two selections here, both starring the same character, Yamabuki, a female samurai in Japan at the end of the turbulent Heian era (around 1175 CE). One is a stand-alone short story - Cold Sake - while the other, Haru (Spring), is the first chapter in a longer book about Yamabuki. I loved them both, and eagerly await the next publication.

Katherine Lawrence writes with a very strong sense of place, of time, and of character. Yamabuki rides alone in both of the selections, apparently depending on her own wit and ability to survive. Japan seems to be fragmented at this time - there may or may not be a recognized emperor; and the common people, local law enforcement and aristocrats she meets may or may not recognize and honor her status as an Imperial messenger. She's more than up to the task, though what it may have already cost her is not yet known, or what it may cost her. It's clear she has a back story, and the author has given us some information and some hints - an early life in the Imperial Court, perhaps a map-making patron, a high-ranking birth family. I want to know more.

At the end of the first chapter, it's clear that Yamabuki is out very far from the Imperial Court, both geographically and emotionally, on a mission to find and perhaps kill a new unknown sword maker. This gives the narrative an added impetus - why is she out here alone? What are her allegiances? Why was she sent? Did she come on her own?

Interestingly, even though Yamabuki doesn't believe in them, it's clear that there are real gods and real supernatural beings in her world; and it seems likely that she will be thrown in with them whether she believes or not. In Cold Sake, she survives the attack of a vengeful female spirit, but does she believe, or does she think it was all a dream?

The Pillow Book of Lady Sei Shonagon is well known. Lawrence has named the Yamabuki saga, the Pillow Book of a Samurai, and includes a pawky little story explaining why Lady Sei Shonagon called her book the Pillow Book. I can't wait for the next installment!

A thoroughly researched and unique story in the genre of Japanese historical fiction.

The Japanese tradition is long and complicated, with subtleties that are truly hard to capture in a work of extant fiction. However, Katherine M. Lawrence does a wonderful job of it. Peppered throughout "Cold Sake" and "Haru" are little details like using the old calendar (Year of the Monkey, for example), and translating the tongue-twister names of people in the pre-modern era so that their inherent meanings can be gleaned even by readers unfamiliar with the language.

Doubly impressive is the character Yamabuki herself, deftly crafted and executed on the page and throughout the story.