Disciple of the Wind
Read Disciple of the Wind Online
Authors: Steve Bein
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS
OF THE FATED BLADES
Year of the Demon
“I am utterly addicted to this series! Steve Bein avoids sophomore slump with brilliant ease in this sequel to
Daughter of the Sword
, and continues to surprise and captivate with exquisite tension and terrific characters in an amazingly well-crafted mystery. I can’t wait for the next one!”
—Diana Rowland, author of
Touch of the Demon
“Gripping. . . . Bein combines the best parts of police procedurals, buddy-cop films, historical fantasy, and intrigue-laden adventure, enhancing them with painstaking research and attention to atmosphere.”
—Publishers Weekly
“There’s no doubting the authenticity of Bein’s creation as he elegantly binds all the elements together.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Bein excels beyond any history lover’s wildest imagination with exceptionally researched, vivid depictions of ancient Japan.”
—Romantic Times
“[Bein is] not a one-book wonder.
Year of the Demon
is a darker story that excoriates its characters much more than was thought possible . . . a good follow-up to one of my favorite debuts of all time.”
—Fantasy Book Critic
“Part thriller, part police procedural, part historical, and part urban fantasy,
Year of the Demon
is simply a book for people who like to read. It has something for everyone, and Bein does an amazing job of weaving them all together into a fascinating story.”
—All Things Urban Fantasy
Daughter of the Sword
“A noir modern Tokyo overwhelmed by the shadows of Japanese history . . . a compelling multifaceted vision of a remarkable culture, and a great page-turner.”
—Stephen Baxter, author of
Iron Winter
“
Daughter of the Sword
really captured my imagination. The interweaving of historical Japanese adventure and modern police procedural, Tokyo-style, caught me from two unexpected directions.”
—Jay Lake, author of
Endurance
“Effortlessly combines history and legend with a modern procedural . . . will have you staying up late to finish it.”
—Diana Rowland
“An authentic and riveting thrill ride through both ancient and modern Japan. Definitely a winner.”
—Kylie Chan, author of
Heaven to Wudang
“Bein’s gripping debut is a meticulously researched, highly detailed blend of urban and historical fantasy set in modern Tokyo. . . . Bein’s scrupulous attention to verisimilitude helps bring all the settings to life, respectfully showcasing Japan’s distinctive cultures and attitudes.”
—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“One of the best debuts I have ever read . . . an epic tale that heralds the emergence of a major talent.”
—Fantasy Book Critic
“A great police procedural urban fantasy that deftly rotates between Mariko in present-day Japan and other warriors in past eras.”
—Genre Go Round Reviews
“
Daughter of the Sword
reads like James Clavell’s
Shogun
would have if it had been crossed with high fantasy by way of a police procedural.”
—Otherwhere Gazette
“Magic swords and samurai set alongside drugs and modern Tokyo and all blending in together to produce an engrossing and original story.”
—Under the Covers
“I loved the plot of this book. . . . I would recommend it to those who like fantasy and those who take an interest in Japanese culture.”
—Book Chick City
“
Daughter of the Sword
is a gritty and compelling police procedural . . . written in beautiful and exotic detail.”
—All Things Urban Fantasy
“If you love reading about faraway places, historical fiction, and fantasy, this book should definitely be on your list.”
—Literal Addiction
“It knocked my socks off. I couldn’t put it down. . . .
Daughter of the Sword
is an urban fantasy novel that is absolutely different than any other urban fantasy novel I’ve read before, written with an infectious passion, a soft touch, and an understanding that transcended its pages. This is a series to watch out for.”
—Bookworm Blues
ALSO BY STEVE BEIN
THE FATED BLADES SERIES
Daughter of the Sword
Only a Shadow
Year of the Demon
Disciple of the Wind
Streaming Dawn
ROC
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland |Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
A Penguin Random House Company
First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Copyright © Steve Bein, 2015
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Bein, Steve.
Disciple of the wind: a novel of the fated blades/Steve Bein.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-698-15885-6
1. Women detectives—Japan—Tokyo—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3602.E385D57 2015
813'.6—dc23 2014041804
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
Contents
In memory of Jay Lake
JAPANESE PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
S
poiler alert: you’re going to find a lot of Japanese words in this book. Three general rules tell you most of what you need to know about how to pronounce them:
1. The first syllable usually gets the emphasis (so it’s DAI-go-ro, not Dai-GO-ro).
2. Consonants are almost always pronounced just like English consonants.
3. Vowels are almost always pronounced just like Hawaiian vowels.
Yes, I know, you probably know about as much Hawaiian as you do Japanese, but the words you do know cover most of the bases: if you can pronounce
aloha
,
hula
,
Waikiki
, and
King
Kamehameha
, you’ve got your vowels. Barring that, if you took a Romance language in high school, you’re good to go. Or, if you prefer lists and tables:
a
as in
father
ae
as in
taekwondo
ai
as in
aisle
ao
as in
cacao
e
as in
ballet
ei
as in
neighbor
i
as in
machine
o
as in
open
u
as in
super
There are two vowel sounds we don’t have in English:
o
and
u
. Just ignore them. My Japanese teachers would slap me on the wrist for saying that, but unless you’re studying Japanese yourself, the difference between the short vowels (
o
and
u
) and the long vowels (
o
and
u
) is so subtle that you might not even hear it. The reason I include the long vowels in my books is that spelling errors make me squirm.
As for consonants,
g
is always a hard
g
(like
gum
, not
gym
) and almost everything else is just like you’d pronounce it in English. There’s one well-known exception: Japanese people learning English often have a hard time distinguishing L’s from R’s. The reason for this is that there is neither an L sound nor an R sound in Japanese. The
ri
of Mariko is somewhere between
ree
,
lee
, and
dee
. The choice to Romanize with an
r
was more or less arbitrary, and it actually had more to do with Portuguese than with English. (If linguistic history had gone just a little further in that direction, this could have been a book about Marico Oxiro, not Mariko Oshiro.)