Yet she finds herself enmeshed in a game where the board is the whole nation of Japan, where the pieces are armies, moved by scheming lords, and a single girl couldn't possibly have the power to change the outcome. Kano Murasaki, called Risuko (Squirrel) is a young, fatherless girl, more comfortable climbing trees than down on the ground.

Magical but historical, Risuko follows her along the first dangerous steps to discovering who she truly is. She is torn from her home and what is left of her family, but finds new friends at a school that may not be what it seems. Growing up far from the battlefields and court intrigues, the fatherless girl finds herself pulled into a plot that may reunite Japan - or may destroy it. Though Japan has been devastated by a century of civil war, Risuko just wants to climb trees. My name is Kano Murasaki, but everyone calls me Squirrel. That I can be a very special kind of woman. My nation has been at war for a hundred years, Serenity is under attack, my family is in disgrace, but some people think that I can bring victory. I am from Serenity Province, though I was not born there.

He ties enough aspects of real-life feudal Japanese culture to give the perfect balance of reality in this fictional world.] The well-crafted mystery, well-honed history and world-building, and Risuko's adventurousness leave the reader wanting more.My name is Kano Murasaki, but most people call me Risuko. unputdownable tale due in no small part to his outstanding world building. Like the first novel in the author's 'Seasons of the Sword' series, Bright Eyes is imaginative, original, exceptionally well written, and highly recommended - Midwest Book Reviewĭavid Kudler crafts an enthralling. Once again David Kudler has fully succeeded as a novelist with a genuine flair for historical fiction populated by memorably crafted characters and decidedly entertaining plot twists and turns. Can Risuko figure out who would do such thing?Īnd can she keep it from happening again? Someone kills a Takeda lieutenant, staging it to look like suicide. In this thrilling sequel to Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale, Risuko must face warlords, samurai, angry cooks, a monster in the hills, the truth about her father, a spy among the kunoichi. Two armies have descended on the Full Moon, and the war that has torn Japan apart for over a century threatens to destroy Lady Chiyome's school for young shrine maidens (and assassins). The future of Japan hangs in the balance, and it's up to a girl who likes to climb to save the day

Risuko a kunoichi tale