Urban myths are becoming urban facts, gods have started to ride the subway and a monster from ancient folklore is hungrily stalking the streets.
While working in the vibrant city of Osaka, Australian bush witch, Alley Weaver, is suddenly gifted with the ability to see the ghosts and spirits that normally remain hidden. She soon finds that her housemate is being tormented by a murderous poltergeist and a dangerously seductive creature, known as a nukekubi, is hunting her friends. To save them, Alley will have to break her oath to ‘do no harm’ and delve into the forbidden side of the craft, but wielding the dark magic needed to destroy these otherworldly horrors always has consequences.
I received this book for free from Author Gifted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This book came in our email and both Melanie and I were excited. It sounded good and the wonderful H even mailed us copies. Trust me Melanie and I get all smitten when authors send us honest to goodness books. This copy came all the way from Australia and when it came in I was all excited. Okay so I started this book yesterday at around 1730 when I was finally done with my meetings. Around 0100 this morning I finished it. Yeah I read the entire thing at once, well I did stop to have dinner and put the child to bed, but otherwise I was glued to the book. It was worth the read in my opinion but I will let you decide after my review.
~~Andi’s Review~~
Alley is a young 20 something Aussie witch who finds herself in Osaka Japan due to a dream that she had. Yeah you heard me right, she had a dream, she decided to move lock stock and barrel to Japan to work for an ESL company. She meets her flatmate Hannah and while at work meets Jade and Devan. After meeting Jade and Devan weird stuff starts happening. Hannah gets a little wacky, Jade has a secret admirer who is creeptastic but Jade is enthralled by him, and Devan… Well Devan wants to be a Ninja.
So these three friends start experiencing some really weird things start happening from dates with maggots to men running around without a body. Oh and a young girl without legs crawling down the subway tracks. Yup, all of that and Ghosts, Spiders, and a teapot.
I like this book, I was enthralled by it. It had suspense, great description, likable characters that people can relate it, and a good plot. If you read about the author you can tell that she has lived in Japan and Australia due to the extent of the research and description that the author is able to impart into the story. The history of Japan is outstanding and it really gave me a lesson in the religious undertones that run through Japan on a daily basis. Another thing that you know right away is that the author is a witch, or at least has enough of a history to be able to accurately depict what a witch has to do to perform spells.
The one thing that I had an issue with is that Devan and Jade just go along with what happened, they don’t question why Alley can do all of this magic or why they just went along with maggots started appearing or doors started to be thrown around. While she may or may not have been a friend and no matter how chill you are, there is no way that that is going to be okay. ESPECIALLY when heads start flying around. I am just saying that while the story was really good it was a little disjointed why they blindly followed her. I am not saying that I wouldn’t follow her if I was in their position, but the main thing is how Jade just magically was able to perform magic. I was like huh?
Other than that little disjointedness it was a really good book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants a quick, descriptive read about Japanese History.
About H. Roberts
After completing a degree in linguistics, H. Roberts, decided to move from her sleepy home in country Western Australia to go work in Japan. Those years spent living and traveling around cities like Osaka and Tokyo gave her the opportunity to research popular ghost stories, mythology and local urban legends, her favourite being that you can get Pom Juice out of orange taps in Ehime. Now a carer for the elderly and disabled, she’s back home in the bush, collecting teapots and blogging about anything and everything tea related.
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