MY ⭐️ RATING: 5/5
Format: Kindle Whispersync
BOOK DESCRIPTION
He’ll die as many times as it takes. The Ipian Empire was once a land that welcomed dragons and spirits alike, but a century of war and bloodshed saw them all but vanish. Now, the lost things are returning and the Onryo have gathered. Five legendary spirits with mysterious powers, bent on freeing an ancient evil that would wreak havoc on humanity. Haruto swore his soul to the God of Death for the chance to hunt down the vengeful ghost of his wife. Now an onmyoji, he’s tasked by the Imperial Throne to hunt down monsters and malicious spirits. But he knows not all spirits are evil and not all deserve the peace of the sword. Kira is a student at Heiwa, an academy for children with dangerous techniques. But she has a secret, she’s not like the other students. When the school is attacked, she flees with one of the tutors, determined to hide both from those who would kill her, and those who would use her. As a plague of spirits sweeps across the land, the Onryo leave a bloody trail for Haruto to follow. But who’s hunting who? The Mortal Techniques novels are a series of stand-alone stories that can be read entirely independently, set in the award-winning Mortal Techniques universe.
MY REVIEW
I loved this series and this final book so much! The series has been such a great read and then to end on such an epic level with Spirits of Vengeance is just poetic brilliance. The characters are fantastic, the yokai are creepy and the fight scenes were incredible. Kim Bretton does another fantastic job with all of her voices and emotions throughout this novel. From the little girl to the grumpy old man, each and every one was amazing! Not only that but we were graced with some singing parts, and she can sang too! Kudos to Mr. Hayes for having her and what a way to end this series.
This book was filled with many masterfully crafted epic fight scenes that were so intense and intricately detailed that you could see every strike, every movement and every emotion as they squared off. The first few books, the world around the characters was built very minimally but still enough to give you the lay of the land. In Spirits of Vengeance, the author gives us a lot more detail describing the mountain sides, the villages, the churches, and much more, and it was beautiful. The characters are phenomenal as they always are in this series, Haruto is an Onmyoji that hunts evil spirits to kill them or send them home. His traveling companion Guang is a poet that keeps track of his tales and has made a few vows that keeps him from fighting, and the best one is no cussing, instead he switches the words with vegetables. It’s seriously hilarious!
“Victory is worth any cost. Defeat is a coin with no value.”
Anyways. If you read Pawn’s Gambit, you’ll see a few somewhat familiar faces, and one of them is my absolute favorite character in this book. The banter between them and the many times they made me laugh made this book even more special. Now, about the Yokai… I have pictures below, that I took from the authors Twitter page, of SOME of the spirits that Haruto and company must face, and my God are they creepy and beautiful! This was basically the Chubby Checker of fantasy books or maybe I should say Rob Hayes is the Chubby Checker of fantasy authors… if you don’t get that reference, just google him.
A really cool touch with the audio is that when a tale is being told by Guang, there is music playing softly in the background. This is not something I have seen in anything else and I’m here for it to happen more! That ending was just phenomenal and makes me sad that this is the final book in The Mortal Techniques series… for now? I’m just going to say I loved this one more time before I finish this, because that’s how good it is! I am 100% buying the hardback of this to add to my collection!
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