Thanks to book blogging and bookstagram, my TBR list is at almost unmanageable levels right now. It’s so easy to just miss out on a few books, but thanks to Wyrd and Wonder, I realised that I had a Japanese fantasy waiting to be borrowed and read!

The Beast Player contains the first two books of The Beast Player series, translated from Japanese by Cathy Hirano. There are quite a few people who are POV characters in the book, but the story is centered around Elin, a young girl of mixed parentage. When her mother is sentenced to death, ten year old Elin tries to save her, only to find herself in the midst of the Toda, fearsome dragon-like creatures. Her mother manages to send her away and Elin grows up to become a Beast Keeper, one of those who guard the Royal Beasts that follow the Yojeh (the kingdom’s Queen) around. The difference is – Elin can communicate with them.

I am really pleased to find that this is part of a series, and that the latter books have been translated! At first, I was afraid that I was going to dislike Elin because she has some Mary-Sue-like qualities, namely her being insanely smart and having perfect pitch, but I think the trauma that she suffered at the start of the book helped to keep her grounded and I ended up really liking her as a protagonist.

One thing I really liked about this world was the worldbuilding! Apart from the magical creatures (and the fact that the Toda resemble Chinese or Japanese dragons more than they do the Western ones), the political structure of the kingdom reminded me a lot of the Tokugawa Shogunate, something that I thought was refreshingly different. In this world, the Yojeh (or Queen) is considered divine and while she commands a lot of respect, she wields no military power. Instead, that power lies in the hands of the Aluhan (Grand Duke/General), who commands the Toda warriors that function as the country’s military. The fraught relationship between symbolic power and military power is at the heart of the conflict in The Beast Player and it was something that had me hooked onto the book.

But while I really like the plot, characters, and worldbuilding of this book, I have to say that I think it has so much more potential. Young Adult is a rather vague term, but this is definitely a YA fantasy in terms of protagonist and story structure. I think that hampered the book a little because I could see so much more potential for this as a Epic Fantasy novel. Basically, while we have a few chapters from the POV of the sons of the Aluhan, they aren’t really fleshed out. So even though the dynamic between the Yojeh and the Aluhan forms the core of the main conflict, the politics of the situation is not something that is explored in detail and the characters from there aren’t fully developed either – I feel that’s what kept the book at YA fantasy rather than Epic. The book does spend quite a to of time on worldbuilding and Elin’s character development, so I think it would have really pushed it up another level if they devoted more time to the political side of things (relationships and characters) as well.

Overall, this is a great diverse fantasy for fans who would like a non-Anglophone inspired world. While the pace takes a while to pick up because a lot of time is spent on worldbuilding, I think the characters are great and the the final battle was exciting. I’m definitely going to be picking up the next book soon!