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The Lotus War is a series of steampunk fantasy adventure novels written by Jay Kristoff. The books began publication in 2012 and they took readers to an alternate steampunk version of feudal Japan.
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Order of The Lotus War Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stormdancer | 2012 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Last Stormdancer | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Kinslayer (Short Story) | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Endsinger | 2014 | Description / Buy |
The world that Kristoff creates is an amalgam of science and magic, where mythical creatures walk alongside highly fantastical technological innovations. Yukiko takes center stage as a girl trying to live up to the expectations of her father.
Introduced in Stormdancer, the first novel in the series, Yukiko lives on the Shima Islands, a land that is in a state of decline, its soils having been poisoned by a toxin. Yukiko’s father, Masaru, is chief hunt master to the Shogun, a dictatorial figure that rules his empire with an iron fist.
The Shogun does not suffer failure. As such, Yukiko and Masaru know that they have been marked for death when the Shogun charges them with locating and capturing an Arashitora, which is essentially a griffin.
Griffins went extinct a while back. But the Shogun is determined to mount one of these legendary creatures and, from its back, march his armies into war against foreign nations, a feat that would allow him to become the so-called Stormdancer.
So he deploys his chief hunt master and his daughter to accomplish what everyone agrees is an impossible task. Neither Yukiko nor Masaru expected to encounter success. And they knew that, upon return, they would be executed for failing to live up to their Shogun’s expectations.
As such, Yukiko is completely caught off guard when she comes face to face with a real-life thunder tiger. The Lotus Wars series initially explores Yukiko’s encounter with Buruu, the Griffin she was sent to capture.
Griffin and hunter are antagonistic towards one another at the start. But the perils they face in Feudal Japan’s untamed lands forge a begrudging respect and then a bond that serves them through the trials that await them.
Over time, Jay Kristoff expounds upon the political strife assaulting the Shima Imperium. At the heart of the kingdom is the Lotus Guild, a cult-like organization that is obsessed with the idea of purity and which fights tooth and nail to maintain the power and authority of the Shogun.
Determined to burn the line of the Shogun to the ground and to rebuild the Shima Imperium from the ground up is the Kage Cabal, a rebellious entity that seizes upon Yukiko’s renown and attempts to use her appeal as the rallying point around which they will amass the support necessary to overthrow the Shogun and his ilk.
Lotus Wars Awards
Jay Kristoff’s Lotus Wars novels have been shortlisted for an Aurealis Award, a David Gemmell Award and a Compton Crook Award. A Lotus Wars novella actually won an Aurealis Award.
Best Lotus Wars Books
The Lotus Wars trilogy tells a coming-of-age story that bears the attributes of the young adult genre but which also features plenty of violence and sex, with some of the best novels in the series including:
Stormdancer: This book is often praised over its sequels because it creates the incredible world upon which the rest of the series builds. The book introduces readers to a feudal Japan filled with monsters, magic, and pseudo-science.
Yukiko is the daughter of the Shogun’s chief hunt master. Along with her father, the Shogun has charged Yukiko with going out into the wild, finding a thunder tiger and bringing it back for the Shogun to ride.
Finding and capturing a thunder tiger is, on its own, an incredibly dangerous undertaking. However, Yukiko’s task is made harder by the fact that the creatures are extinct. She knows that the Shogun punishes failure with death, so the young girl and her father must either find a mythical creature that doesn’t exist or lose their heads to a tyrannical ruler.
Kinslayer: Yukiko is the stormdancer. She tamed the thunder tiger and killed the mad shogun. Now the kingdom stands at the edge of war. The Lotus Guild is determined to keep Shima’s dynasty unbroken.
But the Kage Rebellion will stop at nothing to erase the nation’s old leadership and start over anew, and they have every intention of using Yukiko to achieve their ends.
Other Book Series You May Like
A great series to check out is the “Rhenwars Saga” Series by M. Spencer. Darian is the last member of a powerful order called the Sentinels that keep the land safe from nefarious forces. He must break the rules and color outside the lines to bring an epic war to an optimistic conclusion.
The “Nightblade Series” by Garrett Robinson is another series that is popular among readers. Loren, a young girl with an unfortunate and unappealing life, abandons everything to follow a fugitive wizard into unchartered territory, a decision that sets her on the path to becoming the legendary thief Nightblade.
What Is The Next Book in The Lotus War Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Lotus War Series. The newest book is Endsinger and was released on November, 25th 2014.