The Century Blade is a short story set in the Mortal Techniques world and is set many years before the events of the full length books, starting with Never Die. It is written as a standalone, so you don’t need to have read any books prior to reading this and it may be a good place to start as it will give a taste of the world and characters.
I have read and loved the first two books in the Mortal Techniques series so I was excited to learn that there was a short story coming out, and I am happy to say that it didn’t disappoint. I was also intrigued by this one as it features Orochi – in Japanese mythology Orochi (Yamata-no-orochi) was a eight headed and eight tailed dragon/serpent. I have always been interested in mythology so I love when books incorporate myths/folklore into the story. One of the main antagonist in one of my all time favourite video games, Okami, is also based off of Orochi, so I was interested to see a different portrayal of it.
Being a short story, it is a compact plot but it never felt rushed, and I really enjoyed it overall. Of course I would have liked more but that kind of defeats the purpose of a short story. The world is wonderfully written and I loved that we got to see it from a different period of time. The characters are all well written, each with a distinct voice and interesting back story. I have to admit that the goat is probably my favourite though.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic short story and I cannot wait to read the third book in the Mortal Techniques series, Spirits of Vengeance. I hope we get to see more of this world in future books. Have you guys read this book? I’d love to know what you thought, so let’s chat in the comments. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.
thelittlebookowl 