The Beast Warrior (The Beast Player, Books 3-4)

by Nahoko Uehashi

[sa090]

I let a random choice roulette choose the last book needed to complete my yearly book goal for 2020 and it landed on the Beast Warrior, which was a perfect way to mark it as complete.
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I don’t even know where to start with this book, the anime series was completely covered in the first two books and I came into this one not sure what to expect as the story was, to my knowledge, completed. Seemingly it was, but Uehashi Nahoko-sensei decided to give Erin a proper conclusion because some people wanted more and I personally couldn’t be happier after reading this.

I was impressed with the author’s ability to build a world after Seirei no Moribito and Erin’s story just increased that feeling, the way she ties up the legends of her world to the culture and the folklore of her characters is just something beautiful to read about. Since the beginning, she’s been mentioning certain events and how that plays into the Touda and the Royal Beasts, and while she gave bits and pieces into the previous books, she expands in this one a lot more than I expected that she would. By the middle part of book 4 I expected two routes the story could take, I didn’t expect that she would be able to conjoin them while making the plot-lines merge and be satisfying, but I was dead wrong. She managed to give me one of the most satisfying, if not the most satisfying conclusion to a series I have read in a long time.

The reason her series shines so much is because of how she built up the characters, Erin is a given since she’s the main character, but the rest of the cast are not just put on the side without having their own characteristics and thoughts. Moreover, the characters are not stupid, they are not idealistic and they are just trying to survive regardless of social standing. Erin in particular is caught in this political war that she doesn’t even want to be apart of and she’s making due with the consequences of her actions, she is not some untouchable chosen one and she is going to be making some hard decisions that are just out of her control.

I loved that, the lack of plot conveniences that usually follows characters like Erin was insanely refreshing and honestly, admirable. I’m very tired of stories where the plot armor is very thick around the main character, and after the abundance of that in a book I read very recently, this book gave me that in the same quantity I didn’t know that I needed. It didn’t stop there, regardless of who you are in this story, just because you fulfill a certain role doesn’t mean that you get to have your happy ending because of that role. This story is not a happy one, the world is torn apart by war and greed. Uehashi Nahoko-sensei doesn’t shy away from putting that in perspective and making sure that if you’re going to play a part in this book, regardless of what it is, it’s not going to be a one toned thing.

The relationship between human and beast is also fantastic to see, I personally, would never strive to own a pet or anything of the sort (I’m terrible with animals), but I enjoy reading stories about characters who are obsessed with creatures. I think that started with The Memoirs of Lady Trent and it solidified with Erin’s journey with the creatures in this world. The fact that I continue learning more about them, see how she and frankly how others interact with them while they remain a huge plot point in the story is just amazing. Even more so when we go back to the first point I mentioned in this collection of thoughts, about how she ties the legends of her world to what is happening with the characters before merging them perfectly all together in the end.

I have limitless praises for this book, and series by extension. Beautifully written, tackles so many issues and teaches so many things about oneself, about family, about duty and about the balance between all of them. I honestly hope that one day more work by Uehashi Nahoko makes it across to my hands, but for now, I’ll be buying the Japanese versions of her untranslated series and doing it myself. As a beginner learning Japanese (only 14 weeks), I want to be able to read as soon as possible as it’s what made me fluent in English and judging by this story, Japan might have a huge trove of rich fantasies that I need to get my hands on.