A Throne Betrayed by J.T. Nichols and Julie Kagawa

Lord Toturi has failed his Emperor and the entire Empire with the assassination of the Emperor and the kidnapping of his sons. Due to this shame, he chooses the path of the Ronin, the clan less class of samurai that wander the Emerald Empire. He tells himself it is to find the missing princes but as he travels he sees so much wrong with the Empire. Samurai are pulled away from villages to fight in pointless battles that start over petty insults at court so villagers are left to defend themselves against bandits and worse. One afternoon he stumbles across a village that has been taken over by just such a gang of bandits, making a stand and saving the village. There is no way he could know at the time the impact this one action would make. 

Hotaru is the Clan Champion of The Crane and currently at her wits' end. With the Emperor dead, a Crane now sits as regent which doesn't sit well with the other clans, especially the Lion the Crane's mortal enemy. She arrives at court hoping to negotiate some sort of truce with the Lion but they seem to be against this, to the point that they are willing to declare open war on The Crane, however, things aren't as straightforward as that. The Champion of the Lion seems to have a new advisor a young woman from the Phoenix and if Kachiko, Hotaru's lover and spy master of the Scorpion is right this young woman is far more dangerous than she appears. Going against everything Hotaru knows about the Phoenix this young woman seems determined to not just start a war between the Lion and the Crane but to drag the entire Empire into it. Hotaru knows she must stop this at all costs, but how when the Lion cannot see the clear enemy within their midst. 

Yakamo has defended the wall that separates the Shadowland from the Empire his whole life and yet something seems off about the creatures from this accursed land. His father sends him deep into the Shadowlands to discover just what his happening only to find that the soldiers of Fu Leng are amassing in numbers never seen before. Yakamo knows that there is no way for his people to stand against this threat and in desperation he races to the Capitol to enlist the aid of the other clans, only to discover that for them Fu Leng is just a distant problem easily handled by the Crab. In his fury, Yakamo returns to his lands and makes a decision that will change the course of history. 

Wow. Just freaking wow! I love this series, I think everyone knows this but Kagawa and Nichols came out swinging, I mean swinging with this first volume. This was just brilliant!

As always we are going to start with the characters and because I thoroughly enjoyed him Lord Toturi is going first. Lord Toturi's character by many standards could be considered cookie-cutter, his decisions "plot devices" as one TCG player said. And while I will not disagree with this I will say that what his character really represents is the Samurai who stops working for the good of his Clan (in this case) and remembers that his true job is to protect the people. This is a common theme in many Japanese novels and even movies Seven Samurai being the most famous, to find that theme here and well done at that was just amazing for me. While one could argue that Toturi's decisions in terms of leaving the palace to become a ronin set off this series of explosive events, I would disagree with that. His actions more than anyone's so far may be the only actions that actually save an empire on the brink, because he's not doing it for honor or glory. Everything he does is because it is the right thing to do. And that is freaking hard. To stand in front of the people around you and say "Yes, this is how it's been done but it doesn't mean it's right." is a courageous stance to say the least. 

Hotaru is great in that I feel like I think she thinks she's doing the right thing constantly but she's unable to see the bigger picture like Toturi is. While she is clearly not as integrated into the court's messy politics she still is and that gives her a very narrow viewpoint indeed. She is also steeped in just too much tradition, she clearly sees the issues that Toturi sees, she even brings these things up often, but she convinces herself that this is the way it's done and that's that. I have hope that this may change in book 2 she is clearly not impressed with the prince and I feel like he may do something that finally crosses her line. 

Yakamo is genuinely the most tragic of all of these characters. He is 100% right about everything. The other clans do need to grow up and see the literal threat on their doorstep. His anger is completely justified, but how he handles that is something else completely though. He consistently lets his emotions overwhelm him and that puts him in very bad places where he makes split-second decisions, again based on emotion. That being said, it really does seem like his dad was forcing him into these situations to get Yakamo to do just that, so I'm not sure I'd 100% blame Yakamo, which makes him truly the saddest character of all. 

Pacing and world-building were both excellent. This was truly non-stop and I loved that. Action and battle scenes were balanced well and did not feel like there were too many or too few of either. The final battle between Toturi's forces and the Lion's was absolutely freaking amazing though. Short and sweet with the added bonus of Kagawa and Nichols clearly doing their research of Japanese military gear throughout the centuries and a great demonstration of Toturi's skills as a tactician. My only kind of small complaint is I do feel like you'd need to have read the books or played the game to truly understand the world. 

While I was hoping for a new Shin mystery I was definitely not disappointed in this. Actually, I'm not even mad that it wasn't one (although I would like one please). If you are new to this world this is the perfect starting point, if you are a TCG player this may be old news to you but for those who know this world from the Shin mysteries or the older books this added so much depth to the world! I cannot wait for book 2!

As always thanks to NetGalley and Aconyte Books for the eArc!