Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cesarz Ośmiu Wysp | 2016 | Lian Hearn | N/A |
| 2 | The Emperor of the Eight Islands | 2016 | Lian Hearn | Buy |
| 3 | Autumn Princess, Dragon Child | 2016 | Lian Hearn | Buy |
| 4 | Lord of the Darkwood | 2016 | Lian Hearn | Buy |
| 5 | The Tengu’s Game of Go | 2016 | Lian Hearn | Buy |
The Tale of Shikanoko by Lian Hearn is a four-volume series set in the same fictional world as the Tales of the Otori, but three hundred years earlier. The story follows a young man who is nearly killed by his uncle and then revived by a mountain sorcerer who gives him a mask imbued with the spirit of a great stag. Reborn as Shikanoko, he becomes entangled in a struggle over the Lotus Throne after the rightful heir to the emperor is deposed.
All four books were published in 2016: The Emperor of the Eight Islands, Autumn Princess Dragon Child, Lord of the Darkwood, and The Tengu’s Game of Go. The series features warriors and assassins alongside demons and spirits, and it leans more heavily into supernatural elements than the Otori novels did. Fans of Hearn’s earlier work will recognize the same richly imagined version of medieval Japan, now seen in an earlier period of its history.