Abstract

A young man and woman struggle with the deeds of their past, and past lives, in this action-packed, Buddhism-inspired Japanese high fantasy.

Genta, young boy and son of a regional ruler, has been captured and is a slave and prisoner of oni, wicked creatures born of humanity’s evils. One day during a failed escape attempt, he finds a mystical lotus bud that then turns into a girl he names Renge and raises as his daughter. After years as prisoners, the two defeat the oni king and escape when they discover Renge can wield a sword that can purify oni. Genta takes her to his home where he reclaims his place as future ruler of his father’s lands, though Renge struggles to find a place there as she, too, is an oni and is eventually chased away. She struggles to come to terms with her nature and the deeds of her past lives but returns to Genta to fight for his lands after his father and another local lord succumb to evil and instigate a war that tears open a hole leading to hell, allowing the raging dead to return to the human realm. Renge sacrifices herself to close the tear, and Genta leads his lands to a new peace, missing his daughter, until three years later when his wife gives birth to a baby girl with a mark on her hand matching a scar Renge had on hers.

Author’s Information

Natsumi Matsubaya made her debut in 2014 when she won the tenth C★NOVELS Award for new fantasy authors. She then won the fourth Sogen Fantasy Award in 2019 with an entry that was published as The Girl Who Shatters Stars. Another novel set in the same universe as The Girl Who Shatters Stars was published in 2021.