Kanji Hanawa, Meredith McKinney (trans). Red Circle Authors, (72p) ISBN: 9781912864065. Translated Fiction, read 23/09/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

The Chronicles of Lord Asunaro

I’ve had a all of these Red Circle Minis for quite a while now and felt as though it was time to read through them.

In this book we follow the life of the young Lord Asunaro, who though physically capable in the martial skills of succession was a bit lacking in the ability to learn courtly skills, couldn’t sit still and was therefore seen as unsuitable to succeed the great Lord.

This short tale felt like a meandering historical chronicle of the life of a feudal Japanese lord with all the detail kept in, from his father’s disappointment, to his ‘exile’ in the West Castle, and his growing dissatisfaction and dissolution with courtly etiquette.

It was an interesting short read looking at courtly life, the writing style matched the languorous life of the Lord, there were dips into historical meteorological data to explain societal pressures, comparisons with European courts, in all there was a lot packed into such a small read.

Another enjoyable read from Red Circle Authors