The War Between Moon and Fire

月と炎の戦記

• by Morioka Hiroyuki
• published by Kadokawa Sneaker

Morioka's first fantasy novel.

If you know much about Japanese mythology, you'll know that Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, once hid in a cave and refused to come out for quite some time.

This story is set during that time, when the sun mysteriously disappeared.

One young huntress sets out on a mission, and very quickly gets involved in a bitter argument with a bear about whether or not it will eat her. Unable to dissuade it (it has a wife and kid to feed) she begins hurling abuse at the gods. One of them, the moon, hears her, and descends upon a giant flying bunny rabbit to demand to know who she thinks she is.

Hideously funny for most of its length, it's fun to read a Japanese fantasy novel that actually bothers to take advantage of their own mythology. Instead of ours.