cover image Toru: Wayfarer Returns

Toru: Wayfarer Returns

Stephanie R. Sorensen. Palantir, $16.95 trade paper (274p) ISBN 978-0-9969323-1-8

The start of the Sakura Steam series doesn’t quite fire on all cylinders. Toru, the illegitimate son of a shogun-defying lord, risks death to return to 19th-century Japan after two years in America. He hopes to advance Japan into a futuristic age of steam to protect it from Western empires. After introducing a cool premise, debut novelist Sorensen struggles to make it believable. Toru gains allies as the plot requires, right down to the shogun’s top advisor. No supplies are unavailable for his projects. Death sentences are meaningless, because Sorensen just won’t hurt her main characters. The irony of ruining Japan’s unique culture in order to keep it safe from cultural imperialism is barely touched on. It’s a shame, because the historical period is meticulously researched and re-created, and the characters are varied and engaging, with Toru’s young friends Jiro and Masuyo driving his revolution. But when things rarely go wrong, there’s just no real reason to keep reading. [em](BookLife) [/em]