One thing. I don’t think it qualifies as fantasy. The ghost could easily have been replaced by another informant, the constructs with hired killers and then all the rest is folk tales and Japanese legends. When that’s obvious, it’s still a good story but one only wearing a fantasy disguise.

Well done.

Yeah, I like a lot of the Asian style movies/stories even though there are weird tragic events in the story (from my cultural viewpoint).

Steve Anderson did a great job reading it. I always enjoy hearing him read. Anderson unobtrusively becomes part of the story, which is an enhancement.

This story stands out as one of my favorites. If your future “Giants” are as well-crafted and skillfully-read as this one, I’m going to look forward to each one. Thanks!

I could have used more ghosts and magic, but that’s a personal preference only as I must admit that the subtlety and minimalism of the magic worked exceptionally well.

I’ll say it backwards….woW.

I’ll say it upside-down…..Mom.

I’ll say it upside-down and backwards…..moM.

That’s the best I can do. Just….Wow.

(Oh, and “Priavate Samur-eye” = Hilarious)

Though greatly wishing the female lead wasn’t so predictably typecasted and had a much better part in the story as result, I adored the characterizations of her and the other characters nonetheless. I enjoyed how this Heian period gumshoe (or bu-shoe) was set on Earth in a particular moment and time rather than a ‘fantasy-Japan-land-with-merging-history.’ Having the story set on the crux of upheaval added a rather lovely subtext to many of the events in the story as well, along with giving us westerners a glimpse of something more to pre-modern Japan other than samurai, ninja and shoguns–to which would arise out of the coming upheaval this story takes place before.

A good, solid detective story (with court intrigue) that allows the reader a chance to actually solve it (and even guess at both political and character machinations) with clues left both in foreground and background to be picked up and at if you want to play along.

Makes me glad I ever came across this podcast and continue to listen to it. =)

I think the ‘giant’ thing could be cool. I mean, the more fiction, the better.

Keep the fantasy giants coming, I appreciated how the story was able to unfold and develop at its own pace.

About the story: This was a good detective story. The set-up was engaging, the characters were interesting and the writing was good.

In some mysteries, the resolution depends on the detective channeling knowledge directly from the author that didn’t appear anywhere else in the story. In this story, the resolution made perfect sense given the clues that were left, and provided you understood the culture as it was portrayed. It threw me for a loop at first, but then it clicked. Any trouble I had with the resolution of this mystery was entirely my own fault: I really need to read more awesome stories set in a fantasy version of medieval Japan!

sorry to gripe but that’s how it is.

This wasn’t deliberate, to my knowledge. We’re switching audio editors — there will be some mix-ups.