Title: Traveler From the West (A Swordmistress Zhen Tale One)
Publisher: Knotted Road Press
Author: Blaze Ward
Price: $2.99

Zhen Wan-Xian and Zhen Min-Gan are sisters. Twins, they were raised in the manner of sons, highly educated in literature, philosophy, poetry, and the martial arts. Wan-Xian is an expert with the sword, careful, methodical, graceful. Min-Gan is an expert with the crossbow, brash, impulsive, laughing. As women with unusual skills, they can take on problems that others cannot …. When the teen daughter of a wealthy merchant is kidnapped by bandits, Wan-Xian and Min-Gan are approached with an intriguing proposition: save the girl and, whatever they might find in the bandit camp, they can keep for themselves. To assist them in the rescue, the sisters are provided with some strange weapons, courtesy of a mad alchemist. And so they set out into the wilderness, traveling west ….

Blaze Ward is one my favorite science fiction and thriller authors. When I discovered that he had just published an historical adventure set during the Tang Dynasty, I immediately snatched it up.

Let me just say that Traveler From the West is fun. The characters are wonderful. Wan-Xian and Min-Gan have a terrific relationship: they argue, but obviously love one another, and work well together in battle. They will stand together to the very end. Ying Ru-Hou, Hong Yin-Yu, and Gu Kao-Jun are an interesting trio; as a scholar, a merchant, and a shaman (or scientist, as he insists) they live in completely different communities, completely different social classes. They should barely know one another, let alone be life-long friends. There is a lot more to them than they initially let on, but Wan-Xian and Min-Gan gets hints of it by the end of this story. I look forward to learning the rest in future installments.

And I really really hope that there are future installments. This story was exciting, funny, and informative; my knowledge of the culture of the Tang Dynasty is patchy, at best, so I learned a lot just from this one long tale.

Highly recommended to fans of Ward’s other books, as well as the Jirel of Joiry tales by CL Moore, The Stalker Chronicles by Erik Buchanan, and sword and sorcery/adventure journals such as Thrill Ride, Savage Realms, Cirsova, and Old Moon Quarterly.

[Reviewed by Rebecca Buchanan.]