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The Night of Baba Yaga
The Night of Baba Yaga | Akira Otani
3 posts | 1 read | 3 to read
A fierce mixed-race fighter develops a powerful attachment to the yakuza princess shes been forced to protect in this explosive queer thriller: Kill Bill meets The Handmaiden meets Thelma and Louise Tokyo, 1979. Yoriko Shindo, a workhorse of a woman who has been an outcast her whole life, is kidnapped and dragged to the lair of the Naiki-kai, a branch of the yakuza. After she savagely fends off a throng of henchmen in an attempt to escape, Shindo is only permitted to live under one condition: that she will become the bodyguard and driver for Shoko Naiki, the obsessively sheltered daughter of the gangs boss. Eighteen-year-old Shoko, pretty and silent as a doll, has no friends, wears strangely old-fashioned clothes, and is completely naive in all matters of life. Originally disdaining her ward, Shindo soon finds herself far more invested in Shokos well-being than she ever expected. But every man around them is bloodthirsty and trigger-happy. Shindo doubts she and Shoko will survive much longer if nothing changes. Could there ever be a different life for two women like them? Akira Otanis English-language debut moves boldly through time and across gender, stretching the definitions and possibilities of each concept. Rendered in a gorgeous translation by International Bookershortlisted Sam Bett, this lean, mean thriller proves that bonds forged in fire are unbreakable.
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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
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February was a pretty bad reading month for me, as I had the stomach flu and could barely watch TV, let alone read. Earlier in the month I did read this awesome queer feminist Japanese thriller though. It has an incredible twist as well as a great open-ended ending. Still though, my heart is with Murderbot, so my January pick goes on to the next bracket. #BookBracket2025 #Murderbot

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CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian
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A intense ride of a thriller with cinematic fight scenes. Full of striking images: Shoko is "like a crane in a landfill". Full of female rage and pulpy in vibes a la martial arts movies, this is violent, as you'd expect from a story about a young woman fighter being kidnapped and forced to work for the Japanese mafia, but not gratuitously so. Otani pulls off an incredibly well done twist and excellent character development. Unconventionally queer.

CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian #QueerBooks CW: rape, violence, torture, incest 3w
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Matilda
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“Queer thriller — Kill Bill meets The Handmaiden meets Thelma and Louise” !!!!!!!!!!!

25 likes1 stack add