Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on February 6, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
The Market of 100 Fortunes is the third and final book in Marie Brennan's Legend of the 5 Rings tie-in trilogy, which began in The Night Parade of 100 Demons and features her romantic pair of gay samurai Asako Sekken of the Phoenix Clan and Agasha no Isao Ryōtora of the Dragon Clan. Book 1 of the trilogy featured the two samurai concealing their own secrets (Sekken's supernatural dog Tanshu and his witch ancestor; Ryōtora's clan's weakness and need to adopt peasant-born individuals like him into its Samurai ranks) as they investigated supernatural phenomena and fell slowly in love. Book 2 featured the two samurai coming together again and facing their love for each other, the political issues involving it as well as their own physical weaknesses, and another supernatural occurence, which all led to the two of them becoming publicly engaged. Both of those books were tremendous fun even if you had no L5R foreknowledge (like me) and the growing romance between Sekken and Ryōtora was just so incredibly lovely and enjoyable.
With Book 3, Sekken and Ryōtora's relationship is more secure than ever, but there's still plenty for their relationship to develop further through a new plot, this time involving repeated minor character Sayashi, the bakeneko (cat-demon) who had gotten involved in both of their prior adventures, as Sayashi begs them for help and invokes Sekken's prior promise to help her see the value of humanity in the process. And so we once again get a new supernatural mystery, a bunch of new minor characters - most notably a Scorpion Clan magistrate whose trustworthiness they have to constantly question - who are pretty solid and a nice resolution and conclusion to the romance that has carried this series. It's not the best book in the trilogy, but it's still another very enjoyable installment that will please anyone who started the series, and just makes me definitely willing to endorse the series to those looking for queer romantic fantasy.
Plot Summary:
Asako Sekken of the Phoenix Clan and Agasha no Isao Ryōtora of the Dragon Clan are to be married, with the two soon to depart for Dragon Clan lands where they will be able to make their new home (with Sekken adopted into the Dragon Clan to ensure their numbers). It's a new future that carries its own hopes and worries for the two of them, but it's theirs and they will face it together soon. Or so they expect, until Sekken receives a missive from the most unexpected source: Sayashi, the Bakeneko, who is asking for their help with a spiritual matter. Believing that they owe Sayashi for her prior help, and that their help could enable the bakaneko to go through the final stage of spiritual growth needed for a better reincarnation, the two seek to help her: there's just one problem, Sayashi is summoning them to Brittle Flower City in Crane lands, but their own duties carry them in pretty much the opposite direction.
To get to Crane territory, Sekken and Ryōtora are forced to seek the aid of an Emerald Magistrate...but the magistrate they find is of the Scorpion Clan, known for its duplicity and underhanded dealing, and Sekken and Ryōtora are forced to question what price they may be forced to pay for her aid. Yet even that fear is nothing compared to the confusing situation they find in Brittle Flower City: where they find a market dedicated to 100 of the sometimes most bizarre minor deities (the Fortunes) that they could ever have heard of....a market that legendarily conceals a more supernatural market, where Sayashi has found herself lost. To get into the supernatural market, help Sayashi, and to get out again will require Sekken and Ryōtora to interact with the supernatural in a way completely unlike anything they have done before...and to right a wrong that has long been forgotten....
The Market of 100 Fortunes is our third book with Sekken and Ryōtora, and thankfully, the pining and hidden wants of the two of them is largely over and unneeded - both Ryōtora and Sekken are publicly engaged to be married and they can maintain their relationship in full public view, so there's no need for shame or hiding or refusal. This doesn't mean however that the two have everything settled between them. Their public relationship has of course resulted in sacrifices from both of them, especially Sekken who is leaving his own people behind and has had to deal with the awkward process of siring an heir on a surrogate for both their clan's purposes. And then there's the magical tethering between them that leaves one weakened when the other uses too much energy, which has resulted in Ryōtora drawing back his use of his spiritual powers...something he's afraid to tell Sekken about. And well, the two remain incredibly charming in their interests (Sekken's curiosity about language and histories, Ryōtora's spiritual interests) and their relationship, so it's a joy to see them work out these minor new facets to their relationship...and even one more about their future that I'm deliberately not spoiling here.
At the same time, the fact that the relationship between Sekken and Ryōtora is so solid at this point does put more pressure on the supernatural plotline (the mystery of what happened to Sayashi and the possibility of a supernatural market) and the new side characters to add tension and conflict and interesting ideas to this book, and honestly it's probably the least interesting plot/combination of the above of the three books...not that that's a major problem. The conflict in the market is interesting but solved rather easily, and new side character Bayushi Meiro, scorpion emerald magistrate, is a solid addition but not one who really adds too much on her own (there's a bit of a conflict over whether the characters can trust her due to her clan as well as a conflict in whether the characters' mistrust of her is unfair prejudice that gets a good bit of play and is generally done well, but gets sidelined in the final act). There really isn't the joy I guess of first discovering our main duo in book 1 and then meeting Sekken's absolutely wonderful family in book 2 here - and that's not really a problem with this book as much as a complaint about how good the first two books are here. What we have here instead is still a story that draws you in and keeps you interested, with themes of destiny, fate, and power to some extent, and combine that with our two main characters' excellent relationship, you still have a pretty enjoyable book that does not outstay its welcome.
In short, even if it doesn't measure up to the first two books in this trilogy, I really enjoyed The Market of 100 Fortunes and would totally read more featuring Sekken and Ryōtora if Brennan ever wanted to come back to these characters. Just so much fun and a joy to read, with their relationship being so lovely in the end, and I hope others will pick these books up and discover them too, even if they've never had any interest before in L5R.
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