Katanagatari : Sword Tale

"Overall, Katanagatari continues to offer an enjoyable read, the likes of which only NISIOISIN consistently brings to the table. […] As we enter into the second half of the series, things are about to heat up and you certainly won’t want to miss out." - Anime UK News

Swordless “swordsman” Shichika and self-described “schemer” Togame are on a quest to obtain twelve peculiar masterpiece blades. Pitting the former against his sister, who has acquired one of the legendary weapons, and the latter against a rival at court, Princess Negative, this paperback edition, featuring beautiful interior art and copious bilingual footnotes, is the third of a quartet collecting a best-selling series from the former homeland of samurais and ninjas.
 
Now in paperback!

There are few authors in Japan who have reached the heights of success as NisiOisin. Born in 1981, Nisio dropped out of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, to pursue a career in story-telling. Initially he had ambitions to be a comic artist, but when he realized his art was not up to snuff, he began to focus on his writing, eventually winning the 23rd Mephisto Prize, for Decapitation recognizing his talents as a mystery writer, at the age of 20. Since his debut in 2002 Nisio has penned more than 50 novels and a number of comics. And he has quickly become one of Japan's top selling author's in recent memory with more than 5 million units sold since 2009. In 2014, as in 2012, he was the top selling author in Japan (outselling Haruki Murakami by more than half a million units).

Nishio's works often cover themes of youth, but are framed in genres that are familiar to the masses. His works tend to mix mystery with comedy and touches or romance and/or the supernatural. He is a modern author in every sense, sometimes even experiementing with the Japanese language itself. Many of his works have been adapted into animated television series and films. His best known works are the Monogatari series and Katanagatari.