It's been some while since I posted a review of a book so soon after its release.
Of the many, many mystery-focused newcomer awards in Japan (awards that accept manuscript submissions from unpublished writers and which include a publishing contract), it's the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award, organized by Tokyo Sogensha that attracts my attention the most each year. Named after the legendary writer and editor, the committee of the Ayukawa Tetsuya Award is usually looking for the type of mystery novel I like best, with a focus on strong puzzle plot mysteries and original settings. Some of my all-time favorites, like 2019's winner Jikuu Ryokousha no Sunadokei ("The Hourglass of the Time-Space Traveller") and 2017's winner Shijinsou no Satsujin ("Death Among the Undead") are Ayukawa Tetsuya Award winners, so it's exciting to see what the committee will announce each year once summer has ended, especially as the award isn't actually awarded every year: in some years, they'll decide no submissions is worth the award, resulting in no awardee being published. This year however, we have a great winner in Samayoeru Eien, a connected short story collection written by Yuuki Makoto, of whom we know they were born in 1992 in Tokushima Prefecture and that they are currently a company worker.
The book, released last week on 30 October 2026, opens with Ghost Dancing in a Box of Sweets, where our first meeting with Shion is... right after she is killed by two men who accidentally ran over her with their car and decided to dump her body. She's still regenerating from her injuries as the two men try to find a nice spot to leave her remains behind, when they are shocked to find another corpse: a dead body of a young man is lying just next to them. That sight combined with the fact Shion starts talking to them is enough to send them running. When Shion recovers completely, she finds that there's still company around: the ghost of the other corpse is there. The ghost introduces himself as Anders, and as they talk, Anders remembers he was killed just that night. His father is a plumber who often visits Cardinal Hotel, with Anders helping out. Cardinal Hotel lies just beyond a nearby hill. He remembers he was meeting someone, but everything after that is a blur, and he can't remember who killed him.
Cardinal Hotel happens to be the place Shion was heading for in the first place before her "accident." The new continent features several "ghost spots", where people who die become ghosts, the type that people can see, that can float around and fly through walls. Ghost spots can only hold a limited number of ghosts: if the limit has not been reached yet, any humans who dies within the radius covered by the ghost spot turns into a ghost, but if the limit has been reached, humans just die. The first ghost of a ghost spot, the Cardinal, is granted special powers, with which they can send ghosts "to the world beyond", freeing up ghost spots. Cardinal Hotel is a hotel, where many ghosts live and the workers are... humans. These Servants all hope to become a ghost to gain "eternity": by serving the ghosts well, they might be invited to become the next ghost once a free spot opens.
Shion and the rookie ghost Anders go to Cardinal Hotel to report the murder to his parents and the police, but upon arrival, the duo is held captive by Adler, one of the senior ghosts who serves the Cardinal Ghost directly. It turns out today was supposed to be a great day at Cardinal Hotel: Harold, a Servant who had faithfully attended to the ghosts for many years was to become a ghost himself as there was finally an opening. Once a position opens, a ceremony is held in which the nominee takes their own life with poison to become a ghost. Tonight, Harold was the star of the ceremony, but after drinking the poison... he remained dead, because Anders died before him and became a ghost instead. Anders is accused of intentionally dying at that moment to become a ghost himself, stealing Harold's position, but fortunately, both Shion and Lady Lily, one of the veteran ghosts at the hotel manage to at least arrange for a proper investigation to be held first. Shion is allowed to stay at the hotel for some time, working as a maid. During the stay however, the ghost Adler, is killed. How, you may ask, do you kill a ghost? Well, apparently, ghosts can possess humans if the latter allows for it. However, if that person is killed while possessed, the ghost disappears too. Adler often possessed his most loyal Servant so he could indulge in human vices, but one night, the Servant is found dead in his locked hotel room, with the ghost of Adler nowhere to be found. This time Shion becomes the suspect, but how could she have committed the murder if the room was locked and the hallway observed? And how are this murder, and Anders' murder connected?
This is a great opening story. Each story explores "eternal life" in a different way, with this story focusing on ghosts: they aren't actually alive, but the ghosts here can still talk and move about freely, and even float and fly through walls. And by possessing Servants, they can even indulge in all the human vices too. The "honor" of becoming a ghost is thus coveted by many, and it contrasts very well with Shion's own "physical" eternal life. As a mystery too, this is an impressive story. While the howdunnit behind the locked room murder may not be very surprising considering the unusual setting of this story (though I like how it's well-clewed), the mystery sets up a memorable motive that fits perfectly with the overall theme of the book, with fleshed out ghosts and people all having their own convincing motivations that interact in such a way that ultimately ends in murder.
The second story, Skeleton Warriors Laughing in the Desert Land, has Shion visit the desert land of Alancar. Legends has it that a millenium ago, the desert state had been under siege by enemies, and in a desperate attempt to save his land, the king used a secret spell: gone were their enemies, but so were his own people, and left was only his army: his soldiers had been turned into living skeleton warriors. The spell also put their king in a thousand-year sleep. While the spell preserves the king in his current state (i.e. he doesn't age and can't be injured in any way while asleep), the warriors also make sure the king is safe by keeping him asleep in the king's chamber, a room which can only be accessed by moving heavy stone doors which require the strength of several men to move. The skeleton warriors, who all retain their personalities/memories, remain alive as long as their king is also alive (protected by the spell) and they guard their king until the day he awakens again, which will lift the spell.
For a long time, the existence of Alancar was thought a legend, but then Alancar was discovered to be a real place, with real skeletal warriors living there. Their discoverer became a liaison with the outside world, and since then, Alancar has become a recognized country in the new continent, though the state limits its interactions with other countries. Shion visits Alancar, and she is welcomed by the skeletal warriors, who are also interested in meeting a different kind of eternal. It turns out the king will soon awaken from his millenial sleep, as the skeletal warriors can all sense a change in the spell that keeps them alive. On the day the king seems to awaken, they move the heavy, stone doors to the king's chamber, where their lord has been sleeping all this time... but they find the king... with a spear stabbed in his back, and obviously only stabbed after he had awakened. With the king dead, the skeletal warriors will fade away in a day or so, but not before Shion figures out how the king was killed and by whom...
What is impressive about this book is that Yuuki manages to explore eternal life in such different ways, because come on, skeleton warriors is hardly an obvious choice for a theme! But this is another solid story. The skeleton warriors are all a fun, lively lot, and it leads to a bitter-sweet moment when they realize that with the king murdered, they only have limited time left on this Earth after guarding the king for so long. The mystery behind the locked-room murder on the king is great: the king could only be killed after his awakening, meaning he wasn't attacked/stabbed before the spell was activated/he retreated inside this chamber a millenium ago, so how did someone infiltrate this chamber, which is sealed by heavy doors which require the strength of many to move? And who would have a motive to kill someone who was a king a millenium ago in the first place? Shion arrives at a great solution that provides a satisfying answer to all these questions, while also giving Shion more food for thought about what it means to live forever.
These experiences bring Shion to the headquarters of the Church of Morpho in the third story, Butterflies Soaring Beyond the Dreams. Prior to her arrival there, Shion meets Nozomi, another woman from her home country J.N., who dreams of becoming immortal too like Shion. Nozomi is heading for the Church of Morpho, a group that worships immortality and whose members hope to obtain eternal life for themselves. After some wandering around, Shion finally visits the Church of Morpho herself, where she is welcomed very warmly and she also finds Nozomi has made the Church her new home. During their stay, Nozomi becomes sick, but Shion immediately recognizes the symptons: the typical stigma that appears on Nozomi's body is the definitive proof that Nozomi is becoming immortal herself. Once she's recovered from her 'common cold'-esque symptons, she'll be immortal, the exact same way Shion became immortal herself. The leader of the church of course is pleased Nozomi is becoming immortal, but that night, Nozomi is found... dead, having fallen to her demise before immortality set in. Who killed Nozomi before she became unkillable and why?
The third story is relatively short and is a more introspective story, where we learn a lot about how Shion ebcame immortal initially and the reactions of her family, friends and the whole town to her transformation. This is juxtaposed with Nozomi's change, who is soon to become immortal herself... only to be killed before the transformation had been perfected. The answer to the how isn't that exciting to be honest, but it is a great whydunnit story, especially as the answer is not a simple one: the build-up to the motive actually takes place across all the stories up to this point, with a very strong connection to the first story in particular: some things that had been bothering Shion about her adventure at Cardinal Hotel are only answered in this story.
In Eternals at the End of the Journey, the final story, Shion arrives at at a place that is exclusively inhabitated by immortals. Going through literature on immortals and immortality, Shion reaches the conclusion that there must be a place in the world, far away from 'normal' human society, where most immortals lived, free from the eyes of other humans and with fellow people who actually understand what a burden immortality is. Shion meets people she only knew from the literature in the town, where everyone is immortal, but not all immortals are equal. Some people have lived for so long their immortality has driven them mad, while others have become apathic. Shion is advised to stay in certain parts of the town, as the deeper she goes, the more dangerous things can get. While "dangerous" might sound like a strange word to immortals, it turns out there's a very dangerous person roaming this town: someone has been kidnapping immortals in this town and torturing them, cutting them up little bits. While their victims, naturally, eventually recover due to their immortality, nobody knows who the deranged torturer is and why they would do such a thing. During Shion's stay in the town however, she realizes she might become the attacker's new victim...
The fundamental mystery of this final story is once again based mostly on the motive/motivations of the characters in relationship to the common theme of immortality, rather than on the mechnical or structural characteristics of the plot. The whodunnit aspect, while clewed properly, doesn't really provide for much surprises due to the limited pool of suspects, but by exploring this bizarre case of kidnapping and torture in a town that consists solely of immortal inhabitants, the story does a great job at providing Shion with a lot of food for thought regarding her immortality, and that in a way that truly builds on her experiences throughout her journey. Again, Yuuki's novel is excellent at exploring the theme of immortality from various angles and using its theme as a catalyst to create alluring mysteries.
The concept of Shion, an immortal character, travelling the world to visit different, immortality-related places with their own background stories/rules, might appeal to readers of series like Frieren or Kino's Journey, which is probably not something most readers will think of as unappealing! There's a very melancholic atmosphere throughout the book, though there are also funny moments, like Shion so often ending up having to clean places up as a way to pay rent.
So yes, Samayoeru Eien is an incredibly solid debut work by Yuuki Makoto, that not only provides a great, original setting for a mystery, but also succeeds as a solid fantasy work that exlores the theme of immortality. The book manages to combine the fantasy theme of immortality with well-plotted mysteries in a surprisingly natural, and competent manner, resulting in a book that will appeal to a very wide audience, because the book's content is very rounded. As much as I like the mystery genre and generally, only look at fiction from a mystery perspective, I think this book offers more than enough to those who don't even like mystery that much. But the core readers of this blog should definitely check out this book, for it's easily one of my favorite releases of this year.
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