Onryou

A Japanese Ghost Story Trilogy

By: KuroKoneko Kamen

Narrated by: Calen Golden

In the shadowed corridors of Himeji Castle, forbidden love blooms between the servant Okiku and a prisoner, the enigmatic ronin Shinji. Okiku’s duties and desires collide as she’s torn between loyalty and longing. Yet Aoyama Tessan, a samurai with dark obsessions, covets her fiercely. When a plate goes missing, betrayal, jealousy, and murder unravel Okiku’s life, thrusting her into a nightmare beyond death. Returning as an onryou, her vengeance is bound to her love—but will fury consume her soul?

In The Ghost Story of Yotsuya, Oiwa’s shattered dreams bind her to Iemon, a ronin whose vices trap them in misery. Their child lost to poverty, Oiwa clings to her husband’s promise of revenge. Yet darkness falls as Oume plots to claim Iemon for herself, using a poisoned ointment that disfigures Oiwa and triggers a chain of death. Rising as an onryou, Oiwa’s vengeance is as twisted as her love for Iemon—will it spare her friend Kentaro, who still holds her heart?

In The Peony Lantern, Ren Itou, a wandering exorcist, is led to Nezu Village by visions of doom. There he confronts Otsuyu, an onryou whose beauty veils a deadly horror. Entranced by Otsuyu, the samurai Ogiwara faces a deadly fate, while Ren, tormented by his past, must resist the spectral terror. With life and death intertwined, Ren’s battle is for more than a soul—it’s for his own salvation. Will he escape, or will ghostly ties drag him into darkness?

©2024 KuroKoneko Kamen (P)2025 KuroKoneko Kamen

Japanese ghost, ghouls, and yōkai

Onryou by Kurokoneko Kamen is an interesting Japanese Ghost story trilogy. Calen Golden did a fantastic job with the narration, Calen puts a unique flare to the story. The stories has revenge, horror, romantic suspense, paranormal and scary. Onryou means vengeful spirits, witches, and other supernatural beings. Yōkai are Japanese monsters. I received a free copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review. Highly recommend

Decent but short

Pretty good stories that are unique. The narrator does well but its still solo narration so that's always tough to pull off. Short though at only a couple hours.

horror

Great horror book. Very enjoyable and very easy to understand and get into the book. Definitely worth the listen, you will definitely enjoy it.

An incredible read

The narrator brings the characters alive in this ancient Japanese story. The narrator brings a unique flare to this story.

Onryou

A nice collection of three short stories. Each one is well written with strong characters. Listeners are pulled into worlds full of spirits and love as well as jealousy. The characters learn that they should choose carefully as every action has a consequence. Narrator Calen Golden does a nice job of bringing the characters to life and I was quickly pulled in to each story.

Fantastic book

A Japanese Ghost Story Trilogy

by KuroKoneko Kamen

Narrated by Calen Golden

Again, I was lucky enough that this author asked me to read another of her fantastic stories. This was such a unique book. I love good suspense Horror books. Calen Golden did such a fantastic read of this audiobook. He caught me from the first-word witch which doesn't happen often. I wanted to cry for Okiku and Ronin Shinji. To love him but not to be able to be with him. Watching him be imprisoned was so hard for Okiku. I so didn't like Aoyama Tessan. He wanted Okiku and didn't want to take no for an answer because she did not want to be with him. What happened next made me want to cry and do bodily damage to him lol. I couldn't stop listening to this book till I read the last word. I have fallen in love with KuroKoneko's books. She is an auto-read for me. You won't be sorry if you pick this audiobook or ebook up..

Nicole Harvey