Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee

4 reviews

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

3.75 rounded up for GR! 

it took me a bit to get into this book, but it’s extremely sweet, and very much gives Sophie Hatter vibes. miuko is funny, relatable, and realistically flawed; there were points where I facepalmed at her choices, and I liked that! I was also reminded of over the garden wall a bit? loved that too 

I found that some of the “episodes” in muikos journey felt overlong or even unnecessary; the plot is very neatly made, but some of the threads felt like they didn’t need to be there. I also think that the made-up language was… cool at first, but ultimately became tiring and distracted me from the actual story. i really didn’t like how often the author defined a word in the text itself; most of them were easy to pick up via context clues, or didn’t matter enough to need explanation. i think this author had a lot of fun making this language, and it’s excellent, but it bogged down the writing for me. If the explanations had been saved for an authors note or even a silmarillion-esque set of tales to explain the in-universe etymology, I would’ve loved it! extra sentences in a paragraph just to explain the meaning of one word not so much. 

all in all, a fun time! 
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mandkips's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 Thanks to Clarion Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this to review! I feel like I've been reading a lot of Asian-inspired fantasy books lately, and I am here for it. Plus, teens seem to love this kind of story, so I can't wait for the library to get this one!

First, if Japanese-inspired mytholoyg is your thing, you'll love this book. Chee infused this book with many different elements of Japanese mythology, and it feels incredibly authentic. The story-telling style of the writing also lends itself to the mythology aspects of the book. From the beginning, this fantasy almost feels like something you'd read in a mythology class. Throughout, Chee included footnotes to help provide context, which I actually really enjoyed as well.

In addition to the great mythology, A Thousand Steps Into Night also has an excellent cast of characters. Miuko is a fully realized character, with flaws and a sense of purpose thorughout. It's through her character that we see the patriarchal oppression. Her journey is one of realization, one of knowledge. Miuko doesn't want to reliquinsh the power she's gained, and for good reason. Overall, her character arc felt realistic and authentic.

However, Geiki, the magpie spirit who becomes sort of a guide, is one of my favorites. He's easily distracted and makes for some fun asides throughout some of the darker aspects of the story. Seriously, you might want to read this just for him!

All in all, this was a great mythological adventure from start to finish. Definitely check it out when it comes out next week! 
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Magical storytelling, great characters, an adventure feel. This book has so many great things going for it! Stay tuned for a full review later this week.
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kari_f's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The premise of this book is so interesting, following the harrowing adventures of a girl who is trying to reverse a curse that was placed on her for reasons unknown. In doing so, she meets a variety of interesting characters and finds herself in many strange predicaments.

Things I quite enjoyed:

📚 The Japanese-inspired fantasy and landscapes. It almost reminded me of a Ghibli film in its whimsical descriptions, and this was my favorite aspect of the book!
📚 The friends and companions the protagonist finds along the way. I love a good found family, and I enjoyed getting to know each character in turn.
📚 The self-acceptance and confidence gained by many of the characters.
📚 Relevance to real social issues and how we can see true progress being made by the end of the book.
📚 The struggle between wielding power and losing oneself to that power.
📚 The events concerning summoning that answer many questions and help her along her journey. I don’t want to give any spoilers away by saying more! 🤐 


Some things I didn’t love:

📚 The quantity of conversations about gender roles felt a bit heavy handed. We saw it in each situation the protagonist witnessed, so I didn’t feel like we needed quite as much of it in her inner dialogue additionally.
📚 The pacing felt a bit inconsistent, and there were times I couldn’t put the book down and others that either felt too rushed or slow.
📚 The end felt really rushed, like there wasn’t enough room to cram in what needed to be added to the story. I almost feel like this would have been a better duology so that there would be plenty of time and space to process some of the bigger events, especially near the end.


Overall I enjoyed the book! Thanks to NetGalley and Clarion Books for this advanced readers copy!


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