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melitaylor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
fightmeimsmall's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
It’s sweet and simple, somewhat due to being a translation. A nice book but could have delved further into each character, their motives. The main character could have had more development, by the end it felt more that she was just present for the events that unfolded than her actually partaking in them.
rnkessler1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jkfugitt's review against another edition
4.0
I love when books are loosely based on myths or legends that come from the author's country. This is a book aimed mainly for young adults, but I found that even as an adult you could enjoy it.
amyleannefg's review against another edition
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I felt that it was very reminiscent of classic Western fantasy, but with unique cultural differences. I loved the characters of Saya and Chihaya, as well as a few side characters.
I feel this book was a tiny bit slow at the beginning, but it was so atmospheric and beautifully written (and translated) that I fell in love with it. It had the elements of adventure, political intrigue, discussion of deities and immortality, myth and a unique fantasy element central to the plot (the dragon sword, the water maiden etc.). Brilliant.
I feel this book was a tiny bit slow at the beginning, but it was so atmospheric and beautifully written (and translated) that I fell in love with it. It had the elements of adventure, political intrigue, discussion of deities and immortality, myth and a unique fantasy element central to the plot (the dragon sword, the water maiden etc.). Brilliant.
lavendermarch's review against another edition
5.0
4.8 stars. SO GOOD! I feel extraordinarily proud of myself. I got this book for Christmas, read 66 pages, and put it on my bedside table. I hadn't picked up until today. I started from the very beginning, and though I was confused, all was revealed. And frankly, it was done really well. I liked Saya, and Chihaya was just...ahhh. A cool breath of air. Very nice. Wonderful plot line. I do wish Saya could've done a little more with her powers though, which is why I took off o.2 stars.
alibrareads's review against another edition
2.0
I wish that this spoke to me more, but I found this so boring! Some vaguely interesting/intriguing things happen at the very very end, but most of this had a whole lot of nothing happening. Or rather, things happened... But it was like I was viewing it from a distance and there was nothing connecting me emotionally to the things going on. Saya was utterly useless as a “heroine”. She was nothing but a plot device, even though she was apparently super important as the Water Maiden and the one who could still the wrath of gods. That wasn’t even really displayed clearly in the book! If I wasn’t repeatedly told that’s what she could do I never would have surmised that she was good for anything at all. She was just swept along by other people or events and was miserable all the time.
I did like the idea that there wasn’t exactly good or evil in either the Light or Darkness. The Light was all about being utterly devoted to something to a fault and tossing out things like compassion to achieve an ideal, and the Darkness was about mischief and enjoying life because of its impermanence. Both can be necessary and beautiful in their own way. But it isn’t a new or revolutionary idea to have “light” be viewed more as the enemy rather than “darkness”.
This was translated from Japanese, so I’m not sure if maybe some cultural differences between Japanese storytelling and European/American storytelling influenced my feelings on this. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it was a 100 page short story or something rather than almost 300 pages. As it is, I had to force myself to push through and finish this book.
The pacing was slow and I was just not interested in Saya’s constant pity-party and her weird relationships/fascinations with the two Princes of Light.
Won’t be looking into the other books in this series and probably wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless they were specifically looking for translated Japanese fantasy/folklore, and even then... I don’t think it was very good for how long it was.
Check out my YouTube review: https://youtu.be/nsw7W7rtIGM
I did like the idea that there wasn’t exactly good or evil in either the Light or Darkness. The Light was all about being utterly devoted to something to a fault and tossing out things like compassion to achieve an ideal, and the Darkness was about mischief and enjoying life because of its impermanence. Both can be necessary and beautiful in their own way. But it isn’t a new or revolutionary idea to have “light” be viewed more as the enemy rather than “darkness”.
This was translated from Japanese, so I’m not sure if maybe some cultural differences between Japanese storytelling and European/American storytelling influenced my feelings on this. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it was a 100 page short story or something rather than almost 300 pages. As it is, I had to force myself to push through and finish this book.
The pacing was slow and I was just not interested in Saya’s constant pity-party and her weird relationships/fascinations with the two Princes of Light.
Won’t be looking into the other books in this series and probably wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless they were specifically looking for translated Japanese fantasy/folklore, and even then... I don’t think it was very good for how long it was.
Check out my YouTube review: https://youtu.be/nsw7W7rtIGM