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A review by thegrimhobbyist
Setsuko & the Seven Samurai by V.M. Sawh
5.0
A poetic and brilliantly written retelling of Snow White, only set in feudal Japan. I was hooked from the very beginning! The first beautifully written lines that set the scene sucked me right in. The world building throughout was amazing, honestly. Flowery, detailed, without being over the top or too long winded.
There is a whole handful of dynamic and recognizable characters, based on their traits, if you know the fairytale. Reading the banter between the different Samurai had me smiling right along side Setsuko. Each of them had a lovable quirky personality. Then, of course, the villains were written so well that I hated them and was rooting for the heroes.
Both the original fairytale and the history of Japan seemed to be well researched when writing this, I felt like. Not that I know a whole lot about Japan's history, but I know enough. I appreciated the occasional explanation in English for some of the words he used, and didn't feel like it broke apart the flow of the story much. I especially loved how he translated the old crone scene from the original fairytale into this story. Very cleverly done.
Speaking of clever; the fight scenes were written very well, actually all the scenes were honestly. He had to write them in a rather unique way later on in the story and I thought he did it wonderfully - I can't say more than that, as it would spoil the reason why he had to write them the way he did. Just trust me when I say I thought he aced the challenge he was faced when writing these scenes.
So all in all, a very artfully done retelling that I highly recommend people to read if fairytale retellings are your thing!
There is a whole handful of dynamic and recognizable characters, based on their traits, if you know the fairytale. Reading the banter between the different Samurai had me smiling right along side Setsuko. Each of them had a lovable quirky personality. Then, of course, the villains were written so well that I hated them and was rooting for the heroes.
Both the original fairytale and the history of Japan seemed to be well researched when writing this, I felt like. Not that I know a whole lot about Japan's history, but I know enough. I appreciated the occasional explanation in English for some of the words he used, and didn't feel like it broke apart the flow of the story much. I especially loved how he translated the old crone scene from the original fairytale into this story. Very cleverly done.
Speaking of clever; the fight scenes were written very well, actually all the scenes were honestly. He had to write them in a rather unique way later on in the story and I thought he did it wonderfully - I can't say more than that, as it would spoil the reason why he had to write them the way he did. Just trust me when I say I thought he aced the challenge he was faced when writing these scenes.
So all in all, a very artfully done retelling that I highly recommend people to read if fairytale retellings are your thing!