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A review by lemonbun
Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean
5.0
I really liked this. Am I biased? Probably. I loved the Edo period setting, the characters, the yokai and of course the plot.
I was surprised how many yokai there were!
Jorōgumo women, who can morph into giant spiders? Or how about Yuki-onna women, who can freeze you in one breath? Tanuki's and Kappa's? Yes yes yes 😍 I loved learning about all the different types of yokai.
I was sort of expecting most of the book to take place around the seasonal rooms but the book branched past just that and gave a great world view and a larger story.
Some reviewers mentioned a problem in pacing, but I personally didn't notice this.
Others commented on the insta-love. While I agree that the romance is very fast to form, this is just accurate of the time and place. It made sense. Romances were fast paced at this time (just look at how quickly marriages were formed back in the day). Besides, the book essentially critiques insta-love. Cracks begin to show. The problem of not knowing enough about one another affecting the characters relationship drastically. Insta-love is a bad idea and it shows.
In fact, I found this book to have a lot of feminist messages despite its time period which I liked a lot!
Overall, I think if you're a fan of YA fantasy and Japanese lore and mythology, you will like this.
I was surprised how many yokai there were!
Jorōgumo women, who can morph into giant spiders? Or how about Yuki-onna women, who can freeze you in one breath? Tanuki's and Kappa's? Yes yes yes 😍 I loved learning about all the different types of yokai.
I was sort of expecting most of the book to take place around the seasonal rooms but the book branched past just that and gave a great world view and a larger story.
Some reviewers mentioned a problem in pacing, but I personally didn't notice this.
Others commented on the insta-love. While I agree that the romance is very fast to form, this is just accurate of the time and place. It made sense. Romances were fast paced at this time (just look at how quickly marriages were formed back in the day). Besides, the book essentially critiques insta-love. Cracks begin to show. The problem of not knowing enough about one another affecting the characters relationship drastically. Insta-love is a bad idea and it shows.
In fact, I found this book to have a lot of feminist messages despite its time period which I liked a lot!
Overall, I think if you're a fan of YA fantasy and Japanese lore and mythology, you will like this.