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A review by kbeddes
Night Shine by Tessa Gratton
2.0
SUMMARY: An orphan girl named Nothing only wanted to be around her true friend, Prince Kirin but when he is kidnapped by the Sorceress Who Eats Girls, it is up to her and the prince’s bodyguard to save him. However, once they track him down to the sorceress’ stronghold in the Fifth Mountain, Nothing slowly starts to realize that she is much more powerful than anybody ever assumed.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: If you can get beyond the fact that Nothing is the main character’s name, you will find an interesting Asian-flavored fantasy quest story, the heart of which focuses on gender-fluidity, transgender identity, and personal identity. Nothing has spent her whole life focused on Kirin, so when she was separated from him, she was forced to come to terms with who and what she really is.
The story pulled me in toward the end, and I thought the gender-identity components were handled well, HOWEVER, the world-building. What the heck was happening? The magic system wasn't well developed., or explained. There were demons, and spirits, and witches, and sorcerers, and they just all coexisted without any sort of hierarchy? It had flavors of Asian culture and folk/fairytales but it was inconsistent. Was it old, was it more modern, idk? And the colors described were like a psychedelic acid trip. Towards the end, I was like, oh duh, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but set in Miyazaki's Spirited Away, if that makes sense.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: If you can get beyond the fact that Nothing is the main character’s name, you will find an interesting Asian-flavored fantasy quest story, the heart of which focuses on gender-fluidity, transgender identity, and personal identity. Nothing has spent her whole life focused on Kirin, so when she was separated from him, she was forced to come to terms with who and what she really is.
The story pulled me in toward the end, and I thought the gender-identity components were handled well, HOWEVER, the world-building. What the heck was happening? The magic system wasn't well developed., or explained. There were demons, and spirits, and witches, and sorcerers, and they just all coexisted without any sort of hierarchy? It had flavors of Asian culture and folk/fairytales but it was inconsistent. Was it old, was it more modern, idk? And the colors described were like a psychedelic acid trip. Towards the end, I was like, oh duh, this is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but set in Miyazaki's Spirited Away, if that makes sense.