A review by herceia
A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee

adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I got to page 100 and was done with the book. I couldn’t wait for it to be over and it just kept. Getting. Longer. I finished it bc I love We Are Not Free, but goodness this is not the fantasy book I thought would come out of Traci’s brain. The book is funny and combines modern with historic in an “our flag means death” kind of way, but I could not care less about our main character. She was always trying her best and never messed up and was fighting too hard for the world. And there were important themes I could tell that wanted to be a ~moment~ that just didn’t land and ultimately felt crammed in and predictable. The pacing felt too fast, and at some points, waaaaay too slow. It didn’t feel like the storytelling was focused. I can’t even remember half the things they did. A thousand things happened on the thousand step way and not in an entertaining way, but a “why is this important for the plot and why are there so many tertiary characters?” Way. I read a ton of YA fantasy and this was one of the least captivating. If it wasn’t Traci Chee, I would have stopped reading around pg 100. Every page turn brought me one step closer to the end but also brought on more nonsense from our main character and her struggle for self actualisation. If you’re in for a very light world that you don’t have to think about, but at the same time need to think very hard to remember all the characters and why they’re important, but you’re also just having a good time, but also not having a good time bc of all the bs the characters go through, you might enjoy it. 
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