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A review by asreadbykat
Seven Deadly Shadows by Valynne E. Maetani, Courtney Alameda
3.0
Full Rating: 3.5
As someone who grew up watching anime like Inuyasha and Yu-Yu-Hakusho (among a myriad of others), I absolutely loved reading this.
I had been putting it off for months, because I'm always skeptical about books completely set in a non-Western country written by Western authors. I, admittedly, bought this primarily because it was on sale at a bookstore in Tokyo for cheap. And I DON'T regret it!
There probably are cultural mistakes that a native Japanese (which I, obviously, am not) would notice, but it's clear from the writing that the authors really tried their best to be respectful to Japanese culture and history, which I very much appreciated. Even the style in which the novel was written felt different from most YA works set in Western (-inspired) countries. In a way, this was a love letter to Japanese folklore and anime.
I really enjoyed that this story hit the ground running, and never stopped. The reader is dropped right into the heroine's turmoil, and everything just builds and goes off without too much of a break. We're introduced to the setting, the lore, and the characters rapidly without any added fluff -and it was refreshing, to be honest.
What was also refreshing was the romance, which for once WASN'T central to the plot! It was just there for small moments of levity for our heroine. Was the romance necessary? No, it could be cut out entirely and written merely as a good friendship, and the plot would remain the same with zero changes. Yet I still enjoyed the romantic moments, and was cheering for the couple by the end. Which, honestly, doesn't happen often when I read YA novels, so kudos!
The only downside for this novel is that anyone reading it probably needs to be at least passingly familiar with Japanese folklore in order to read it smoothly. There is a glossary in the back that explains the different creatures and figures mentioned, and most of the yokai are visually described, but the mental picture is clearer if you already know what they look like. For example, fans of Inuyasha will immediately have a pretty good idea of what a nekomata will look like, while newbies will have a faint outline. However, anyone wanting to get a starting point for Japanese folklore might find the creatures in this book interesting.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel (and my high school self wishes this had been around back then), and it's definitely going to be one I read at least once a year, and I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in Japan and/or Japanese anime/manga.
As someone who grew up watching anime like Inuyasha and Yu-Yu-Hakusho (among a myriad of others), I absolutely loved reading this.
I had been putting it off for months, because I'm always skeptical about books completely set in a non-Western country written by Western authors. I, admittedly, bought this primarily because it was on sale at a bookstore in Tokyo for cheap. And I DON'T regret it!
There probably are cultural mistakes that a native Japanese (which I, obviously, am not) would notice, but it's clear from the writing that the authors really tried their best to be respectful to Japanese culture and history, which I very much appreciated. Even the style in which the novel was written felt different from most YA works set in Western (-inspired) countries. In a way, this was a love letter to Japanese folklore and anime.
I really enjoyed that this story hit the ground running, and never stopped. The reader is dropped right into the heroine's turmoil, and everything just builds and goes off without too much of a break. We're introduced to the setting, the lore, and the characters rapidly without any added fluff -and it was refreshing, to be honest.
What was also refreshing was the romance, which for once WASN'T central to the plot! It was just there for small moments of levity for our heroine. Was the romance necessary? No, it could be cut out entirely and written merely as a good friendship, and the plot would remain the same with zero changes. Yet I still enjoyed the romantic moments, and was cheering for the couple by the end. Which, honestly, doesn't happen often when I read YA novels, so kudos!
The only downside for this novel is that anyone reading it probably needs to be at least passingly familiar with Japanese folklore in order to read it smoothly. There is a glossary in the back that explains the different creatures and figures mentioned, and most of the yokai are visually described, but the mental picture is clearer if you already know what they look like. For example, fans of Inuyasha will immediately have a pretty good idea of what a nekomata will look like, while newbies will have a faint outline. However, anyone wanting to get a starting point for Japanese folklore might find the creatures in this book interesting.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel (and my high school self wishes this had been around back then), and it's definitely going to be one I read at least once a year, and I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in Japan and/or Japanese anime/manga.