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A review by sasaboba
A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee
5.0
6 stars.
what a fantastic way to start off my halloween read for the month! fans of inuyasha can rejoice in this epic fantasy steeped in japanese mythologies, from tricksters, to demons, to gods. we follow a girl named miuko who is used to living in the patriarchy where japanese girls can't even ride a horse without being accused of indecency. she is cursed to become a demon and, on her journey to reverse the effects, she makes unlikely friends along the way. there is nonbinary and trans rep and they don't die or get traumatized, yay! the antagonist is a monster like naraku or edward cullen, except nothing he says or does is romanticized and we have a smart heroine who sees that. the misogyny was horrible, sometimes scary, but justice was always served. my only complaints are that part 2 was really slow at first and it was rough seeing miuko constantly lose, despite my enjoyment of the lore. the misogyny was belaboring to the point of exhaustion at times but it's also because it's my lived experience and i hate seeing it on-page. all in all, a thousand steps into night was full of complex worldbuilding, superb character development, and the friendships and relationships were beautiful. it’s also a master class in how to fluidly write time travel. i hope people in their demon era enjoy it as much as i did!
trigger warnings: misogyny, murder (on and off-page; there's a particularly gruesome finding of fridged women that was triggering but it lasts for less than a page and justice was served), possession, abandonment
what a fantastic way to start off my halloween read for the month! fans of inuyasha can rejoice in this epic fantasy steeped in japanese mythologies, from tricksters, to demons, to gods. we follow a girl named miuko who is used to living in the patriarchy where japanese girls can't even ride a horse without being accused of indecency. she is cursed to become a demon and, on her journey to reverse the effects, she makes unlikely friends along the way. there is nonbinary and trans rep and they don't die or get traumatized, yay! the antagonist is a monster like naraku or edward cullen, except nothing he says or does is romanticized and we have a smart heroine who sees that. the misogyny was horrible, sometimes scary, but justice was always served. my only complaints are that part 2 was really slow at first and it was rough seeing miuko constantly lose, despite my enjoyment of the lore. the misogyny was belaboring to the point of exhaustion at times but it's also because it's my lived experience and i hate seeing it on-page. all in all, a thousand steps into night was full of complex worldbuilding, superb character development, and the friendships and relationships were beautiful. it’s also a master class in how to fluidly write time travel. i hope people in their demon era enjoy it as much as i did!
trigger warnings: misogyny, murder (on and off-page; there's a particularly gruesome finding of fridged women that was triggering but it lasts for less than a page and justice was served), possession, abandonment