A Thousand Steps into Night

More of a 3.5/5. A likable heroine who feels real and not some carbon copy of all the heroines we see nowadays with a great fairytale setting.

A review here had me at, “Ghibli fantasy fans, listen up.” It's a Japanese-influenced YA fantasy adventure where you meet a young girl from the countryside who feels she has no say in her life as a female in her patriarchal society. Our protagonist Miuko is immediately cursed and starts to transform into a demon. By the first third I thought it would be a simple quest story with friendships similar to “Shadow of the Fox” by Julie Kagawa. Well, in some ways it was, but the twists and turns, darkness and depth of themes wonderful for a teen to explore bump it up beyond a simple quest. My personal enjoyment was probably a 3-4 stars, but based on my two main parameters for rating YA/teen books (page-turner and thematically strong) I'll rate this on here as 5 stars.

DNF @ 6%. Its got that immature writing style typical of YA that I cannot stand. The main character is “so clumsy, so loud (how unbecoming of a servant girl), just the most average girl in the whole village, and her mother ran off, and her poor father the inn keeper doesn't know what to do with her!” So she's the generic protagonist of every “average teenager goes on a magical adventure or is the chosen one” YA novel. The author was doing a lot of lore dumping and info dumping about spirits and legends in this book rather than gradual world building. I typically like a spunky main character who doesn't fit societies mold but this was just written so heavy handed that I found Miyuko more annoying than anything. This book is just not for me personally.

Once again, YA has done me dirty. You offer me a book with a great premise but instead I get mediocrity.

I enjoy the story. I like the world building, the various demons and creatures and spirits. But the main character didn't have a large character development that I wish it did. And no this book is not a  romance like some people was saying. I think this is a solid book. I just didn't love it like I was hoping I would. 

I buddy read this book with Khushi Kishore.

I went into this really knowing next to nothing about it. All I know was that it was based on Japanese folklore. Ultimately, I thought this was so cute. It deals with themes of sexism and transphobia, as well as some other dark themes. However, these were all handled very well. The MC is a young teen girl, and she ends up surrounding herself with the most incredible, whimsical friends that just made for a beautiful, touching story. I highly recommend for readers of ya and folklore.

Only one word could describe this : Extraordinary.

I have never read any Traci Chee book before but I do own one of them and they've been on my radar for a long time. So, when I got the opportunity to read this arc which had such a fun premise, I couldn't resist.

I'm always up for books with fairytale feels and folklore inspirations and this book, with a blend of both, was super entertaining and fun. The world building is very immersive and we feel transported to Awara, meeting all the supernatural creatures. There were footnotes with explanations for terms, meanings and any underlying stories associated, along with pronunciations and I thought it was a perfect way to get to know the history of this world better. The writing is wonderful and fast paced and the adventure is very engaging, making me wonder every chapter where it was going next. And the fairytale feel was so strong that I knew ultimately, good would prevail.

The main theme of the book is also something I really enjoy when explored in SFF. Awara is a very patriarchal and misogynistic society with very a confined and restricted role for women and anyone crossing them is made to suffer. The author explores the confines and possibilities that gaining power can provide to a woman from such an environment. I thought the discussion about what is more important - never being powerless again or retaining one's humanity even if it means going back to a powerless existence - was very thoughtful and fascinating. And the story also proved that just having power doesn't mean anything, it's what is done with the power that gives meaning to it.

Muiko is an ordinary girl living in a forgotten village but she has always felt that she doesn't fit the box that she is expected to limit herself to. When she is cursed and chased away from her village, but the curse also keeps giving her more power, she faces the dilemma of what she wants to be - a malevolent demon who is shunned by everyone and is destined to kill, or a human woman with all the restrictions that come with her regressive society. The rest of the story is about what this young, kind but loud woman wants to choose for herself but frankly, it's never in doubt what she will do to protect the people she cares about and maybe even the country which doesn't actually accept her the way she is.

In her adventures, she is aptly supported by her new found friend Geiki, who is a magpie spirit and can't resist stealing whatever shiny thing he comes across. But he is absolute hoot whenever he is on page and probably the main source of entertainment throughout. We also encounter many other different kinds of spirits, humans, demigods and gods who all end up helping Muiko in their own ways and it all made for such a thoroughly captivating journey.

Overall, this was the perfect kind of fairytale-esque Japanese folklore inspired story I could have asked for which is full of thrilling adventures, an enchanting world and a cast of characters who are very easy to love. I'm so glad I finally got to experience Traci's writing and can't wait to checkout their backlist.