Empress of All Seasons

[MY RATING] 9/10
[SOME SPOILERS AHEAD IN CHARACTER + OVERALL SECTION]
[PLOT, WRITING, WORLD-BUILDING, & PACING]
- i read this in 2022 and im writing the review now in 2023 as I didn't have time to write one at that time!
- THIS WAS SUCH A DELIGHT TO READ.
- the trials (summer, winter) etc were SO creative and SO FREAKING FUN TO READ ABOUT. it was so refreshing to read something asian + fantasy inspired and it was just overall so fun and fresh!
- i really enjoyed the world-building here and the cool abilities of the different characters in the story!!
- am definitely gonna be re-reading this one because i liked it so much

Good points:
- fast-paced and easy to read;
- quite interesting setting
- mostly likeable characters

Not so good things:
- very straigtforward moral of the story, that is thrown at the reader's face
- characters not exactly following that moral right after they said their quote

Indeed, if this novel has any major flaw, it???s the plot???s pace. It simply moves far too fast for certain characters (like Taro and the novel???s primary antagonist) and certain story elements (like the romance) to really develop well. In the case of the former, Taro???s transformation from sympathetic co-protagonist to ancillary villain is so quick that the reader loses all sympathy for him, which is a pity because he could have had an incredible story arc had he just been given enough time to grow as a character. The true antagonist, on the other hand, feels like a caricature instead of a genuine example of manipulative villainy, which is disappointing because I truly enjoy a good villain, and the wasted potential here is quite sad.

...

The speed of the plot also spoils the ending somewhat. Since things move so quickly, there are moments in the climax that have a rather deus ex machina quality to them, which is unfortunate because those events could have grown more slowly and more organically out of a slower, more carefully-nurtured plot, and thus would have made more sense and had greater emotional impact. The ending, too, feels rushed; there is practically an entire second, maybe even third, book???s worth of story crammed in the concluding chapter, but it is all brushed off with a lacklustre ???but that???s a story for another time???. This makes me think that the author had grander plans, but was forced for whatever reason to simply stuff everything into one book and call it a day. While some stories can and often do benefit from a bit of judicious pruning, in this case the attempt to make the story fit in one book has done rather more harm than good.

Full review here: https://wp.me/p21txV-GV

I am so torn on this book. I'm really tired of the trope of “batch of girls competing to win a dude” that seems to be so popular lately. But this is an Asian take on the trope, so I don't want to come down too hard on it for that. I attended a panel at the last Baltimore Book Festival about old tropes being resurrected by minority authors, and I agree that just because a trope might seem old and played out, putting a new spin on it with minority characters and themes deserves its own time. That is definitely valid. But they were talking about tropes like vampires and zombies and retold classics like Pride and Prejudice and Alice in Wonderland. I'm not sure the trope of “girls competing to win a dude” deserves more time in any form. (To be fair, I kind of equally hate guys competing to win the hand of the princess. No one should be obligated to marry someone just because they won an arbitrary competition. There are all kinds of consent issues there.)

Despite that, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, the variety of yõkai, the bits of myth interspersed throughout the book. I do question Akira being trained to be a master of shuriken in a matter of days - like, really? And I wish instead of summarizing a ton in the epilogue, she'd just written a sequel, because I think there's enough material to do it. You'd think, with so much I didn't like about the book, that my overall opinion would be negative - but it's not. Even with all of those bad points, this book was enthralling and kept me reading right to the end.

Empress of all Seasons is a great Japanese-inspired fantasy that relies a little too much on old tropes. Set your inner critic to the side and just enjoy the ride, because the story is fantastic.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.