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The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...
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Feed by Mira Grant, aka Seanan McGuire (Newsflesh, #1)

Feed by Mira Grant is a post-apocalyptic book about life/media moving on after the end. Set in 2039 after zombies rose in 2014, it posits a world of dizzying connectedness and loneliness. It’s a political thriller, a monster story, and a wild ride.

Feed’s portrayal of politics and life after the Rising dances on a fine line between world building and info-dumping, and I think it mostly gets it right. The characterization has the right level of attention, given what the narrator would be expected to know. The interstitial passages add insight and depth to the secondary characters, acknowledging a fallible narrator without making her an unreliable one. It sets up preconceptions which are challenged in Feed, shaken in Deadline, and shattered in Blackout. I love these books, I come back to this series about once every two years and it never gets old.

CW for violence, gore, major character death, death.

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