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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...

Animorphs Book 26: The Attack by K. A. Applegate

The Animorphs are champions for the Ellimist in his epoch-spanning war with Crayak. Tensions rise due to Erek's pacifism; Jake experiences the nature of the Howlers. We learn about the Iskoort on a world far away and some assumptions are changed.

I like this book a lot. The setting is strange, the Iskoort are quirky and well-described. There's a lot of really cool worldbuilding in this place that it's almost impossible for the story to ever visit again, but I appreciate how much we get in this small slice. The description of the buildings is very evocative and whimsical, and the descriptions in general manage to convey confusion and hubbub without losing the narrative thread.

The introduction of and explanation of the Howlers is really interesting, in a good way. I have a lot of thoughts that will probably form a longer post later, I intend to compare and contrast them with something from another book, but that might not happen immediately.

A boy (Jake) turns into a tiger

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