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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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The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)

The Lightning Thief shows kids trying to be better people than their parents and learning from their mistakes, plus swordfighting and quests. I love the sidestepping of classic portrayals of the greco-roman gods in a way that feels true, but modern.

I'm a sucker for modern interpretations of Medusa, in particular, so I really liked this one. Ares was particularly good as a modern update, and the way that the villainous plan was just hurt, but not stopped, was a good choice for book one. There's more to do, and a lot more to this world, but this is a great intro.

The pen/sword weapon is a nice touch, both useful to Percy and a great play on words. I like how the Mist is established, it's enough of a hand-wave to let the action keep going but the story doesn't rely on it too heavily. Something that pervasive and powerful needs to be consistent in its effects but not consistently helpful nor harmful, and I think this landed that balance.

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A boy (Percy) stands in water during a storm in front of a city skyline, holding a sword and a horn

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