Skip to main content

Featured

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...
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters #2)

As the Midnighters search for the truth about the secret hour, they uncover terrifying mysteries woven into the very fabric of Bixby's history, and a conspiracy that touches the world of daylight.

This time Jessica Day is not the only Midnighter in mortal danger, and if the group can't find a way to come together, they could lose one of their own . . . forever.

TITLE: Touching Darkness
AUTHOR: Scott Westerfeld
PUBLISHER: Harperteen
YEAR: 2008
LENGTH: 439 pages
AGE: Young Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Science Fiction
RECOMMENDED: N/A

Partial Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

DNF 237 pages in (54%).

The ableist language from THE SECRET HOUR has continued and actually doubled down. I understand that it's accurate to the early 2000's when this was written but it's consistent enough that it damaged my enjoyment of the story. The final straw was when part of the town's backstory involves Native Americans being characterized as having come in with the oil boom and ruined the secrecy the town had going. My dim recollection from reading this as a teen is that maybe this story is not accurate, but whether or not it turns out to be false in the narrative it was one thing too many and I'm not going to finish the book. This was a re-read to see if a series I loved as a teen held up now that I'm an adult, and for me, it didn't.

Partial CW for cursing, ableist language (graphic), racism, mental illness, excrement (brief), blood (brief), body horror, death (not depicted).

Bookshop Affiliate Buy Link

Add this on TheStoryGraph

The face of a white girl with red/brown hair and bright blue eyes. A circular symbol is painted in teal on her cheek


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment