Briana @ Pages Unbound
Written on Aug 27, 2015
This book probably sold on concept more than execution. The idea of a book set in Japan laden with Japanese folklore will appeal to a YA market on the lookout for more diversity. However, the mythical creatures Saki meets and must defeat are a pretty random of amalgamation. Creatures, curses, rules of magic--everything is invented when it's needed and there's no apparent logic or consistent overarching system of magic. I wouldn't accept this in any other fantasy novel, so I can't accept it here, even if the book otherwise has an original setting and premise going for it.
The characters are flat, and Saki risks coming across as unlikable to many readers. She's self-admittedly selfish, one of the popular crowd (just not as cool as the queen bee) and spends a lot of time glued to her phone and talking about how you have to look out for yourself because no one is really nice. She's obviously supposed to have some sort of character arc where she becomes a better person, but the magic creatures accuse her of so many things beyond selfishness--not observing ritual, not respecting the dead, not following tradition, not caring about other people, not paying attention to her surroundings, etc., that it's hard to tell which character flaw she's really supposed to have solved.
