Another YA fantasy I was really looking forward to. I jump on anything that’s Asian inspired. One review request was denied, and another was approved, so I was really pleased.

Only to find myself quite disappointed. It was okay, just felt like a generic YA fantasy with a predictable romance. The concept was quote unique and the world building was interesting, but something was just missing from this book for me.

The world focuses on humans and yōkai, demon like creatures with human faces and the power to transform into monsters. Some yōkai clans live in secret, those in the cities are servants and slaves to humans, and wear special collars to prevent them from using their powers.

The heroine Mari is part of an all-female clan of yōkai, they live in a secluded mountain village and make their lives by seducing men to marry and stealing their fortunes, only girl children are permitted to live. Mari is not the prettiest girl in the clan, she is one of the strongest and fastest. The best hope her mother has decided is for her to enter the Seasons contest. Girls from all over the land travel to the palace to conquer the magical Seasons rooms – Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, the sole survivor is the winner and will win the hand of the Emperor’s son and become Empress when the son inherits the throne.

Mari has been training as long as she can remember to enable her to win the contest. Slight issue though – yōkai are forbidden from entering. So Mari will have to keep her true identity secret.

Mari sets off for the Capitol city, running into friend Akira a half human, half yōkai outcast. Akira decides to head off to the Capitol to do what he can to help Mari. The third main character, the prince Taro. The emperor is a cold and brutal man, who rules through threats, fear and intimidation, particularly taken out on the yōkai slaves. Taro is much nicer, and much more gentle natured, he’s an inventor, he’s not interested in things like warring with the yōkai and conquering them.

As the story progresses, all three characters interact with each other. Mari is a strong, likeable character, Akira though is a love sick puppy. He’s determined to prove himself to Mari and seeks out a special kind of physical training with a mysterious legend of the art, who has a secret ulterior motive involving the yōkai and rebel yōkai.

Taro and Mari find themselves meeting. Taro was okay, if a bit boring and two dimensional, it’s obvious where the romance angle is going and, and for the most part, the plot is predictable. It’s got a decent pace to it. One thing I really did like was the mythology angle, every now and then there is a chapter which tells a God or Goddess’s origin story. It all ties in with the novel. There was a fair bit of action, and Mari handled herself surprisingly in the Seasons contest. There are lots of other girls competing and even though it’s winner takes all, you’re going to need allies to survive. Mari was strong and forward but she wasn’t nasty about it, like some of the girls were. Mari was honourable.

Mari was really the only character I actually liked. The plot took an unexpected twist towards the end of the novel. It’s one of those things that you know at some point something’s all going to go wrong. It’s a stand-alone so you know it’s going to wrap up. There’s got to be more to the story than just the Seasons contest. Didn’t see the end coming at all. And it did all wrap up in a way which concluded things and didn’t leave unanswered questions. The end did make me smile.

It wasn’t my favourite fantasy, it was okay. It had its moments.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for approving my request to view the title.

Empress of all Seasons impressed me with its delicate prose and fascinating mythology, but the characters and story failed to hold my attention for more than the first hundred pages. I'm giving this book three stars because while it turned out not to be suited for me, it might appeal to other readers! Thank you to the publisher for the early copy!

Oh, this was a juicy fantasy book! I went into this expecting it to focus on the action during the competition where the future empress has to beat four challenging rooms, but it was so much more than that. The world building in Empress of All Seasons was excellent and was truly the most gripping part of the book. I loved it.

In this world, the yokai are enslaved by the emperor and some of them are fighting for their freedom. If you've been following my blog for a while, then you'll know all about my obsession with slave rebellions and uprisings. This was a surprising part of the book for me, but it was such a good surprise.

I also loved the stories about the gods and goddesses who were involved in creating the humans and the yokai and the rest of the world. I would definitely be up for more books or stories set in this world because the world building was fantastic.

The main character, Mari, was a total BAMF, and she was lovely to read about. Her backstory was well developed, and her relationship with her mother was interesting and somewhat relatable, even for a fantasy book. I also adored her relationship with Amiko - even more in hindsight - because while he loved her, she turned him down, and they stayed best friends and he looked out for her. It was super lovely, and there was none of that Nice Guy rubbish cropping up and ruining everything. Platonic relationships FTW.

I am a bit sad that this book is YA, because I feel it could have gotten a lot darker and been longer as an adult fantasy. I just wanted more.

Empress of All Seasons is a wonderful debut, and it'll be one that sticks in my mind when recommending YA fantasy to other readers.

I really enjoyed this and I am mad at myself for not reading this sooner!! From the synopsis it seemed like The Selection with a twist, but it was so much more! I read this within a day, it was so addictive!

This was an interesting tale of Japanese folklore and an intriguing fantasy tale. I loved the authors writing style. A must for fantasy lovers. I cannot wait to see what the author comes up with next.

I was so excited to hear that Empress of All Seasons was being published in the UK -- an all-girl contest to win the hand of the emperor’s son set in a Japanese-inspired world? Sign me up. I tumbled into the story right away and really enjoyed it -- it features strong feminist themes, trope inversion, and some incredibly badass women.

In terms of worldbuilding, the strongest part of the book for me was the divide between the humans and yōkai. The yōkai themselves were beautifully written -- Jean develops the individual yōkai creatures and cultures so well. I absolutely loved reading about each creature, particularly the Animal Wives, as well as their way of surviving in a harsh world that would see them enslaved. This is complimented perfectly in the story with Mari’s arrival in the Imperial City. Jean artfully shows the reader the horrible conditions the yōkai struggle with in the city, as well as across the empire. There are a fair few YA fantasy books this year that have themes of slavery, however I feel like Empress of All Seasons handles it particularly well.

There are three POV characters in this book -- Mari, Taro, and Akira. Mari was a fantastic character and I absolutely loved her -- she is easily the best part of the book. Mari is easy to love when the book starts, she is an outcast among her people but desperately seeks their approval, but she undergoes some incredible growth over the course of the story. Her struggles between what she was raised to believe versus what she feels is right, as well as living up to the expectations of others versus being comfortable in her own skin were all so well-written. The two male characters, Taro the prince and Akira the half-human, half-yōkai, were pretty lackluster in comparison. I didn’t feel that either boy really lived up to Mari’s amazing character, particularly as the story progresses, and they didn't have the same character growth.

The only thing that I disliked in Empress of All Seasons is the fact that it feels like scenes are missing. I realise this sounds strange, but there were parts of the book that just jumped from one important plot point to another with no transition scenes in between. Perhaps it was editorial decisions, perhaps it is just a writing style -- I am not sure. I found it quite jarring. The book particularly suffered from this at the end. I got to the last 10 pages and could not believe that the book was ending! We get an epilogue that wrapped everything up, but it just wasn’t enough. I feel that we were robbed of some fantastic scenes and closure for the story, not to mention some amazing action sequences. The book would have been much better served by an extra 50-100 pages at the end rather than a short epilogue -- it would have made a great, bold ending even better.

Overall, I would highly recommend Empress of All Seasons. It is a thrilling tale set in a beautiful Japanese-inspired world that will keep you in its grip until the very end. I sincerely hope we get more books like this!

Empress of All Seasons was one of my most anticipated reads of this year. We are thrown right into the high fantasy Feudal Japan inspired world which features Yōkai which are a class of paranormal creatures in Japanese folklore but in this book they exist. Mari is half human and half Yōkai. She has been brought up in a village of women the same as her who are only allowed to birth girls. Mari is deemed too ugly to be part of the village so she must go to the capital to take part in the competition to become the wife of the new Emperor and become the Empress of All Seasons. To do so she must complete tasks versus many other girls in a magical room in the palace which can take the form of any season. But this will be difficult as Yōkai are banned from practicing their magic and most have collars placed on them to stop their powers, so Mari must hide who she is.
I really enjoyed this novel. I had a couple of problems but for the most part, I was really into it. 
What stood out to me was the folklore aspect. It was so perfectly woven in with the plot that you learned about each type of Yōkai without feeling like you were being taken out of the novel. For me, it as fun to read about some which I already knew of, like Oni, but there were definitely a lot more I hadn't heard of, and I'll be spending some hours on Google deep dives learning about them, that's for sure. 
My biggest issue was the pacing really, the first half was kind of slow but not in a bad way like it had a lot of really good world-building, but the second half was a lot faster paced and it was a bit jarring. Whilst I'm normally more a fan of things moving quickly, I much preferred the first half. I struggled a lot when things kicked up a few notches because it was like suddenly everything was happening and I couldn't keep up. For me, this novel really deserved a sequel and I think had that happened the last half wouldn't have been so rushed and Jean could've explored more with her characters and her world. 
I have seen some reviews where people didn't really like the romance and I can understand that but for me what I liked was that whilst the romance was happening there was a lot of politics happening along the ay and at times the romance took a backseat. And the way the book ended I was honestly shocked, but pleasantly surprised. I really didn't like Akira who was Mari's friend and was obsessed with her. He just couldn't take no for an answer and caused a lot of problems. 
In addition to the romance taking a back seat to politics, it often got overshadowed by Mari learning to love herself and realise she only needs her own approval which I thought was a really important part of her character development. For someone who has always been told she wasn't good enough, realising that she doesn't have to conform to anyone else's standards was really empowering to read.
Overall this was still a good read despite the pacing problem and I look forward to what Jean comes out with next.

I am loving the current push in YA fantasy for settings outside the usual medieval-England-alike, and one of the books I’ve been most excited for has been Empress of All Seasons, which combines Japanese-inspired mythology with a girls-only survival contest!

This book is fantastic. It tells the story of Mari, a yokai (or demon), who enters a competition to become Empress in order to prove that she belongs in her tribe. She must battle through the four seasonal rooms in the palace, which are controlled by a weather magician and filled with deadly traps and riddles (not to mention the other competing girls!). If she wins, she will win the hand of the prince – but as we see in his viewpoint chapters, he isn’t too keen on the idea of being a prize, nor indeed of being Emperor. Our third main character is Akira, the Son of Nightmares, a half-yokai who will do anything to see that Mari comes home safely…

All three of our viewpoint characters are gorgeously written and very believable. Even when their desires came into conflict, I found myself wishing there was some way for them all to have a happy ending! At the start of the book, I thought I was going to dislike Akira, as he is treading on the edges of believing in the ‘friend-zone’, but his growth over the course of the book is excellent. The way that the strands of the story build together, until the three relatively simple plot lines crash into each other in a huge, all-encompassing tale, is just so good! The side characters are also great – I really liked Asami, Mari’s fellow competitor, and Sei, Mari’s yokai maid.

Speaking of Sei, there’s a strong theme of persecution and slavery running throughout this book. All yokai must be registered and collared, to be controlled by the Emperor, and the different characters’ reactions to this are very interesting. There’s a fascinating bit where Asami calls Mari out for accepting Sei’s service as a ‘maid’, when she is in fact a slave – though Mari is wholly against the enslavement of the yokai, her background (growing up among uncollared yokai) gives her a different, and somewhat naive, picture of the day-to-day oppression of her people. It’s extremely thought-provoking.

The concept of the seasonal rooms was amazing! I’d have loved to have spent the whole book exploring them and the dangers they could bring. They are beautifully described, and you can almost feel the crushing heat and the biting cold. Comparisons to the arenas of The Hunger Games is only partly fair, especially since the girls are forbidden from killing one another, but there’s the same feeling of threat from the environment that made Catching Fire so thrilling. The competition was far and away my favourite part of the book.

SPOILERS AHOY

I was really, really impressed with the way that the author handled the end of the book. I did completely ship Mari and Taro, and was hoping for them to find a way for their love to survive their ideological differences, but loved that Mari actively chose her ‘right path’ over love. It’s not a case of ‘no love for me thanks, I’m on a mission’, but rather, she is willing to cut out her heart in order to do the right thing by her people. She does love him, and he loves her – but it’s not enough. There’s three ways that fantasy romances between rebels and royalty can go: ‘I love you and we’ll make it work’; ‘I don’t love you, I was just using you to gain power’; and the one opted for here, which is ‘I love you, but that doesn’t change my people’s needs’. I’ve not seen it done before in YA, and it’s so good to see.

END SPOILERS

Overall, this is a compelling read with amazing world-building. I loved Mari, and was so proud of her journey! If you’re looking for some YA fantasy that manages to be exciting and deep at the same time, or just looking outside the borders of traditional Fantasy-Europe, then this is a gorgeously written, exciting, and thought-provoking read you should definitely pick up. Five out of five stars from me.

Empress of All Seasons has an amazing plot, and beautiful world-building going for it. The author has used Japanese folklore and identifiable yokai legends and inserted them in a unique fantasy world with its own mythology. I particularly loved the creation myths occasionally dropped into the plot, and how they didn’t tie into the plot but also gave that nice mystical touch to the story. The story focuses on Mari’s journey from being a yokai to the Empress of Honoku, but also has POV from the current Prince Taro, and her childhood friend Akira, a half-yokai. She is from the Animal Wife clan, a clan of supernatural grifter yokai made up entirely of beautiful women who marry human men and steal their fortune. Mari has been brought up to one day participate in the Hunger Games-ish trials and become the Empress.

Besides Mari’s main story, the plot has a secondary thread of the treatment of yokai in Honoku as slaves. The current Emperor has hated them since one midwifed his Empress during childbirth (which resulted in her death) and has relegated them to be powerless and collared. Mari, having lived far away from all this, isn’t invested in the politics of the situation, but Akira, who follows her into the city (in hiding), falls in with the rebel force of yokai. Taro, meanwhile, wants to escape his current life but stays when he meets Mari. The consequences of a yokai yearning to be Empress are dire, indeed, considering the hate-filled palace, and the compliance of the people, which is what cheapens the way this book ended.

The story of the book is expansive, and yet it wraps it all up in a solo plot. The competition itself takes place within a week, and I mention this because there is a LOT that happens during that time, inside the four Season rooms, and outside, including character development and relationship changes, much of which can’t be justified during that short time! Taro has an insta-love for Mari, and she, too, falls for him in a matter of days. Mari makes and loses her friend, and is betrayed by another confidante. The emotional weight of the ending is lost when you consider that they barely knew each other and hadn’t had much time to even learn of the other. Also, the plot jumps forward often – I can’t even call this fast-paced because it completely skips over her ACTUALLY becoming Empress and changing the landscape of Honoku, instead just giving us an epilogue in a paragraph. The ending definitely ruins the enjoyment of the book, even if the rest of it went well.

In short, the too-fast pace and the rushed ending dampen the enjoyment of a beautifully constructed book that had the potential of at least a duology.

What I Have to Say
This is definitely one of my new favourite books. Set in a world where yōkai live alongside humans, mistrusted and feared so much that they are enslaved, their powers bond by metal collars, it was so interesting to see the tensions between them and the ways that the different yōkai were fighting back against the system.

I loved Mari. She was a beautiful character with so much strength in some ways and so much vulnerability in others. I loved that she struggled with her yōkai abilities and how she was so kind and different from the rest of the women in Tsuma. It was a really great take on the Crane Wife and showed the strength of women taking power back from the men who would enslave them.

I loved it all. From the competition between the girls in the season rooms to the range of characters and their interactions in and out of the palace to the perfect ending, satisfying and compelling right to the last page. I loved the romance between Mari and Taro and was heartbroken by the way things changed over the course of the novel.

There wasn't a character in this book that I didn't love (or love to hate) and I adored the little snips of stories about the gods throughout the book. This is definitely a book that any fantasy lover should pick up.

Trigger warning: This book features child abuse/neglect, body shaming, and slavery.

I was really looking forward to Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean. A high fantasy inspired by Ancient Japan and Japanese folklore sounded incredible. But I finished the book feeling a little let down.

In a world where humans rule, and yōkai, supernatural beings are feared and loathed, Mari is an Animal Wife; a yōkai who has two forms; one a beautiful woman, the other a beast. An Animal Wife's purpose is to trick men into marriage and then steal their fortune for their people. But Mari isn't fully formed; she isn't overwhelmingly beautiful like the rest of her people, and nor can she transform fully into her beast. Unable to to fulfil her purpose like other Animal Wives, her mother has trained her for a grander target: to become empress. You do not need to be beautiful in order to become empress, you just need to be the last woman standing in a competition where entrants have to survive four brutal seasonal rooms in the Palace of Illusions, where death is likely. She has trained her whole life to survive this competition, to become empress, to bring her people the largest fortune possible. But Mari just wants a life of freedom, a life without obligation, a life without the whole before the self. When she makes it to the palace, she discovers the yōkai in magical collars weakening their abilities, enslaving them, and people who would rather see them dead, she realises there isn't much chance of her ever finding freedom, or other yōkai.

Taro, prince of Honoku abhors his position. He doesn't want to be prince, he doesn't want to become emperor, and he doesn't want to be the prize in a competition power-hungry women are fighting for. He wants his own life, free to make his own choices. But when he meets Mari, and is startled and intrigued by the way she treats him, he finds himself wanting to know her more, wanting her to survive the competition.

Akira, Son of Nightmares, is half yōkai, half human, and Mari's friend. He's been in love with her since they were young, and hates the idea of her competing to become empress, of her marrying yōkai, he worries about what this will mean for Mari. The actions of Mari, Taro and Akira will have far reaching consequences, and they will change the world.

'Animal wives were born for a singular purpose: To trick men into marriage and then steal their fortunes. Men are conditioned to take. Women are conditioned to give, Mari's mother once told her. Long ago, our clan decided to stop giving and start taking.'(p17)*

I really, really wanted to love Empress of All Seasons, I really did. Being a YA high fantasy novel that is inspired by Ancient Japan, written by a woman of colour - the kind of book we really need - I was so hoping it would be incredible. The premise is amazing, and there was just so much to love, so that is what I'll talk about first. The world of Honoku is awesome, with the Japanese folklore that heavily inspired it. The yōkai are just so fascinating, so many different kinds of supernatural creatures that kept me googling whenever I came across a new one, to see artist's impressions. The creation story of the world, and the various gods and goddesses, and how they influenced the world we have today, and their own stories and how they treated each other, and the ramifications this had on the world and it's people.

The story is narrated by Mari, Akira and Taro. The yōkai are not seen as people, but as monsters. They are enslaved, controlled, and killed. With Mari competing to become empress, she's putting herself in such a dangerous situation; if anyone found out, she'd be dead. With Taro's narration, we get to see exactly what the Emperor thinks of yōkai, his disgust and his terrible treatment. He believes a yōkai killed his wife, the Empress, when Taro was born, and now all yōkai must be controlled, and any sign of going against the Emperor leads to death. Taro doesn't think like his father does, but his father will not listen to him, and doesn't really care about Taro anyway. He isn't the son he should be, wanting more, tinkering away in his workshop, engineering toys. Through Akira's narration, we discover more about how the yōkai are planning to fight back. We meet Hanako, the Weapons Master, a collared Snow Girl yōkai who, uncollared, can kill a person with her ice cold touch. She is the leader of the revolution, planning a war to overthrow the Emperor, and free her people. Hanako is spunky and funny, and probably my most favourite character in the book. And then we have the competition itself. Hundreds of women competing in rooms that are transformed into extremes of the world in each season, trying to survive, work out the riddle they are given, and finding the scrolls that will allow them to go forward in the competition. The rooms are brutal, and difficult, and in those rooms we see the worst of humanity and the best.

Empress of All Seasons is also wonderfully feminist. Honoku is a patriarchal world, and Animal Wives are taught what men expect of them, in order to find their husbands.

'The first and foremost lesson taught to Animal Wives was to be likable. A woman must be gentle and kind, never outspoken'. (p77)*

'Tami had dusted the girls with perfumes and powders and imparted advice: Men like the smell of self-worth, confidence. You must know your mind and speak it, but not too often. Men fear intelligent women. It means they are capable of anything. You must laugh, but not be funny. You must be spirited, but not strong'. (p142)*

And yet they are also taught not to give in.

'Men are conditioned to take. Women are conditioned to give. Never let a man take anything from you. Your smiles, your humor, your body. She remembered her mother's words' (p99)*

And it's no surprise that women would compete in a competition to become empress, the most powerful woman, when their lives can be so difficult.

'Nori laced her fingers together and looked down at them. "I've often been told that I'm beautiful." Her lips twitched in disgust. "Most of the time it is because someone wants something from me, usually a man -- a smile when I was young, and later, my body. Before I left, a farmer named Jun proposed, and I remember looking into his face and thinking, He doesn't know me at all. When I rejected him, he grew spiteful, like I should've been elated that he wanted me. He said unkind things about me. I can't even repeat them. Then he set his tongue to wagging, spreading rumors about me. People are always so eager to believe what is untrue. He said we spent the night together. It was enough for my family to stop speaking to me. I was a leper in my own home."' (p170)*

'"I know why you're here. It's why I'm here too. Why we all are, I imagine." Asami's eyes glowed, two burning coals. "We've been pushed around and forced into quiet rooms out whole lives. Nobody's ever asked us what we wanted. The prize isn't the prince. It's the power."
Mari's eyes lifted from the fire to Asami. Her gazed pivoted back and forth between Asami and Nori, sweeping over them like water.
Nori bit her lip. "You're right. After I rejected Jun, my father sat me down and said, 'You are pretty and want too much.' I asked him, 'What is too much? Love? Equality?' He said, 'Yes. You are pretty. That should be enough.'"' (p170-171)*

For all that's great about this story, for all I loved, I'm just not sure it was executed very well. Empress of All Seasons is a stand alone novel, but I feel it should have been at least a duology. Before Mari leaves for the Palace of Illusions, everything was great, it was paced well, and nicely developed, us learning about the yōkai, the Animal Wives specifically, and their lives. But once she gets to the palace, everything changes. Everything happens super quickly, and is over before you know it. In terms of reading time, we spend very little time at all in each of the seasonal rooms. While for Mari hours are going by, for us, it's just a chapter. And yes the rooms are brutal, and some of the things she witnesses, some of the things the other contestants do are awful, but you barely get time to feel anything or react before it's moved pass. The book is 366 pages long, with three narrations. You get very little time with each narrator, so everything happens quickly; the competition, the plans with the revolution, the romance between Mari and Taro. There was no romance. They know each other for a matter of days, and fall in love without really knowing each other. It happens for too quickly, there's no real development to it, so I didn't feel it. I didn't believe it, and I didn't really care - there was no time to care. And the relationships Mari forms with her other contestants could have been so, so beautiful, with characters we could have really grown to love, but everything moves so fast we don't get the chance.

As I said, I think this book should have been a duology. In my opinion, everything that happens after the competition has ended should have been it's own separate book. The first book could have built up the relationships more; the friendship between Akira and Hanako, the romance between Mari and Taro, the friendships and sisterhood between Mari and fellow contestants Asami and Lori. It could have built on the time spent in the seasonal rooms, spent more time on each, making them feel as terrible as they're described. And then the second book could have dealt with the resulting outcome of the competition, the revolution, the betrayal, the war. This story could have been so incredible if it was longer, if it was developed more. Everything is there! It has everything it needs to be an amazing story, but it felt rushed, and I never felt all that connected to the characters or the plot. I was more invested in learning more about the world and it's various inhabitants than I was in the actual story, because everything happened too quickly for me to become invested. And it's such a shame. The story ends with the possibility of companion novels, but whether they'll happen or not, I don't know.

There is so much about this story that is undeniably awesome, but I was disappointed overall. A number of people really enjoyed Empress of All Seasons, though, so do read some other reviews before deciding whether or not to read it.

Thank you to Gollancz via NetGalley for the eProof.

*All quotes are checked against a final copy of the book.

empress of all seasons is a japanese-inspired fantasy novel that takes a bit bite into not just its subject material, but important societal issues as well. mari, our main character, is a yokai – a japanese supernatural spirit, and more specifically, she is an animal wife – a a shapeshifting yokai spirit that takes the form of a beautiful woman in order to marry unsuspecting men and steal their fortunes. bein the odd one out in her animal wife village, mari has been raised with one purpose – to bear and defeat the seasons in the emperor’s competition, win the princes’ hand in marriage, and steal his fortune. however, complications arise for which mari’s training never prepared her for, and she must take back control while simultaneously hiding her yokai identity.

the premise of this book reeled me in immediately. the concept just sounded too good to pass by, so obviously i knew i had to read this book. i’d seen it vaguely on twitter before requesting it on netgalley, which is a shame, because it didn’t get the exposure that it should have. however, after reading empress, i’m of two minds.

i’ve always been a fan of bad news first, good news second, so let’s start out with the negatives. firstly, the writing seemed to be telling a lot more than actually showing, which i didn’t really like. it felt like i was being spoon-fed information, when i generally prefer to discover it as the plot unfolds. same goes to the characters – i’d rather they show me the type of person they are, rather than the author telling me about them.

that being said, i did love the lore of the world that emiko jean has created. the tales of the gods inbetween chapters were one of the things i was interested in the book. they just gave so much insight into the world of honoku and how things came to be, which is absolutely up my alley. what can i say, i’m always a sucker for myths of gods and creation.

something else that bothered me was the pacing. it was quite inconsistent, for which the plot itself suffered. the book stars out on a very strong note and really grabs your attention, but unfortunately it doesn’t keep it for long since the pacing is so off that it just drags and the momentum is simply lost. i struggled the most with reading the middle; nothing seemed to be happening, but a lot of things were happening at the same time.

nevertheless, the last 30% of empress are quite well-paced; the book picks up speed all over again and it’s a breeze from then on. i really liked how things started happening and how the plot found its feet on solid ground again. you really start to see the development, both in the storyline and in the characters; they’re no longer floating through zero gravity.

the ending, however, personally, felt very convoluted. it’s all very deux ex machina of jean to wrap up things like she did in the epilogue. it would have been more beneficial for the story to have been split into two books so the author had enough space to develop the story she’s told and give it a nice, natural ending, instead of a rushed epilogue.

in contrast to that i said above, i think the message that the final sentence carries is rather good, and quite powerful. i won’t give away anything, but it’s something that we, as a society, need to learn and accept. for me, that line makes up for the convoluted way things wrap up.

there were some tropes in this that i’m personally not a fan of, like the ‘average’ girl and the ‘brooding, anti-social’ love interest, as well as a tinge of insta-love (+the triangle), but i think that by the end, mari, taro, and akira all grow out of their little stereotypes and become multidimensional characters. i was most impressed by akira’s character development, as i didn’t like him in the beginning, but he managed to crawl up and steal my heart. mari does not fall far behind, though, she worked hard and suffered a lot to get the ending she deserves, and i’m proud of her journey of acceptance. i think it sends a very good message, not just to girls, but to everyone.

overall, empress has its up’s and down’s, but despite that, it’s still a pleasurable read. some things could have been done better, such as the pacing and writing style, but i did enjoy the world and the lore, as well as the growth the characters underwent. regardless, i would still recommend it if you enjoy fantasy worlds and mythology.

3.5 Stars (Rounded up)

This book was beautifully written. The world building is fantastic, it is rich and full of intrigue. The mythology behind the main plot for me was the best parts. It is mythology that I have not previously explored so really does add so much magic to the setting. I loved each of the interludes that told the gods stories.

However, I wanted more. The pacing of the book is very mixed. The narrative switches between many different perspectives and I sometimes found them hard to follow. We never really got a feel for any of the characters, and there is a case of insta-love, but the potential love triangle is snuffed out by the main protagonist which is refreshing. Some of the strongest and most interesting characters are side characters which add most of the action and intrigue to the story, but as they are side characters we never really get to explore them and most of their depiction is done in throw away comments, which the reader has to cling to.

What was most disappointing for me was the speed of which the competition was glossed over. This should have been the main focus of this book but the actual seasonal stages lasted less than a chapter. We don’t get a chance to revel in the description of these magical rooms or the various stages instead we are herded through them. It was extremely disappointing.

This is all changed with the ending! The ending smashes the story out of the park and is powerful and exciting! Overall I think most will enjoy this story and will leave it with a smile.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for the E-ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.*

I was very excited to read this book as it sounded like something I would really enjoy.

This book is about Mari and how she sets to defeat the seasonal rooms and become the empress. The only problem is that she's not allowed to complete as she is a Yokai and has to hide who she really is.

While I did like the book while reading, I don't think it's a very memorable read. It felt like something I have seen in many other YA books and I was a bit dissapointed. The concept was really good but I think it could have been executed better. I didn't like how things played out and expected it to go in another direction.

I liked the seasonal rooms and it reminded me a little bit of The Hunger Games but I feel like they weren't expanded as much as they could have been. I thought that the bulk of the story would be in the rooms but it was not. I was interested in the rooms the most and I was left dissappointed. I think the rooms were conquered easily and there should have been more obstacles.

Another thing I'm finding myself be dissappointed in many new released YA books is the romance. I didn't like the romance as it was very insta-love and I did not see the chemistry between the love interests. They met and then all one could think of was the other. It was very frustrating.

I liked the characters individually but not together. I felt that they were very good alone and thought rationally. I like Mari and that she could fight for herself and questioned her mother and her clan's decisions. I liked Taro before he met Mari as he didn't want to inherit his father's throne. I liked that the roles were flipped and it was the girls fighting for his hand in marriage. I liked Akira and his loyalty to Mari and that he was willing to do whatever to keep Mari safe.

I also liked the world this was set in and liked that it showed the different gods creating it. I liked the idea of the Yokai and although they are seen to be the monsters,the humans are the ones caging them. I would have liked to know more about the different Yokai and their powers.

I quite liked the ending but again, I feel like more information should have been given on how it ended. It seemed to simple and I would have liked to see what happened instead of being told what happened.

Although, I had many problems with this book, I did enjoy it and would recommened it if you would like a quick
ya fantasy to read. 

3/5

Summary

Once a generation, a competition is held. Girls across the empire come to take on the challenges of the four season rooms – each one a different environment with different dangers. The winner gets the prince’s hand and the title Empress of all Seasons. Mari is one of those girls determined to compete. The only problem: she is yokai, a supernatural being, and yokai are banned from participating and are instead doomed to a collared life as slaves to the humans.

Plot

This is a standalone book, but it covers a lot of ground. From Mari’s life in her village to the competition, and then beyond, it feels like an epic tale in one. While this does mean that the book is fast-paced, there is so much to digest that it almost could have done with being two or three books, particularly in the third part of the novel which I would have loved reading about in more detail. The story in Empress of all Seasons is entertaining; I do enjoy a good competition-based story, and the idea of the empress being chosen from a competition which requires strength, brains and courage to win was a delight.

Characters

Empress of all Seasons is told through three points of view: Mari, Akira (Mari’s childhood friend and half yokai-half human) and Taro (the prince). Of the three, I enjoyed Mari’s story the most, especially as she starts to come into her own. Taro was interesting at the start, but I found his character did one too many personality turns for me to fully invest in him. Akira was difficult to like at the start but, again, I found I appreciated him more as the book went on. Outside of the three main characters, the secondary characters were fascinating in and of themselves, although they did come and go fairly quickly. Asami really intrigued me, and I would have really like to learn more about the yokai and priests within the palace.

World/Setting

My favourite thing about this book was the world. I loved reading a book filled with Japanese folklore and learning about the supernatural beings within it. Seeing the yokai interacting in the book and the interludes with the gods’ mythology helped to establish the fantastical elements of the world. The Animal Wives and the city structure and dynamics also came across quite strongly, as did the nature of the competition, with the four chambers. It was a world which held together quite nicely, with a lot of extra elements added in that made it feel more real and solid.

Final Thoughts

This book has a lot of potential, but I do feel like it was let down for being a standalone rather than a series – there is so much within the book and so much left to explore that I think it could easily fill another book or two, if just to provide more backgrounds on the characters and explore the world in a bit more depth. The story itself was fun to read, moved along quite quickly, and included some passages which were quite thrilling to read. I just want to step into the world and see what more I can find out.

God I love an epic fantasy with a strong and interesting female lead. A richly designed world and thrill-ride. Highly recommend and can't wait to see what comes next from Emiko Jean.

There perhaps might be an instinct to compare Empress of All Seasons with The Poppy War. Both released this year, both East Asian, own-voice, second-world epic fantasy with close ties to real world culture and history. Both are coming-of-age stories. Both have compelling, strong female leads with hidden powers. Both use the writer’s culture and knowledge to really ground the story and make the settings feel solid and well-developed. Both of them are high points in my 2018 reads. (On a similar note, I am extremely excited to read Girls of Paper and Fire, which looks to me to fit nicely into a trio of 2018 fantasy books from East Asian women authors who have incredible female leads – the release of this alongside the other two feels extremely satisfying to me).

These generalisations do overlook the themes and nuances of each book, however. The Poppy War is based on Chinese history, and deals brutally and deeply with the trauma of war atrocities. It’s dark and unforgiving. Empress of All Seasons finds its roots in Japanese folklore and history, weaving Japanese mythology around the narrative. It looks at the tensions between the humans and the yōkai, the monsters and demons and ghosts, and how this has built into a system of oppression against the yōkai at the behest of the Emperor.

The focus of the story is an Animal Wife, a type of yōkai who appears as a beautiful woman, but can turn into a terrifying animal. They are known for tricking men into marriage and stealing away with all their treasures, bringing the wealth back to their women-only village, hidden in the mountains. Mari has been trained all her life to get one specific husband – the Emperor’s son, Taro. When he comes of age a competition is held to find his true Empress, a woman who is able to conquer all four magic rooms in the palace, one for each season. Mari isn’t beautiful, but she is strong, skilled and smart – she is convinced she will beat the rooms and become Empress.

She doesn’t factor in her attraction to Taro, who looks just like his father, but inside is different – a peaceful, quiet sort he wishes for peace between humans and yōkai, he doesn’t want to fight and just wants to be left alone to build little machines in his workshop. He doesn’t want the trials to go ahead either, but after a chance meeting finds himself inescapably drawn to Mari.

The romance between these two characters was quite lovely, I found them both well-developed and enjoyed their chemistry and interactions. Two socially awkward shut-ins trying to work out how to deal with their feelings and with each other. Every character in this book was wonderfully realised, and there were so many beautiful details for each of them which made them all feel just that bit more special.

The nature of the trials is a little Hunger Games/Battle Royale-esque. So many girls enter, only one can leave. Whilst they don’t necessarily have to die to be removed from the contest – each level contains a riddle and a race, with a maximum number of finishers each time – the truth is that many do die. Unlike The Poppy War, which focuses over trauma across an extended period and on a mass level, Empress of All Seasons shows this brutality over a short period – a week, maximum – and barely gives the characters time to come to terms with their experiences. This builds as the book continues, as each new trauma and act of violence piles onto the previous, so by the end the characters are wound tight and strung out, reacting rather than processing, alternating between numb shock and panic, and things begin to snowball.

I think perhaps that is where my one niggle with the book comes about. A lot of work is done to set up the society, and the conflict beyond just Mari and Taro. There’s a yōkai resistance and Akira taking control of his own fate, Mari’s self-realisation and the knowledge of her position within the wider world – there are repercussions from their actions which ripple so far throughout the country, and you find yourself with 7% of the book left to read and an awful lot of ‘splaining to do. At this point I was beginning to think that we were going to get the ending of a book and the beginning of at least a duology – it felt like there was so much that still needed to be explored and untangled to get to the happy ending, and this was simply the catalyst which started a much bigger journey.

The structure of the story fit that as well – pretty much set all in one place, it worked perfectly as a first book in a series, with things contained and kept comparatively streamlined to allow readers to get used to the setting, and with the fallout at the end of the book meaning the world can be opened up fully in the sequel. Narratively and structurally, it made sense as a first book.

The ending, however, made it seem as though this was going to be a standalone and I found this a little disappointing. What must have equated to several months in-narrative, with lots of struggle and character development was instead summarised across a few pages, making what was likely more of a conflict and battle seem fairly easy and underwhelming after the strife which led up to it. I don’t know if there are plans to flesh this summary out more in a sequel, I hope there are because it seems a shame after such a wonderful, gripping, and engaging story to just gloss over the equally meaty follow-up.

If my only criticism is that I wanted more, however, it shows how much I enjoyed the book. I hope there are sequels, where I get to see these characters developed even further and see their struggle. At present, the ending feels a little too easy for me as a reader, because I haven’t been there for the hard work to reach it.

Briefly:

An excellent Coming of Age story with a fascinating cast of characters and a well-developed world.
I loved the contrast between the demons and the human culture, as well as the mirroring with the mythical narratives alongside the main story. There is so much more about this world I want to see and explore.
I would have liked it to be longer. The ending perhaps felt a little quick, almost an epilogue after the struggle which led up to it. I would have much preferred it being set up for a second book which dealt with the consequences of this one. I hope there is more, because I want to spend more time in this world and with these characters.
Also I flipping love the cover.
Rating: 4/5 – and it is literally only because it was over too soon for my liking.

Empress of All Seasons is inspired by the Emiko’s own Japanese heritage. The concept of this book drew me to it right away. I mean who doesn’t love a fantasy novel inspired by Japanese culture where the human Emperor is determined to enslave and destroy magical creatures, supernatural monsters and spirits. Each generation, a competition is held to find the next Empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the Imperial Palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. Even though everyone is eligible to compete to marry the price Yokai are an exception, Yokai, look human but they have the ability to transform into a monster because of this the Yokai are feared. It just so happens the main character, Mari is Yokai which means she is able to partially shapeshift.

Mari comes from an all-woman clan where they trick human men into marrying them and make off with their treasure. Mari has spent her whole life training to enter the competition to win the honour of marrying the prince of Honoku. Mari has been tasked by her mother to win the highest prize of all, become the prince's wife by defeating the four seasonal rooms to become the Empress of All Seasons. If Mari is discovered as being Yokai, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari’s fate collides with that of Taro, the prince and Akira, a half-human and half-Yokai outcast. Taro, the prince, however, doesn’t like being a prize to be won and doesn’t agree with his father on how Honoku should be run.

The story is told from changing the point of view between three characters: first, we have Mari who is a brilliantly snarky female lead that pushes back when she needs to. Then we have Akira who is part human and part Yokai and is Mari best friend. Finally, we have Taro the Prince who also goes against what is expected of him but he’s a bit presumptuous about it.

This bit might be a little wordy but I loved the world building by Emiko It's vivid and gorgeous. I will be honest I did give me slight Hunger Games vibes with the different rooms being treacherous seasons that the contestants have to fight through.

I knew relatively quickly Emiko’s vibrantly expressive writing style would completely suck me into the world of Honoku. Emiko doesn't shove the scenery in your face, but rather it's a good accompaniment to the story there were intermissions about the gods' lives, and those were fascinating. The setting and descriptions are so well written that I felt like I was actually there first hand, especially when it came to the season rooms. The writing style gives you that feeling when somebody is telling a story and you're lulled by the sound of it. The idea of the competition in which girls have to survive deadly magical rooms, one for each season, to marry the prince didn't feel like a stereotypical YA dystopian.

If you're interested in Japanese culture, folklore, and mythology I would recommend giving Emiko Jean's newest richly atmospheric release a try.

This story follows Mari, a yokai monster who must take part in a contest to survive the palace's enchanted seasonal room to win the hand of the prince, and become the next empress. I loved all the Japanese cultural elements in this book. The character names were almost all Japanese in origin and the mythological elements were detailed and wonderfully expansive. But I felt the novel was lacking in other areas. The scene changes didn't transition smoothly and the dialogue seemed to wander off on a tangent at times. Character motivations were also left unexplained, or they were explained too neatly in a way that made them feel staged, almost like a bridge strategy to move the plot to the next significant scene. Having said that, the author includes some brilliant magical concepts and from the first page she makes a move to place women at the fore. This book promotes empowering messages of women's equality, strength, and intelligence. There's almost a final twist at the end, which would have been so shocking and unexpected that I think it would have upped the anti for this book significantly. As it stands, I liked the ending because it was certainly more optimistic and Mari triumphs in all the ways I'd hoped, but thought the overall book may have had more of an impact if the author had gone for the shock twist ending.

I loved a lot about Empress of All Seasons. It had beautiful worldbuilding and badass characters. However, it let me down a little bit in the end.

[su_quote style="modern-orange" cite="Goodreads" url=”GOODREADS LINK TO YOUR BOOK"]

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 yōkai, 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 yōkai 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-yōkai 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 fantasy.

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I received an eARC of Empress of All Seasons from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Emiko Jean is a beautiful writer. This was my first book of hers and I'll definitely be picking up future stories. The worldbuilding in Empress of All Seasons was deftly done, spread evenly throughout the story. I loved the inclusion of the world's myths between chapters. It did a lot to build the world of Honoku without infodumping.

I loved how different all three point of view characters were. I would have enjoyed even more of Akira's point of view because I really enjoyed him as a character.  He had stronger motivations than Mari did. Taro was so soft, but I wished he'd had more of a spine in the latter half of the novel.

Jean was also very skilled at writing fighting scenes. All of them were a delight to read and I would have loved to see at least one more battle at the end.

SPOILERS AHEAD
Instead of taking us through the process of Mari taking over the kingdom, Jean wrapped the story up tidily in an epilogue. It felt far too easy an ending for me to feel satisfied with the ending.

SPOILERS DONE
Overall, I enjoyed it. I think it just needed a touch more of an ending. However, I would still recommend it. You can pick up a copy on Amazon or Indiebound.

[su_box title="ABOUT EMPRESS OF ALL SEASONS" style="default" box_color="#ff4400" title_color="#f2f2f2" radius="3" class=""]

Title: Empress of All Seasons

Author: Emiko Jean

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Length: 384 Pages

Release Date: November 6, 2018

Rating: ★★★★ / Four stars

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Representation: Japanese American author, Japanese main character, biracial side character,

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