Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 10/28/2016 + 2527 more book reviews

I absolutely loved Marie's Steel and Stone series and was incredibly excited to see that she has a new series starting. This book starts out pretty slow but it picked up a lot towards the second half and I ended up enjoying it.


I think part of what made the story slow at the beginning is that it is a bit of an info dump with all the Japanese mythology and terminology thrown at the reader. However, it does pick up pace quite a bit in the second half of the book and there is a lot more action.


I ended up enjoying the story quite a bit, I loved the action, and also loved the Japanese mythology that the story is based on.


As with the Stone and Steel series; Marie does an amazing job creating characters that are complex and easy to engage with. Additionally the action scenes are incredibly well written; I am not sure how Marie does it but the action scenes just absolutely grab you and have you on the edge of the seat. Marie also does a wonderful job creating a believable world that's nestled secretly next to our modern day world.


Overall this was a great start to a new fantasy series by Marie. I thought the start was a bit slow, but things really started to pick up in the second half. I am eager to read more about Emi and Shiro and figure out how they are going to balance the battle between the different ancient powers at work. I would recommend to those who enjoy urban fantasy and are interested in Japanese mythology.

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