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aelis_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
thenovelmaura's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Traci Chee did a masterful job with this Japanese-influenced fantasy that reads like a fairy tale. Miuko was easy to root for and you end up navigating this lore-filled world alongside her (with the help of some cool footnotes) as she struggled against her demon curse. The cast of magical side characters were sometimes helpful, sometimes malicious, but always interesting. And there was a complex inner conflict driving the entire story: would it be better for Miuko to become a powerful demon if the alternative is a life as a powerless girl? I loved this fast-paced journey through Awara and (remember when I was raving about We Are Not Free in 2021?) Chee is an autobuy author for me!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
toffishay's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This is such an exciting and funny read! I had a great time reading it. I fell in love with Miuko right away. As much as this is a fairy-tale, fantasy story, it's also a well-written coming of age tale for a teenage girl looking for her place in the world. There is some really fun world-building and some a wonderful story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Sexual harassment
natashaleighton_'s review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A beautifully crafted and whimsical YA fantasy that merges Japanese folklore with a thrilling, fairytale-esque adventure I didn’t want to end!
It follows Otori Miuko, a misfit in her small village where being loud, clumsy and a girl are not looked upon kindly. But after a run in with a demon, not only is she cursed (and slowly transforming into a demon whose touch can kill) Miuko has also been banished from her home. And if she ever wishes to return, she must embark on a journey to reverse the curse—whilst also attempting to foil the schemes of a demon prince, avoid demon hunters and plead her case to the gods.
I absolutely loved our fiercely determined (if a bit clumsy) protagonist, Miuko whose coming of age journey sees her overcome the (predominately demon shaped) challenges she has to face, learn to accept herself and embrace the differences that make her unique (and really quite powerful.)
The vast cast of characters,comprising of spirits, ghosts, gods and humans were all really intriguing (and I loved the unique tales and backstories we encounter) but I have to admit Geiki, the thieving bird spirit completely stole my heart with his antics.
The pacing was slightly slower than I anticipated but the rich world building more than made up it.
So, if you love Studio Ghibli or epic coming of age fantasy then I definitely recommend checking this out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury
annorabrady's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
An expertly told story of self-discovery and gaining acceptance within society. The first part of the story focuses on feeling out of control and like a victim of circumstances while the second part examined the why of the things that happened and the acceptance of what was once seen as unbearable or unfair. The ending nicely wrapped up the story without jeopardizing the growth and development of any character in the story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
leahb88's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book reminded me so much of Look What You Made Me Do by TS because it the vibes of our protagonist coming into her own and learning how to be herself despite the world around her (plus the literal demon voice in her head with murderous thoughts). In general a fun-spirited book with a typical hero’s journey and crew of sidekicks. A cool twist with alternate timelines and ultimate lesson on the importance of friends and family. One thing I really enjoyed is the feminism undertones - badass female protagonist with no love interests at all!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
A THOUSAND STEPS INTO NIGHT features a girl who begins turning into a demon, abruptly unmooring her from the misogynistic confines of her ordinary life.
I enjoyed Miuko's rapport with the bird spirit, their friendship provided a lot of levity in otherwise stressful moments. The various spirits and demons felt a bit numerous sometimes (especially when I have trouble keeping track of character names), but this felt very accommodating of my inability to keep track of them and I didn't get lost.
The worldbuilding is wonderful, Miuko sometimes pauses to explain something, but it's always right when it's needed. This is generally free of anything resembling infodumps, as the explanations are a natural part of Miuko processing what's happening around her. I enjoyed the audiobook immensely, the narrator did an excellent job and really helped the story flow.
One of my favorite things about this is how it's a story about identity, empowerment, and the difference between an aspect of identity being bad versus it being someone else's excuse to be exploitative or cruel. This is explicitly bound up in how the book approaches gender, but that general idea applies to other aspects as well. Miuko is a cis character (as best as I can tell) who explores her gender presentation a bit with various necessary disguises, and is driven at first to make things safer and better for girls. There's a recurring bit where someone asks what she is and when she says she's a girl they retort that (because she's slowly turning into a demon) she can't be a girl, she must be something else. Early on she thinks there used to be non-cis people but maybe not any more, and when she finds out that the people in power making being trans or third gender difficult socially didn't make them go away, she adjusts her goals to make sure her solution is better for everyone.
The plot flowed and circled back to previously encountered characters in a way that made it easy to follow. I love the kind of reveal midway through the book as to why the plot kicked off in the first place. I don't want to spoil it, but the second half explains why a bunch of things in the first half even happened, and it works very well. I love the ending, it fits the world and the characters and really lets things feel settled.
I enjoyed Miuko's rapport with the bird spirit, their friendship provided a lot of levity in otherwise stressful moments. The various spirits and demons felt a bit numerous sometimes (especially when I have trouble keeping track of character names), but this felt very accommodating of my inability to keep track of them and I didn't get lost.
The worldbuilding is wonderful, Miuko sometimes pauses to explain something, but it's always right when it's needed. This is generally free of anything resembling infodumps, as the explanations are a natural part of Miuko processing what's happening around her. I enjoyed the audiobook immensely, the narrator did an excellent job and really helped the story flow.
One of my favorite things about this is how it's a story about identity, empowerment, and the difference between an aspect of identity being bad versus it being someone else's excuse to be exploitative or cruel. This is explicitly bound up in how the book approaches gender, but that general idea applies to other aspects as well. Miuko is a cis character (as best as I can tell) who explores her gender presentation a bit with various necessary disguises, and is driven at first to make things safer and better for girls. There's a recurring bit where someone asks what she is and when she says she's a girl they retort that (because she's slowly turning into a demon) she can't be a girl, she must be something else. Early on she thinks there used to be non-cis people but maybe not any more, and when she finds out that the people in power making being trans or third gender difficult socially didn't make them go away, she adjusts her goals to make sure her solution is better for everyone.
The plot flowed and circled back to previously encountered characters in a way that made it easy to follow. I love the kind of reveal midway through the book as to why the plot kicked off in the first place. I don't want to spoil it, but the second half explains why a bunch of things in the first half even happened, and it works very well. I love the ending, it fits the world and the characters and really lets things feel settled.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury
kkenna7's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I. Loved. This. BOOK!!!
The writing is lovely, the characters are absolutely charming and endearing. The feminist motifs are incredible and alongside the comedy that’s sprinkled throughout, I had the best time reading this. I can’t say enough. I loved it so much.
The writing is lovely, the characters are absolutely charming and endearing. The feminist motifs are incredible and alongside the comedy that’s sprinkled throughout, I had the best time reading this. I can’t say enough. I loved it so much.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Fire/Fire injury
purplepenning's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
Miuko: "Come on. There is so much more out there than this."
Senara (eyes glittering with tears, or perhaps excitement): "For a girl?"
Miuko: "For anyone brave enough to look."
This was both exceptional and not quite for me. It felt a little disjointed and repetitive at times, but I often feel that way about fairytales and quest adventures. So much of the action seems to unfold and redirect on the go that it can feel like being in a pinball machine. Not that this wasn't brilliantly plotted — it obviously was — with interesting characters, a fascinating mid-story shift, a take down of patriarchal oppression, and a girl finding the strength to make mistakes and try again and again as she fights the demons around and within her.
Senara (eyes glittering with tears, or perhaps excitement): "For a girl?"
Miuko: "For anyone brave enough to look."
This was both exceptional and not quite for me. It felt a little disjointed and repetitive at times, but I often feel that way about fairytales and quest adventures. So much of the action seems to unfold and redirect on the go that it can feel like being in a pinball machine. Not that this wasn't brilliantly plotted — it obviously was — with interesting characters, a fascinating mid-story shift, a take down of patriarchal oppression, and a girl finding the strength to make mistakes and try again and again as she fights the demons around and within her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Transphobia
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This adventure is funny from page one. I'm far more used to ya fantasy relying on angst and despair, etc., so this approach was glittering and exciting for me from the start.
Miuko is a gloriously chaotic protagonist who speaks her mind even when inconvenient (for herself as much as anyone else) and loudly enough for all to hear. When she is cursed to slowly turn into a malevolence demon, Miuko takes up with an even more chaotic magpie shapeshifter spirit, Geiki, who likes shiny things as much as he dislikes superfluous (all of them) rules. Another pleasant departure from genre norms is that this friendship never becomes romantic. Miuko thinks Geiki's handsome, so I think if you want to ship it as a future option, go for it, but during this story's timeline, her feelings are firmly platonic and no less fierce for it. There's no pining, no jealousy, no toxic possessiveness.
In their quest for information on breaking the curse, a library B&E is necessary because women aren't allowed, and their ridiculous escapades valiantly returned all the missing joy from my life. I also appreciated the footnotes, which range from helpful to snarky. My favorites were the swear words, with footnotes assuring us they were too rude to translate while also providing grammatical options for our own usage.
Sexism is a sad reality in this world, but it fuels both plot and humor as Miuko expands her horizons. There's also non-binary and trans representation. While the gender binary is pretty strongly adhered to among humans, non-binary humans can serve as priests, and demons and spirits can do whatever they want because human rules are stupid and limiting. I appreciate the author's message on gender and power. Miuko ponders that yes, she has limited power as a girl, but she also doesn't want to wield power in the way men do. I did find that the resolution of the conversation was pretty simplistic and happy-go-lucky, but it was thoughtful overall.
My only problem while reading was that the humor nearly evaporated in the latter half of the book in conjunction with a plot shift that I didn't fully dislike but was less engaging for me nonetheless. A time travel element didn't fully make sense to my small brain, and a complete changeover to a new set of supporting cast members had a lesser claim on my heart.
This is a solid ya fantasy read, all the more pleasant for the ways that it dodges the expected, tired pitfalls of the genre. It has a lovely approach to gender with a triumph over power structures that assign worth on a strict system according to gender binary. If you're looking for a ya fantasy read with laughs and colorful, snappy world-building, this would be a great read for you.
Miuko is a gloriously chaotic protagonist who speaks her mind even when inconvenient (for herself as much as anyone else) and loudly enough for all to hear. When she is cursed to slowly turn into a malevolence demon, Miuko takes up with an even more chaotic magpie shapeshifter spirit, Geiki, who likes shiny things as much as he dislikes superfluous (all of them) rules. Another pleasant departure from genre norms is that this friendship never becomes romantic. Miuko thinks Geiki's handsome, so I think if you want to ship it as a future option, go for it, but during this story's timeline, her feelings are firmly platonic and no less fierce for it. There's no pining, no jealousy, no toxic possessiveness.
In their quest for information on breaking the curse, a library B&E is necessary because women aren't allowed, and their ridiculous escapades valiantly returned all the missing joy from my life. I also appreciated the footnotes, which range from helpful to snarky. My favorites were the swear words, with footnotes assuring us they were too rude to translate while also providing grammatical options for our own usage.
Sexism is a sad reality in this world, but it fuels both plot and humor as Miuko expands her horizons. There's also non-binary and trans representation. While the gender binary is pretty strongly adhered to among humans, non-binary humans can serve as priests, and demons and spirits can do whatever they want because human rules are stupid and limiting. I appreciate the author's message on gender and power. Miuko ponders that yes, she has limited power as a girl, but she also doesn't want to wield power in the way men do. I did find that the resolution of the conversation was pretty simplistic and happy-go-lucky, but it was thoughtful overall.
My only problem while reading was that the humor nearly evaporated in the latter half of the book in conjunction with a plot shift that I didn't fully dislike but was less engaging for me nonetheless. A time travel element didn't fully make sense to my small brain, and a complete changeover to a new set of supporting cast members had a lesser claim on my heart.
This is a solid ya fantasy read, all the more pleasant for the ways that it dodges the expected, tired pitfalls of the genre. It has a lovely approach to gender with a triumph over power structures that assign worth on a strict system according to gender binary. If you're looking for a ya fantasy read with laughs and colorful, snappy world-building, this would be a great read for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
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