Thank you Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group and Netgalley for the review copy.

DNF for now. Think I'll come back to it when I'm more in the mood for fantasy again.

Thank you for providing a copy of this book for review however I was unable to open the file for this document unfortunately! Apologies.

I enjoyed the book and really appreciated that it stands alone in a world where all fantasy novels become trilogies or series. I found the basis in Japanese folklore fascinating and it made me want to know more. However, I felt that the ending was very rushed and sudden.

Ohhh my goodnessss!!

This book was soooooo crazy!
There was a twist every turn l. And I found myself u able to put the darn thing down.

It was a whirlwind of a read, but not in bad way. You just don't want to stop or have to put it down.

The characters were so complex and dimensional as well. You can relate to them. And see their struggles. But also feel their triumphs and downfalls.

The story just evokes so many emotions. And I loved it.

It's a fresh concept for a story. And I loved that it was something I had never read before.

Such a great 5 star read

My Review: I was so excited to finally get to this title and sadly that is where my excitement stopped. This has got to be one of the most confusing/boring titles that I have read this year. So this title has three POVs and I have to say that Mari was my least favorite. She is very passive and really just didn't make any choices. The POV of the prince was ok and then the last one I don't even remember what his name was we just didn't really need at all. I think that this book suffered from so much. Mari spends most of the story being told she is ugly until the prince come along and well that just didn't well with me at all.

For me this one needed a lot of help and just was not for me at all.



Go Into This One Knowing: Three POVs, Body Shaming, Slavery, Rape, Child Abuse, Self-Injury, Forced Adoption, Death by Starvation, Animal Cruelty, Animal Death

DNF. I tried to read this one but I saw a love triangle coming and couldn’t do it. Up until that though I did enjoy the characters and found the plot of the story interesting, I just don’t read love triangles.

This book was just...meh. I went into the Empress of All Seasons with somewhat high hopes from the summary, but was ultimately left disappointed. Empress of All Seasons takes place in this Japanese-inspired world where there is essentially a hunger games like competition help every time a prince is in need of a wife. We have Taro, a prince, Mari, a yōkai, and Akira, and half-human half yōkai, whose stories are all intertwined. Taro doesn't want to be emperor, Mari wants to be empress but yōkai are forbidden from entering the contest, and Akira who just wants to be with Mari. I liked how we got to see the story from all 3 povs--something that is often attempted and execute with little success, but was really well done by Jean in this instance--because it made the story seem far more three dimensional than it actually was. I believe that this book had so much potential, and that the author did a great job at portraying the feminist themes and making great use of japanese mythology, but it just wasn't fully catching my attention. The pacing was a bit weird with certain parts reading so slow while others seemed too fast, there was quite a lot of insta love which is an insta turn off of me, and, finally, the characters weren't as developed as I felt they should have been. I just found this story difficult to connect to over all, but I still think it is worth picking up if the summary has you really interested. Overall I . give Empress of All Seasons three out of five stars for being full of potential but ultimately falling flat. I would recommend this book to younger readers (11-12ish) who are ok with some more mature themes like abuse and death and such (basically a 11 or 12 year old me) because I feel like they wouldn't be as persnickety, and would truly enjoy the novel for what it is.

Natasha Ngan and Emiko Jean bring subversion of romance tropes and woman empowerment to the forefront of <em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em> and <em>Empress of All Seasons</em>.<!--more-->

Natasha Ngan’s <em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em> along with <em>Empress of All Seasons</em> by Emiko Jean radiate not only female empowerment, but women seeking autonomy in worlds where they seemingly have none. Brought up believing that familial duty comes before their own hopes and dreams, as well as the will of emperors and kings, the characters Lei and Mari defy all odds and break free from the social confines of their worlds.

I tend to go into a book without knowing much about it, for a reason. I like to go in blind except for the fact that I know what genre, who the author is, and what little I can guess by the cover. I know, I know, I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but with so many breathtakingly beautiful covers there are in YA fantasy it is easy to easily get swept away by enchanting covers.

Diving into both <em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em> and <em>Empress of All Seasons</em> was a wild ride to say the least. Both take place in an Eastern setting opposed to Western, which I’m searching out more and more as of late to broaden my horizons and diversify my reading portfolio.

This year my goal was for 80% of my books read to be written by women, which then lead me to wanting to go a step farther and looking for YA fantasy written by women of color. I’m so glad I did, because I’ve found an undercurrent of not only subversion of popular romantic tropes, but plotlines full of smashing the patriarchy from the inside out that I can’t help but want more of.

<img src="https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/girls-of-paper-and-fire-full-cover.jpg" alt="Girls of Paper and Fire" width="700" height="1057" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-402000" />


<em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em> by Natasha Ngan takes place in a rich fantasy world with people different from our own. There are different castes, such as Steel caste which has animalistic features but are mostly humanoid in form, Moon caste which are mostly animal with the ability to speak, and the Paper caste, who are merely human like you or I.

The Moon caste rules over Ikhara, with the Paper caste being the lowest. The King keeps concubines, all of which are Paper caste, delicate with little power of their own and almost no autonomy. They are to remain untouched by any except for the King, which is punishable by being branded, sullied from living a normal life.

<center>[caption id="attachment_403485" align="alignnone" width="660"]<img src="https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Natasha-Ngan-e1541954823309.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="990" class="size-full wp-image-403485" /> Natasha Ngan[/caption]</center>


Lei is chosen to become one of the King’s Paper Girls, thrust into a life full of intrigue and backstabbing amongst the other concubines as they vie for favor from the ruthless King. Along the way, Lei falls in love. I knew that there was going to be a forbidden romance, but as I read I kept waiting for the cliche male to show up, but no such character was being introduced. It wasn’t until farther in that I realized that Lei was falling in love with another one of the concubines, which floored me. Intrigued to say the least after reading many YA fantasy books that seem to follow a standard plotline (which I eat up every time, we all have our favorite tropes), I still can’t get over how <em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em> caught me so off guard.

Usually, in this type of setting, the female lead falls for the male who is either royal or close to being, or a ‘savior’ to the so called damsel in distress, but in <em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em> there is none of that. The girls save themselves, and the royal doesn’t shift sides or become somehow kind and forgiven by the female lead.

This is not one of those plotlines, not at all. Surprising and refreshing, revolt from within, lead by women is both empowering and exhilarating to read.

<img src="https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/empressofallseasons-e1541954927665.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="997" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-403486" />


<em>Empress of All Seasons</em> by Emiko Jean, though completely different, was much the same in tone and catching me off guard. In the land of Honoku, there is a tournament that is held that young women enter in order to become the next Empress, winning the Prince’s hand in marriage. A subversion of winning the fair maiden’s hand on its own, I was already sold.

Prince Taro, though privileged and brilliant, didn’t wish to be Emperor or married off to someone he didn’t care for. Mirroring the normal plotline of that of a female damsel, I enjoyed the subversion of the plotline immensely.

Mari, a yokai, which is the word for demon in Japanese, infiltrates the tournament in order to win the Prince’s riches to bring back to her village. Yokai are enslaved within the palace, but her village remains free. The Prince and she meet outside of the tournament, and they begin to the normal courtship routine that I enjoy when reading YA fantasy.

<center>[caption id="attachment_403487" align="alignnone" width="660"]<img src="https://www.hypable.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Jean.Emiko-EH-e1541955022905.jpg" alt="" width="660" height="992" class="size-full wp-image-403487" /> Emiko Jean[/caption]</center>


Though it is subverted, I love the plotlines that have the two love interests meet before they should have and that reveal later, where they see each other the way that was intended and the look of understanding and dread at the fact that who they met wasn’t who they seemed to be at first.

I’ll never tire of that trope, though again, <em>Empress of All Seasons</em> took said trope and turned it upside down then kicked it around a bit. Emiko Jean did so brilliantly, and Mari’s choices made and determination to win the Tournament of the Seasons solidified how refreshing it was to read a book that took normal, well loved and used plotlines and tropes and turned them inside out.

Mari choosing autonomy over everything else is something that will stay with me for a long time, as well as Lei’s journey in <em>Girls of Paper and Fire</em>. Both show that change starts from within, that there is hope as long as we fight, and that as women, we have to stand up for ourselves because in reality we don’t need saving, we merely need to take action.

3.5 stars - I was very intrigued by the concept and enjoyed the world building quite a lot so the fact that I am not rating it 4 stars saddens me as well. The female empowerment in this story was great and the writing style was pretty decent too. I liked where the story was going until the ending which I was not satisfied with at all. It was sort of like... that's it? I just feel like there was so much potential in this plotline and where the story could have gone. The ending seemed a bit abrupt to me when I was really looking forward to something entirely different.

I'd like to thank Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book

I had such high expectations of this. I mean, it sounds so unique and original, and I love reading about unique fantasy worlds. I thought this one would be great.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened. After 25%, I still felt like it hadn't even really started. I really wanted to like it, but nothing really happened. It was boring. I tried to get into it, I really did, but the plot was just too slow for my taste.

I also didn't like the characters too much. They just felt flat to me, which made it even harder to get into it. I just didn't care about them at all, and good characters are really important for me to like a book.

The world-building was great, though. It was different from anything I've ever read before. The world-building was very well-done, and I want to know more about it, which is why I struggled a lot with DNF'ing it. I really didn't want to give up on it, but unfortunately, the plot and characters just couldn't captivate me like the world-building did. I might give it another chance at some point, but for now, I can't get myself through it.

I absolutely loved all of the Japanese elements of this novel and felt that those cultural elements really helped this novel stand out. The characters were a lot of fun and I kept finding myself turning the pages faster and faster. I loved all of the excitement and how action packed the novel was from start to finish.

There were a few portions of the novel that felt a little jumpy at times and I would have liked to see a few more unique elements to the plot. All in all, it was a surprisingly fun and entertaining read and I would recommend it to readers who enjoy YA fantasy. Thank you to HMH Young Readers and Netgalley for sending this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Rating 3/5

2.75/5
This started so strong but, overall, it really disappointed me because it had so much potential that it didn’t deliver on. I really liked the concept, but I just didn’t care about the characters.

The insta-love story was just so bad that it ruined the rest of the story to me. The ending saved it a little bit, just because it was an interesting turn of events (not because I cared at all about how things played out), but I still couldn’t get over having to trudge my way through the middle of the book.

I had real difficulty getting through this book. It took me months to on and off read it. As I said, the ending redeemed it somewhat, but not enough for me to regret not DNF’ing it half way through.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this title to review!

Man, oh man, did I want to love this more. Truthfully, this started out really well. I love the non-Western mythology and folklore, I loved how fierce, defiant, and yet loyal our main character, Mari, is. I even enjoyed the romance between her and Taro, though I did find them falling a bit too quickly for one another. This book simply fell flat for me, and I can’t pinpoint exactly why.

I really liked Mari and Taro’s budding relationship, how they pinned their respective hopes on one another. I won’t say what happened specifically because it’s really spoiler-y, but I definitely felt a bit gypped. I also thought the book ended too quickly, and just as I started to feel like the characters were really building relationships with one another… Again, that was swept right out from under my feet. The relationship between Mari and her mother is also strained, and she puts these very perfectionist and cliche expectations on her daughter, telling her that she’s not beautiful but plain, and the only thing she has going for her is to fulfill her duty as an Animal Wife and steal from the prince. In truth, it became a bit disheartening, and Mari herself struggled with her identity. The former caused me confusion toward the ending of the book, and I’m not quite sure where Mari’s loyalty lay, to be honest.

I enjoyed learning about the different yōkai and the magic the priests used. I loved the stories, too, about the gods and goddesses, and how those intertwine with the story. Mari’s struggle with who she is versus who her mother wants her to be is a story that has the ability to resonate with many readers.

The writing style was good, but I didn’t find it exceptional. While this book wasn’t necessarily one of my favorites, I did enjoy it, and I’ll keep an eye on this author in the future.

I absolutely loved the concept for Empress of All Seasons! The mythology was so fascinating, I want more stories featuring yōkai. The characters were also great. I loved how many different types of strong females were featured. Additionally, the different viewpoints really added depth to the story. The world-building was both intricate and easily understandable. In general, I really enjoyed the plot and found this to be a quick read. But the ending was quite sudden, which was a bit jarring. I think the short epilogue would have made a fantastic sequel if it was expanded. I’d recommend this one to fans of YA fantasy who are looking for a fun and engaging read set in a fantastic world.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I loved the Japanese influenced world building, mythology and setting of this. My main issues were pace and characters. Things were slow at times and then madly rushed in places, mainly the ending. Plus some of the more interesting characters weren't featured enough and the main ones lacked a certain something that meant I didn't care as I should have when the climactic events occurred. Fair play though to the author, this went in unpredictable directions towards the end that I didn't expect and I enjoyed it overall.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

I really tried to like this but no matter how many times I quit and picked it back up, I just never could get into it. I usually like this type of book so it's definitely all on me. I must not be in the mood for fantasy right now.

Empress of All Seasons is a young adult fantasy that is themed from Japanese folklore. In a world where humans are enslaved by creatures of the night. Mari the main character has the ability to shapeshift... but her duty is to marry the prince to make sure her secrets are safe and steal his fortunes.

This book was a joy to read. Full of fantasy, and a lead role who kicked ass.
A definite must read.

Empress of All Seasons is a beautiful tale of Japanese heritage. I was extremely excited for this story and while I loved most of it, it definitely had a few setbacks.

Mari is an Animal Wife, a yokai that transforms into a horrible monster and can trick men easily. Animal Wives are known for their beauty, but all Mari has heard her entire life is that she is plain. Knowing her fate, Mari chose to train to become an empress, but in order to do so she must first pass a competition where fierce female warriors are sent into four rooms where they have to battle against the elements of Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring to prove that they are the equal match for the prince and deserve the honour of being Empress. The problem is that the emperor despises all yokai and demands all yokai in the palace to be enslaved by collars that cause immense pain and drain their powers. Mari must hide her true nature while winning the trust of the prince, and becoming the empress of all seasons.

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit dissapointed in the direction this story went. In the first 3/4 of the book, I fell in love with Mari and the world that the author created. The story is very unique and quite interesting. Not only do you get a strong female character but also a very creative fantasy world. The writing, and the characters were perfect. At first I thought I was going to hate the competition part of the story, as I believed that it would be another tale where women have to fight against other women, but one of the rules were that the contestants couldn't harm one another, and we actually get to see Mari make friends and work with other contestants to get ahead. I was so incredibly impressed by this story I thought this was going to be a 5 star read for sure.

In the last quarter of the book, the story took a huge turn. It went from being a beautiful tale to a cliche story that made you roll your eyes because you knew exactly what was going to happen next. The ending felt incredibly rushed. There were parts of the story where we skipped a day or two in the timeline because the characters were "setting up." It felt like an essay you would write during an exam where you write an amazing first half and then once the teacher yells that time is almost up you write whatever comes to mind and don't really plan anything anymore. The last quarter was an absolute mess, that didn't fit the style of the beauty of the beginning. It really turned the book off for me.

I will definitely continue to read this series because I do love Mari and the world that the author created, but I sure hope that the author takes her time and slows things down to go back to the beautiful story as was in the first part of the novel.

A well-inspired novel from Japanese folktales. This book indeed gives me an entertaining and worthwhile adventure to the world of yokai and room of seasons. The knowledge about yokai is creatively introduced within the story so even you aren’t much familiar or well informed of them, well, it is ok – the book can provide you that even not much of details but a description would be fine. There are bunch of class of yokai that been named in the book and one of them is the ‘Animal Wife’ where Mari is included and so much more as you further read it. Also, some Japanese languages have been used that are not hard to understand hence the book itself will teach you the meaning of it. An intelligent way of using context clues. I’m really impressed actually of how magnificently this story is exploited. Empress of All Seasons is bewitchingly attractive from telling various kind of yokai to the spectacural plot of it.

Empress of All Seasons has three POVs from Mari, Taro, and Akira. Among all the three, I like the most Mari’s side since her story is much seems to be what everyone could feel and understand. To be free from the tradition of their clan and makes a difference to oneself. Mari is so much brave and fierce which I like from her even she has deficits of her kind. Actually, I find some metaphors within the story like from Akira’s side story. He is rudely discriminated and the scar of his face is somewhat defined, as for me, the symbolism of it. Though for Taro, I kind of not been attached to him. Actually he plays his role great.

An Asian Young Adult Novel. A Japanese Mythology. Yokai. Great Fantasy Read.

This book is fantastic in every way. You’ll be immersed to its monster-human world, emperor and empress, gods and goddesses, and its origin.

Empress of All Seasons is a Japanese folklore inspired, that tells a story of Mari, who is half-human half-yōkai.

Mari’s mother, Tami, prepared and trained her for the competition. The competition is held each time the prince in line is ready to marry whoever conquers the four-season room. Her clan is known as Animal Wives, and they lured men through their beauty. She is an executioner and very skilled in using naginata. Akira, on the other hand, known as Son of Nightmares, is half-human half-yōkai and Mari’s friend. He believes and trusts Mari in every situation. Taro is human and the prince of Imperial City, where yōkai are slave, and collared and killed if the Emperor command it. He has a soft spot for yōkai, and creates animal metals and give its life.

The world in Empress of All Seasons gives me chills. It is like I am reading a manga and it has animé feels. In this book, it introduces many yōkai such as Animal Wives, Oni, Winter girl, jorōgumo, etc. The most striking yōkai for me is the Animal Wives wherein in their village they are all alpha female. FEMALE DOMINANCE. They are trained use their beauty as a weapon to lure men. They value their clan and believes in duty first before theirselves.

Moreover, because of the Emperor’s irrational way of treating yōkai, The Resistance were formed. Their objective is to be free from the Emperor and to live freely alongside with mortals. The principle of the Emperor and priests that yōkai are evil, should not rule, must be chained/ collared/ punished, should not live with humans is like ethically wrong. However, the dilemma here is that, if they are free, some might abuse their power, they might harm human because of their supernatural powers. But the thing is, since they are being collared they are treated like slave and has lower rank than human.

Going back to the story, I think each room is not presented well. For me, it lacks of detailed description and action part when Mari compete in each room. I was looking forward to seeing Mari in action in each room. Further, I feel betrayed of Taro because of his reaction towards Mari when he found the truth. The twists and revelations put me on edge and most are I’m speechless. However, there is one twist that I predict correctly.

The story about god and goddesses in each part of this book is very catchy and interesting. The lesson in each story questioned my moral principles.

Moreover, I never thought that Empress of All Seasons would be a stand alone book. I was hoping until today that there will be a sequel to this book.

Empress of All Seasons is page-turner, captivating, engaging and again, it gives me animé feels. Highly recommended to those who love animé/manga, fantasy, thrilling and female dominance story.