This had a lot of potential. I liked how the series was based on Japanese folklore and used shinto and tengu. My issue is that there were too many stories going on at once, plus flashbacks to when the main characters were children. It was really difficult to keep everyone straight. The book could have used a Cast of Characters to refer to. The art was solid for the most part. There were some occasional suspect panels.

It might be that I came into the series with volume two, but despite the great elements of Japanese history and folklore the story is way too convoluted and rushed to be truly enjoyable. It has good points and it would have definitely benefited from about 100 extra pages to explore the characters and explain some of their actions.
The art is weirdly both beautiful in some places and really bad and others. Their entire series of panels were I wasn’t sure which character’s storyline I was following. It tended to make the panels and splash pages with gorgeous art feel like I was suddenly looking at something from another book.
Overall, I like some elements but not enough to make up for the convoluted story and somewhat sub par art.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for the early read!

This is a lot better so points for building themselves back up, especially with giving stronger character motivations. Because despite every stake and cultural mistranslations made, this is a tragedy that transitions into a war. The kind of wars fought over petty ideologies that so toxic it's contagious. With so many revelations, you have to appreciate the human spirit in fortitude of these characters. Most of them don't give into their worst impulses until it becomes personal. Sometimes the necessary thing and ideal things to do are so at odds with each other, it's impossible to tell what the right choice is.