Blog Tour | Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean [PH Tour and Review]

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. [n.01]

Meet the Author

When Emiko is not writing, she is reading. Most of her friends are imaginary. Before she became a writer she was an entomologist (fancy name for bug catcher), a candle maker, a florist, and most recently a teacher. She lives in Washington with her husband and children (unruly twins). She loves the rain. 

http://emikojean.com/

I don't know how many times I have mentioned that I love novels set either in the Middle East, the Far East, or anything influenced by the cultures in those regions. Heck I've been requesting this book from Netgalley way before Raf of The Royal Polar Bear Reads hosted this blog tour. 

Disclaimer: Does contain spoilers. If you haven't read this book, you won't get the parts of the story I will be alluding to.

I loved the luscious depiction of the culture and mythology of the gods who made he world and the yokai and human beings that populate it. This was a creation story like no other. 

Along with the mythology, we get the sort-of coming of age story of Mari, a half yokai half human girl who is the protagonist of the story. She is shunned in her village of women for her apparent lack of beauty. But she has trained all her life to win the contest that is held every generation to find the next Empress of All Seasons. Add to that the plot where the emperor hates yokai and any found are bound by the words of humans and treated as slaves or killed.

The POV of the book is split between Mari, Taro, and Akira. I didn't think it did justice to the story as the plot was so fast paced it didn't leave enough room for the characters to have a well rounded development. It felt like about 60% of the characterization and plot was rushed. Mari's trip to the capital and her meeting with the Ronin's could have been expanded on, Akira's lessons in being an assassin (no one learns to be one in just a few days), and maybe Taro's sudden change of heart. I also wish the action Season Rooms wasn't so short. The ending was pretty much anticlimactic.

I didn't like the instalove between Mari and Taro, so that's a minus for me. I also didn't like the fact that Taro couldn't be kept alive long enough to make the world change right along with Mari. Whatever happened to the baby boys born from the Animal wives? How were the yokai freed? So many question!

Overall, I'd say I did enjoy the story but I want more. This book has the potential to have novellas or become a series. Back story please!

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