Name: Red Winter (Red Winter Trilogy 1)
ISBN: 9781988153087

Red Winter (Red Winter Trilogy 1)

Emi has just arrived at the new shrine she’s going to be staying at and meets someone from her past. She’s basically just waiting until Amaterasu descends, which she’s been preparing for for the past ten years, when she finds out some new information. It means that she reflects on her life and through some events meets unexpected people.

Emi was great and I really liked how even though she was dedicated to her duty as the kamigakari, she wasn’t forceful about it or stuck up. (view spoiler) but he was amazing. I really liked how he treated most situations lightly but was still able to respond appropriately to them. I’m curious to find out what he knows, what the onenju is preventing him from doing, and how he got it in the first place.

I really liked how the kami and yokai were introduced, and I can’t wait to understand the world better. While it seemed a bit slow, the interactions were fun and I really liked reading them.

I was really curious about all the characters that were introduced at the beginning (mostly Nanako), but they weren’t shown enough. I’m hoping that they will be more present in the next books.

I can’t to continue and find out how the plot is going to develop. Also, I’m looking forward to seeing more of the main characters.

I really liked this book.

Emi has just arrived at the new shrine she’s going to be staying at and meets someone from her past. She’s basically just waiting until Amaterasu descends, which she’s been preparing for for the past ten years, when she finds out some new information. It means that she reflects on her life and through some events meets unexpected people.

Emi was great and I really liked how even though she was dedicated to her duty as the kamigakari, she wasn’t forceful about it or stuck up. (view spoiler) but he was amazing. I really liked how he treated most situations lightly but was still able to respond appropriately to them. I’m curious to find out what he knows, what the onenju is preventing him from doing, and how he got it in the first place.

I really liked how the kami and yokai were introduced, and I can’t wait to understand the world better. While it seemed a bit slow, the interactions were fun and I really liked reading them.

I was really curious about all the characters that were introduced at the beginning (mostly Nanako), but they weren’t shown enough. I’m hoping that they will be more present in the next books.

I can’t to continue and find out how the plot is going to develop. Also, I’m looking forward to seeing more of the main characters.

Took a little bit of time to get used to the magic system but it worth sticking to it!! 

Monserrat Navarro 

Kendi Dockum

One word: Wow! 

Okay, I'll admit, it took me a bit to get into this book. So much world building in the beginning. But as I got deeper into the story, once I got past all that, the more invested in the story I got. I fell in love with the characters, the story, the unique twist the author takes with Japanese folklore, mythology, and culture. I loved every aspect of this book! I will definitely be looking forward to more of this series!

dija

I am so so soooo grateful that I've chose to start 2018 with this book i think it's the ONE right decision i made in my whole life.
This book is beautiful (i mean when i say Japan the first word that cross my mind is Beautiful.), delightful, catchy, fast-pacing (i didn't get bored while reading AT ALL and that is, dear friends, a miracle). 
The fact that only a countable number of people read this book is a crime against nature.

Red Winter  is an urban fantasy set in Japan, it's about this girl, Emi who was chosen by a Goddess named Amaterasu to be her Kamigakari -A god or a goddess cannot descend to earth if they don't have a perfectly perfect prepared host- by the age of nine. 
Emi has given up all her life for this honorable task, for she believes that she is quite lucky that she was the chosen one and not an other miko. She is then sent to a small shrine to be kept hidden from those who want to destroy her in other words the enemies of Amaterasu. 

SO, open your eyes and listen to me (don't ask me) 
I loved Emi, she is brave, smart-ish, loyal to everyone especially her goddess, she is also naive but not dumb-naive like some MCs who makes you want to go inside the book SLAP them, hug the love interest and then come back to real life and finish your tea. 
She goes through SO much character development and i love her. 

Okay I WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS MOMENT YALL I CAN'T KEEP IT INSIDE MY CHEST ANYMORE YALL GET ON YOUR DRAGONS to get yourself comfortable of Course AND LISTEN TO ME 
There's two beautiful, charming, drool-over-worthy, swoon-worthy Yokai : 
The shameless flirtatious Kitsune Aka Shiro
And the dark cruel Tengu Aka My husband.....I mean Yumei
I LOVE THEM, I AM BLIND BY THEM, AFTER THEM I WILL SEE NO MAN AND BECAUSE OF THEM MY MOM NEARLY THROW THE MAGICAL FLIPP FLOP AT ME
Because after seeing them i screamed for one hour straight. 

How did you see them you ask? (Even if you didn't ask you still ask) well there's some freaking gorgeous illustrations that makes me remember what a talentless watermelon i am. 
No am not going to show you how amazing they are because i don't know how the hell am i supposed to upload images because i am forcing you to go read it and see it for yourself. 

Annnnnnd if you do read this book i will reward you with :
1) A cookie.
2) A hug.
3) both.

The choice is all yours.

~~~
I am off searching for a Kitsune and a Tengu  . Who joins me?

They both are hot as hell so i can't pick one
RTC!!

The plot of the book seemed interesting and I liked the idea of it, however it took 100 pages for the love interest to be mentioned and for any action to start. Yes, I love some worldbuilding, but it was difficult to want to keep reading when basically nothing was happening for most of the book. Overall, the series had me struggling to want to keep reading with fight scenes lasting slightly too long to be interesting, and the story overall didn't end up sticking with me since it felt like some parts could've been developed more. I finished the series solely because I had gotten halfway and it seemed pointless to not.

If you are expecting an 'enemy to lovers slow burn' (as I had seen it described) it is most definitely not that as the main couple nearly instantly falls in love. 

The books were okay, nothing extraordinary. If the books didn't use japanese mythology I would've honestly found them extremely boring as that was what was most interesting to read about and I loved how it was used for certain characters and parts. Also- the writer loves to repeat words and phrases non stop through the book which got very annoying when the same descriptor was being brought up over a dozen times in the book. 

Converstation

The plot of the book seemed interesting and I liked the idea of it, however it took 100 pages for the love interest to be mentioned and for any action to start. Yes, I love some worldbuilding, but it was difficult to want to keep reading when basically nothing was happening for most of the book. Overall, the series had me struggling to want to keep reading with fight scenes lasting slightly too long to be interesting, and the story overall didn't end up sticking with me since it felt like some parts could've been developed more. I finished the series solely because I had gotten halfway and it seemed pointless to not.

If you are expecting an 'enemy to lovers slow burn' (as I had seen it described) it is most definitely not that as the main couple nearly instantly falls in love. 

The books were okay, nothing extraordinary. If the books didn't use japanese mythology I would've honestly found them extremely boring as that was what was most interesting to read about and I loved how it was used for certain characters and parts. Also- the writer loves to repeat words and phrases non stop through the book which got very annoying when the same descriptor was being brought up over a dozen times in the book. 

Aditi

Maria

одна из тех книжек, ради которые хочется пойти в кровать пораньше, чтобы почитать подольше, няняня. отдельно мне удивительно, что я знала так много японских волшебных существ - кицуне, тенгу, каппу. вот что значит читать в детстве японские сказки

Jennifer

I got drawn into this book because of the pretty book cover and also the good things I've heard about its worldbuilding + magic system. Indeed, I found the Japanese mythology-inspired universe quite fascinating. I can tell that the author took the effort to properly research the cultural backdrop - I felt like I was being transported to Japan while reading this back in 2019. I also found the illustrations pretty adorable too!

However I have mixed reception on the romance and the matyrdom in the novel. While I think Emi is a pretty complex character and I appreciated reading about her internal struggles, I felt like part of her character development slowed down when the insta-love kicked in. I'm personally not a big fan of insta-love because it tend to hijack proper character development (and instead I often see a female character suddenly becomes weak and a matyr to their love interest). So I was a bit concerned about that trajectory. I also have minor annoyances of having to jump between the main text, the deities, and the glossary sections on my iPad which I found it mildly disengaging.

Despite this, I appreciated the worldbuilding and the effort the author has put into the research of the backdrop. I think the concept has a lot of potentials hence I read the sequels in 2020.

Cecilia Giordano

More people should read this series. It is so good and I have learned a bit more about a culture I haven't looked at. Japanese culture is sooo cool. I am definitely going to be reading more with it.

Gemma

When I read the synopsis, I didn't expect it to take place in modern day. For another story about a chosen one, Emi was quite endearing? Her nativity is understandable as the MC is quite sheltered due to her role so I'm pretty surprised that I didn't find this to be a weakness in the book. Also, the illustrations are so pretty and add to the storytelling; all books should be picture books uwu

Red Winter (Red Winter Trilogy 1)

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