Courtney Alameda

Valynne E. Maetani

This thrilling YA retelling of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai features a girl tasked with saving the world from eternal darkness. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and Marie Lu. Seventeen-year-old Kira Fujikawa has never had it easy. She's bullied by the popular girls in school. Her parents ignore her. And she's also plagued with a secret: She can see yokai, the ghosts and demons that haunt the streets of Kyoto. But things accelerate from bad to worse when she learns that Shuten-doji, the demon king, will rise at the next blood moon to hunt down an ancient relic and bring the world to a catastrophic end. Not exactly skilled at fighting anything, much less the dead, Kira enlists the aid of seven powerful death gods to help her slay Shuten-doji. They include Shiro, a kitsune with boy-band looks who is more flirtatious than helpful, and O-bei, a regal demon courtier with reasons of her own for getting involved. As the confrontation with Shuten-doji draws nearer, the fate of Japan hangs in the balance. Can Kira save humankind? Or will the demon king succeed in bringing eternal darkness upon the world?

Seven Deadly Shadows

Linara K.S

i kept on pushing this book aside whenever i had time to read and i just couldn't pick it back up. The story is just so straightforward idk... Explaining is not my forte but the characters were one dimensional and the plot was just THERE (like the characters only reacted and there wasn't any action that made sense to me). Also there were SO MANY name drops and VOCABULARY! It felt as though i was reading a japanese encyclopaedia! Some words weren't explained, as if we were to guess what they meant and when a word or event was explained, it would go on and on. I just didn't find it enjoyable and so i prefer DNFing this before i torture myself further. (sorry for the grammar/spelling mistakes i'm writing this review on a whim as always.)

“I am a girl surrounded by monsters and ghosts from an ancient world. Most days, they scare me less than people do.”
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Seven Deadly Shadows is one of those books that I shelved ages ago, never got around to picking it up, and now do not even remember the context which piqued my interest to begin with.

A typical YA fantasy revolving around the fascinating Japanese mythology and lore, perhaps this was a story that would have been better adapted into a different format, a more visual format.
Because although the story was interesting, and the references to Japanese mythology and lore were really well-explained and captivating, something just eluded me in this book. The pacing was somehow off, and the skeleton of the story felt really overdone, leaving an overall predictable and tiring impression on me.

Had I read it when I first shelved the book like a responsible person, before I interrupted my TBE with many other similar fantasies, I might have enjoyed this so much more. Alas, the damage is done, and this will forever remain as a mid-level fantasy for me.

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2.5/5

This thrilling YA retelling of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai features a girl tasked with saving the world from eternal darkness. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and Marie Lu. Seventeen-year-old Kira Fujikawa has never had it easy. She’s bullied by the popular girls in school. Her parents ignore her. And she’s also plagued with a secret: She can see yokai, the ghosts and demons that haunt the streets of Kyoto. But things accelerate from bad to worse when she learns that Shuten-doji, the demon king, will rise at the next blood moon to hunt down an ancient relic and bring the world to a catastrophic end. Not exactly skilled at fighting anything, much less the dead, Kira enlists the aid of seven powerful death gods to help her slay Shuten-doji. They include Shiro, a kitsune with boy-band looks who is more flirtatious than helpful, and O-bei, a regal demon courtier with reasons of her own for getting involved. As the confrontation with Shuten-doji draws nearer, the fate of Japan hangs in the balance. Can Kira save humankind? Or will the demon king succeed in bringing eternal darkness upon the world?

*2.5 stars for that great manga bibliography at the end

i just want to know why is it that whenever western authors write a story set in japan, the ONE word they decide not to translate is baka. did the word 'idiot' stop existing in english? what about 'fool' - is she gone too?

i knew this was inspired by bleach before they involved shinigami because they named the mc's older brother ichigo (it's not a typical boy's name, it's hard not to catch it). them acknowledging bleach was a big influence on the story was nice.

this book's issue is not being influenced by like, 10 different popular manga series and very heavily and obviously borrowing from them. i am not against stories heavily inspired by other (better) stories and/or heavily leaning into genre tropes (hello red rising) - and truly, this story had the bare bones of a good book. however, it needed space to breathe - it should have been at least twice as long or broken into a longer duology to let the story develop and build up properly.

and then there's the characters - don't even get me started on the characters. like quick, name one personality trait of ANY of those characters, without having assumed it based off tropes and stereotypes.

there are none to name - our understanding of the characters relies on pre-existing knowledge that non-avid readers probably would not have. i wish there simply was more of anything to them so i can be engaged in any way with what's happening to any of the characters or how their relationships develop. (for comparison, the red winter series had me going feral, it wasn't necessarily good but i was really invested in the story and the characters).

also, as mentioned above, the book really couldn't make its mind up on which aspects of the japanese setting to leave in and which to explain. it had a glossary which was somewhat redundant in works like 'baka' or the use of 'itadakimasu' which was explained in text (like a japanese person would explain that to another japanese person, both of whom have lived their entire lives in japan?) it was just poorly incorporated, not so much in the story but in the writing choices themselves.

between the evident borrowing (which maybe only just jumped out to me because i am familiar with all of the series they named as influential on the book in the author's notes), the flat characters and the randomised use of japanese words with english equivalents, the book really feels like a weeb self-insert fanfic. but good for them, i guess.

p.s. when she went 'his name is ryosuke but he asked us to call him ronin' i could really only think of vampire potter *deep sigh*

p.p.s. the half star was also for mentioning international pop superstar legends twice. i hope the girls dancing in the park were dancing to tt. stream more & more - out 1st june 2020, 6pm kst.

Courtney 

As I read this novel I was reminded of so many of the anime/manga series that I loved to read. This has such an amazing story. I loved the characters, especially Shiro! Overall, it was a great and I wish there was a sequel just to have more time with these characters, but it is not needed, the story ends nicely.

Micol Scalabrino

This book was not for me. I enjoyed the read and in the end, I was happy I had a chance to read this. I just did not particularly like the writing style, and I think a few scenes could have been written differently. This book is an easy read; it is good but not perfect. Another thing I appreciated about this book is that I was able to understand dynamics of Japanese culture because the author was great at explaining everything.

Final vote: 3/5

Ebook provided by Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review. The copy provided is not the ultimate version, something could change before publication.

Sheila Goicea

I'm so excited to be a part of the SEVEN DEADLY SHADOWS blog tour with The Fantastic Flying Book Club, from January 28th - February 3rd, 2020!

I received an ARC of this book from HarperTeen via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication.

Seven Deadly Shadows is absolutely brimming with Japanese lore. Being mostly unfamiliar with everything represented in this story, I believe I learned a great deal about some prominent figures in Japanese lore and mythology, which was fantastic. I think this book would make a fantastic graphic novel, as the variety of creatures would probably be better envisioned with illustrations.

Like her grandfather, Kira can see monsters. All around her, they abide. Born into a family connected to the Shinto shrine—a shrine of the dead—Kira has been training to become a priestess. Her parents had long ago abandoned her, so learning in the shadow of her grandfather has been a privilege. 

  Someday, Grandfather will teach me the ancient art of onmyodo, which will give me power over yokai demons and onryo ghosts who threaten our way of life. For a girl who has spent her days in the unwanted company of nightmares and monsters, my greatest wish is to be able to banish them at will.

For her entire life, Kira has been able to see the yokai that live among them, disguised as humans. Yokai are supernatural beings that are monsters, spirits, and demons. Until now, these creatures have been relatively harmless. Then, one night, her family's shrine is attacked. Her grandfather is killed and Kira must find out why this has happened. 

With the help of the shrine's protector, a kitsune named Shiro, Kira discovers that the dreaded Shuten-doji (a mythical oni and demon leader) was behind the attack. Apparently, her family's shrine is the resting place for Kusanagi, a powerful artifact. The feared demon lord needs it in order to bring darkness upon the entire world. 

  We need seven for a cabal. Only seven can slay the demon.

The demon lord's power is unparalleled. Kira finds seven shinigami to help her bring down Shuten-doji and his minions down. Shinigami are "gods of death", "death bringers" or "death spirits" They entice humans toward death in certain aspects of Japanese religion and culture. These beings, not unlike the Grim Reaper, are the only hope to fight the demon lord's forces. Fickle creatures that they are, Kira discovers that shinigami answer to no one but themselves. 

With the world's fate in the balance, they must band together if they are going to defeat one who is considered to be one of the three great evils of Japan.

I really appreciated the variety of Japanese mythology and lore represented in Seven Deadly Shadows. My main problem with this book, was that because there was so much information that was introduced at such a fast pace, it was a difficult to keep it all straight. I am not familiar with this mythology, and had to do quite a lot of research to figure out who these characters were, what they were, and how they impact the story and have been represented throughout history.

The main proof of my disconnection to this story was Kira. Parts of her story were comparable, but majority of her path through this story was completely foreign. I feel like I didn't get a good sense of who she was. Parts, with her difficulty between her peers and parents were relatable. But having little connection to her, and not enough descriptions of the surroundings, this story just fell flat for me. I think this book would be a fantastic graphic novel, however. 

I think this was a decent read. It is full of lore, which I love, but didn't contain enough attributes that were recognizable, and therefore familiar, in my opinion. I still enjoyed the overall composition of the story, and that it felt along the lines of original lore. 

Vulgarity: Minimal.
Sexual content: Minimal.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★★

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danielle bush

I actually listened to this on scribd, even though I had a physical copy. I tried to read the first few pages and just wasnt able to focus on the book. I thought the audio book was good. The narrator was great, kept me entertained throughout the whole time.. 
There is quite a bit of stuff going on. After Kira's grandfather is killed, she has to come up with a plan to find the lost piece of a sword, that will kill the demon king.. she learns how to fight, and use magic.. she uses her hands which reminds me of how they do magic in the show The Magicians. I really thought the romance in this was really cute.. Kira and Shiro are kind of adorable..

laura

*I got this book for review*

I was a massive fan of teen wolf back in the day and this book screamed that to me and I really loved the characters in this read. This book combined two of my favorites troups including found family and a quest and also good vs evil. I also really liked the plot of the story and the setting of modern day Japan was a great world. I really enjoyed this book and would love to see more books by this author duo in the future.

Elska Bee

This could have been great... with some harsh editing [spoiler free]

TL;DR: Parts of this were four stars (the action scenes mostly, some of the shinigami), some of it was three stars (the stuff with school and the parents), but a lot of it was only one or two stars (the romance, the pacing, the writing style, characterisation and character development).

If you're intrigued by a Japanese inspired urban fantasy, just know that it's a very average YA fantasy book underneath all that aesthetic.

The worst part was probably the writing style. It was overly descriptive in terms of its use of metaphors that were often clumsy, did nothing to add to the scene, or made it difficult to tell if it was a metaphor or literal. My least favourite was "(a scream/shriek) pierced my eardrums like a sharpened pencil" which um yeah not great. The overuse of italicising words was a bit much as well.

The pacing was horrendous. It started off very strong and then quickly deteriorated in the second third. The romance stuff felt like it dragged everything to a halt every time it popped up and simply didn't need to be in the book at all. It was unsatisfying and ham-fisted. A lot of the middle third is also occupied by not much being accomplished at all and constantly reminds you of it too. It is incredibly repetitive and treats the reader like they can't remember the most basic plot-points from chapter to chapter. Random scenes happened with little to no explanation that often take up no more than a paragraph leaving you wondering "what just happened and was it important???" and then NEVER comes up again.

The protagonist (Kira) has such inconsistent characterisation. For the first two thirds of the book she flip flops between being "shy, awkward, traumatised girl who doesn't know how to stand up for herself" and "badass priestess who gets things done". It would be fine if this was character development, but she switches between the two constantly until in the last third she is more consistently the latter (not that it feels entirely earned). Most of the other characters were a bit one dimensional or under-developed imo. Obei Katayama was the most interesting character by far.

[spoiler-ish!] The best part was easily the last third and the entire climax. I don't think it was perfect, but it still wrapped up things in a satisfying way and as mentioned, the fight scenes were easily the most well done portions.

anita🌼

This book was so beautiful. I loved the bonds between the characters  and the main character's growth. 

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Edelweiss, and HarperCollins for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.



So everyone keeps mentioning how this book reminded them of an anime or a manga, and I have to say I totally agree. I was also going to pick a more action packed gif of a kitsune from an anime, but I feel like it could have triggered an epileptic reaction so I changed it, but you should totally look it up if you’re interested. I will say that I was a little hesitant at first about this one, despite absolutely loving the synopsis and seeing that Maetani was one of the authors. Honestly, my doubts or fears about this novel were washed away as I was reading this, and wow I can’t get over this one.

I freaking loved the story that Kira had to go through in this story, and I know that the whole “finding out your family has some secret that you never knew about which ends up coming to bite you in the ass when you least expect it” trope can seem played out, but it’s a good trope that works. Don’t knock something that’s so good at pulling a reader in to the story. And in this case, I feel like Alameda and Maetani did an amazing job of pulling me in from the get to.

Like immediately.

I feel like one of the reasons why I had a little bit of doubts in the beginning was because I wasn’t sure how Alameda and Maetani were going to do this, and I was just hoping that the Japanese mythology and culture in this novel would be done right, and done properly. So I was so thankful to read this and see some familiar stories that I remember hearing growing up, and seeing that it was done in a way where I could be proud of this story growing up. And I’m just so freaking glad that I was able to read this novel. I know I said this over and over and over, but I just really fell in love with this novel.

Chelsea Hogg

RTC in the new year!

EDITED: review is live on my blog! Thanks to HarperCollins Canada for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review! 

My blog can be found in the clickable link on my profile!

Seven Deadly Shadows

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