Empress of all Seasons: Review

     In some ways, I feel as if I read two different books. The first one being an intriguing story where characters navigate a world where human and yōkai most definitely do not live in harmony. The other being a short action/adventure that skims over to many details. 

     The characters are enjoyable, but certain point of views felt unnecessary, but not at the beginning. The beginning felt like more time was put into it. It seems to me, my reaction towards Empress of all Seasons is the opposite of my reaction towards The Kiss of Deception. I found the latter to be a painfully slow written book with unnecessary point of views. I found the former to be a well-paced read with each point of view adding more depth to the plot and the world it occurs in only to be flung into river-rapids two-thirds of the way through. 

     The book has three narrators and each one adds a unique perspective to the story with Mari being a yōkai, Taro a human, and Akira something in between. I enjoyed seeing Taro navigating the palace, Akira’s adventures with the Yōkai revolution, and Mari’s journey in the seasonal rooms. Goodness, the seasonal challenges were my favorite part of Empress of all Seasons. However, it didn’t take up as much of the story as it could’ve.

      I am now entering into spoilers so if you want to read the book, I recommend skipping the last paragraph. 

*Spoilers*Mari wins the Winter Room, which is the last seasonal room, when the book isn’t even two-thirds through. The last third of the book involves a twist villain who was barely in the plot at all. (Honestly, I forgot he was a character) This twist villain then assassinates the emperor and blames it one Mari. The plot drops off from there. This newly revealed villain then persuades Taro to turn on Mari and Akira.  It continues to sprint downhill until the last page which reads more like Cliff notes than the final page of a novel. It is a shame because I loved the first half of this book. *End of Spoilers* If the story interests me, I probably will read more books written by Emiko Jean because I know she can write well. I saw it at the beginning of Empress of all Seasons.