In a palace of illusions, nothing is what it seems.
Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy.
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.
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The Review
Empress of All Seasons is a book about a girl-monster who enters a competition to become the future empress. The catch is that monsters are enslaved and forbidden from competing. I liked this book for the Japanese folklore. I'll admit to being completely fascinated by Eastern mythology and will readily devour anything remotely related. The stories about how the creatures behave, their names and histories totally capture my complete attention and this book is included in that. I loved them so much, and I loved learning little things that make them misunderstood in this universe. The cruelty and mistreatment was well done and really hammered home the point that Mari and Akira are not welcome citizens of the empire that rules over them. They should be collared and worse for merely existing. My favorite character was easily Akira and I rooted for him hard. He's a half-yokai, half-human friend of Mari's and I loved his loyalty and protectiveness for his friend. His rival, Taro, on the other hand left much to be desired. Called "The Cold Prince," he has no desire to become emperor one day, despite supposedly feeling empathetic toward the yokai's mistreatment that he could change from a position of power. I was a little irritated at the romance between Mari and Taro; neither one of them knows the other but convinced that they are in love. He isn't a nice guy and I was frustrated by his inability to just grow up and act like he has a shred of humanity. Mari was interesting. She was resilient and idealistic, if a bit delusional. But I like that in a protagonist. My favorite thing about Mari is that instead of becoming stronger, she developed into a "weaker" mentality. I say weak, but I think she was just blinded by wanting to make the world a better place, admirable but it made her foolish. I enjoyed the book, but I can't help but to feel like it was rushed. The rebellion, for example. I wanted to see more people coming together to correct a great wrong. I wanted this cruel empire to be shown that the people they enslave and use and abuse are just done with being treated as less than even secondhand citizens. The ending was...I didn't care much for it. Again, the pace was rushed and "that's a story for another time" will always ring like a cop-out to me.
