Even though I generally enjoyed this story, the plot fell into a trope that I wasn't looking for in this book. Stupid decisions were made for the sake of conflict and that ultimately pulled from my enjoyment.

Theoretically, this would be a book that I would have fallen head over heels for. It has all the aspects that I love: dark fantasy, Spirited Away type of monsters that are creepy in that intriguing way, structured underworld revolving around Reapers and Shinigami… but somewhere after the first part, nothing was hitting for me.

I do acknowledge that the book achieved what it wanted to achieve in that it's an adventurous story that highlights Japanese mythology and a diasporic main character while revolving around a central sibling dynamic. I can see this being loved by people who liked the concept of [b:Spin the Dawn|42815556|Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1)|Elizabeth Lim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542674036l/42815556._SY75_.jpg|58477266] but didn't like the execution.

”“Will it hurt?” he whispered.
I let him wait in suspense for my answer. I did not blink, did not breathe, only looked down at him with an unchanging expression.
“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “I’ve never died.””

There’s this trope that’s becoming popular in YA fantasy where the main character gets to the this place that they have always wanted to go to and end up having to complete certain missions (usually three) in the journey to finding herself. (And they meet this charming but mysterious boy along the way that ends up helping them). Not that it’s a bad plot line and I was curious. And though it did have it’s own twist and turns with a theme that I admire, it's tiresome to read if that's not what you're want at that time. Which was me, I’m talking about myself.

The beginning of this book was quick to impress because I thought it was going to be a hard magic system but I was a bit disappointed when the structured system gave away around the 30% mark. Which, to me, was weird given that there was a Reaper council and it seemed like it was building up to something more at first. It doesn’t help that the magic system was just full of loopholes that I couldn’t unsee and what I expected to be a hard magic system was actually soft.

This quote did warm my heart:

“When Neven took the souls of children, he held their hands and sang them lullabies. He let the older ones pray and told them stories about what awaited them in Heaven, how everything there was beautiful and nothing would ever hurt them again. But because of me he would never have friends, never join the High Council, never be anyone but the Shinigami’s brother. He could have forsaken me like our father, but instead he brought me stray cats and built book towers over me while I slept and cast shadow puppets on the walls while I tried to read.”

Hiro was fun at first (and initially the reason I kept reading) and I loved Neven. Though, not that much happened in terms of the inter-character relationships and I think the fact that I didn’t love the main character that much affected my overall enjoyment. I think that Ren's position, being torn between London and Japan, was an interesting concept that I loved but I just was not sucked into her emotions and goals. We didn't really see her fall in love and have the built up nuance with London and the Reapers so it was just a little hard for me feel that nuance and the complicated feelings brought by having to give that up in order to become a Shinigami.

I really did like the fact that it was relatively not /that/ much focused on a romance and the sibling dynamic was given more weight. The way that the spirits/monsters were based on Japanese myths was a really nice touch. The full-blown diaspora rep was also one of my favorite parts. It was still an enjoyable read but the smaller arcs felt a bit tedious that I was kinda waiting for it to end.

The mechanisms and details were cleanly put together but I just couldn't overlook my dislike for the flow of the plot + lack of investment in the main character and much of what was going on. The image and dynamics of the two relationships that I was invested on the most: the sibling relationship and Hiro, were both somewhat destroyed by the end of the book that it just left me 'meh'.

↣ This is a dark and adventurous Japanese-inspired YA fantasy that revolves around a brother-sister relationship all throughout. If you like the kind of books where they need to fulfill missions, meet characters on the way, and there’s a twist in the end, you’ll like this book. The prose isn't that deep and it's an easy read. ↢

I have nothing else to say okay bye

— 3.0 —
⇢ content warnings// Animal Death, Bullying, Child abandonment, Death, Emotional neglect of a child, Emotional Abuse, Graphic Violence, Gore, Grooming, Murder, Racism, Fantasy Xenophobia,

⤜ pre-read review ⤛
'spirited away' type of monsters + morally grey characters + dark japanese mythology ??

i love it here