Today’s review and my final review for January is going to be for Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean.  You can also view this review on Goodreads.

*Content warning: slavery, violence, abuse, death, rape, and body shaming.

Where do I begin with this book? I don’t even know. This book was beautiful, heartbreaking, and the writing was lyrical. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters, my favorite being Mari. I felt that Mari was such a strong, powerful female character. While I did enjoy the story and most of the characters, I did not like how the Imperial City put collars on the Yōkai to enslave them and keep them captive, or how they were confined to one district, just because they’re different. I also enjoyed how the story ended, I felt that the ending tied things together very well.