Seven Deadly Shadows

Written by Courtney Alameda and Valynne E. Maetani

Narrated by Traci Kato-Kiriyama

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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062855701

Courtney Alameda

Courtney Alameda is a writer, veteran bookseller, and librarian. Her debut novel, Shutter, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and hailed as a “standout in the genre” by School Library Journal. She also wrote the YA novel Pitch Dark—a Junior Library Guild selection—as well as Sisters of Sorrow, a comic book series she cowrote with Sons of Anarchy screenwriter Kurt Sutter. She holds a degree in English literature with an emphasis on creative writing. A Northern California native, she now resides in Idaho with her husband, legions of books, and a tiny five-pound cat with a giant personality. Learn more about her at courtneyalameda.com.

Reviews for Seven Deadly Shadows

[alysinbookland · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love how this book has this anime-ish touch. It feels like I’m watching an anime, but instead of seeing the characters move on the screen, I can read their moves and thoughts instead. Ain’t that fun? It is somehow new to me, and I definitely enjoyed reading this book.

At the start, the story already brought me action – how most anime that I had watched started. I also loved the unfamiliar myth characters, and I’ll repeat it, the anime vibe atmosphere it is giving off since the start. The scenes are never dull for me because I learned a lot about the story in each chapter, and also, I love learning something about our characters.

I also liked the characters that were introduced in the story. Though I only didn’t like the romance since I already find it predictable. But, it is still sweet and nice that it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of reading the book.

The plot and world-building are wonderful, but since I already watched A LOT of anime and have read A LOT of manga, I find the story predictable. But, as I said, I still enjoyed reading it.

Overall, I recommend this book with an enjoyable ride in Japanese culture and mythology to the readers who would like to experience it. If you are also interested in why I said it has an anime vibe in it, then you better read this too.

Disclaimer: I received an advance reading copy via The Fantastic Flying Book Club.