A Thousand Steps into Night

Written by Traci Chee

Narrated by Grace Rolek

Longlisted for the National Book Award

From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a fantasy perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli. When a girl who’s never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way is forced to confront her true power within. 

In the realm of Awara, where gods, monsters, and humans exist side by side, Miuko is an ordinary girl resigned to a safe, if uneventful, existence as an innkeeper’s daughter.

But when Miuko is cursed and begins to transform into a demon with a deadly touch, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit and continuously thwarted by a demon prince, Miuko must outfox tricksters, escape demon hunters, and negotiate with feral gods if she wants to make it home again.

With her transformation comes power and freedom she never even dreamed of, and she’ll have to decide if saving her soul is worth trying to cram herself back into an ordinary life that no longer fits her… and perhaps never did.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9780358639565

Traci Chee

Traci Chee is the New York Times bestselling author of The Reader Trilogy; National Book Award finalist and Printz honoree, We Are Not Free; and the YA standalone fantasies Kindling and National Book Award longlist title, A Thousand Steps into Night. An all-around word geek, she loves book arts and art books, poetry and paper crafts, though she also dabbles at egg painting, gardening, and hosting game nights for family and friends. She lives in California with her fast dog.

Reviews for A Thousand Steps into Night

[Alexandra Jane Welcome · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The premise was really intriguing to me, but was so overshadowed by its political messages that just kept pounding you over the head. Miuko is "not like other girls" *major eyeroll*. Every single scene and page has Miuko complaining about how men get everything, blah blah blah. It was so repetitive that I could not enjoy the story, which could have been great. The dialogue was also very jarring as the way the characters spoke sounded very modern, yet this is taking place in a seemingly ancient place. It takes you out of the atmosphere. In short, just another modern book that had potential but was squandered with a political agenda.

[Areeba Zahid · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Got interesting once Miuko was cursed , enjoyed her adventures with Geiki and her rivalry with Tujiyazai but the constant rambling about patriarchy was rather annoying.

[Zahra Kadir · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a great book! Spooky and vivid, with a competent voice actor who brought a range of distinct voices to life. The characters are young and sound young, and that may not be for everyone. Really appreciated that a YA book went darker but didn’t feel contrived, even if it was a bit heavy handed with some of its messages. I’d recommend following with the ebook or pdf to keep track of all the characters and terms of you are new to Japanese mythology, because there are a LOT of characters and names that can get confusing fast.
Loved the middle, the ending was okay. Everything wrapped up a little too neatly for me, and I would have preferred if the author had explored the darkness of this world further. But again, this is for a younger crowd, so enjoy it for what it is! Excited to read more from Tracy Chee and hope she expands this universe.

[April Bennett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Super atmospheric, amazing characters, and Japanese lore. Can’t go wrong!

[Ka'iulani Kauahi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful world with three dimensional characters. If you read a lot of books you might think that you can predict what is happening, but you might be wrong! I hope there is a sequel or more stories with some of the same characters.