Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda

Published by Quill Tree Books on January 28, 2020.To paraphrase something Phil from Disney’s Hercules once said: “Every single one of them let me down, flatter than a discus.” But although there was potential, they failed to become anything more than just words on a page to me.

There was so much potential energy stored up in these characters, it was like I was back in one of my dreaded college physics lectures. And I can’t forget to mention the shinigami, a ragtag group of death god rejects who dress like old-time samurai and cook mouth-watering ramen in their free time. (Talk about some serious Sailor Mars vibes.) Next comes Shiro, Kira’s loyal kitsune shrine-guardian-slash-love-interest (who should probably be in a J-Pop band or something because he’s just that ridiculously good looking). By day, she’s your ordinary high school student, and by night, she’s a noble yokai-fighting shrine maiden. First there’s Kira, our resident unflinching heroine. This story had all the trappings for a fantabulous found family.

When I saw that Seven Deadly Shadows is loosely based on Kurosawa’s iconic movie, Seven Samurai (AKA, one of my husband’s favoritest movies of all time) and that it’s also inspired by legendary Japanese storytellers such as Hayao Miyazaki, CLAMP, and Naoko Takeuchi…WELP, I basically turned into Abu while he was in The Cave of Wonders: 📖 RELATED POST: A Comprehensive List of YA Books Set in Japan 💡 The Concept! The characters’ reactions to certain social situations felt very authentic to me they mirrored what I’ve experienced and observed every day here in Japan. Alameda and Maetani go to great lengths to accurately depict the distinct personalities of both Tokyo and Kyoto, as well as Japanese culture as a whole. And Seven Deadly Shadows definitely delivers on that front. Seeing the people, language, and country that I’ve grown to adore so much realistically captured in words and ink is a kind of magic that rivals that of Disneyland. Actual footage of me when I first discovered Seven Deadly Shadows

Seven Deadly Shadows by Courtney Alameda