Kadomi reviewed Shadows on the Moon by Zo Marriott
Review of 'Shadows on the Moon' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book is another re-telling of Cinderella that couldn't be any further from the way it's done in Cinder. Set in a fictional country based on feudal Japan, our protagonist is Suzume, a teenage girl who has to witness her father being killed as a traitor, and her family falling from grace. Her mother quickly re-marries the sinister Lord Terayama. Suzume finds out she has magical talents in the art of shadow-weaving, being able to cast illusions upon herself.
When she has reason to hide from Terayama, Suzume starts living as a drudge in his household, and even later competes to become the Moon Prince's shadow bride, in order to exact revenge on Terayama for all his deeds.
It's a lovely, poetic book that I enjoyed quite a bit. I thought it dealt alright with such subjects as self-harm, as the anguished Suzume handles her pain by cutting herself, obscuring …
This book is another re-telling of Cinderella that couldn't be any further from the way it's done in Cinder. Set in a fictional country based on feudal Japan, our protagonist is Suzume, a teenage girl who has to witness her father being killed as a traitor, and her family falling from grace. Her mother quickly re-marries the sinister Lord Terayama. Suzume finds out she has magical talents in the art of shadow-weaving, being able to cast illusions upon herself.
When she has reason to hide from Terayama, Suzume starts living as a drudge in his household, and even later competes to become the Moon Prince's shadow bride, in order to exact revenge on Terayama for all his deeds.
It's a lovely, poetic book that I enjoyed quite a bit. I thought it dealt alright with such subjects as self-harm, as the anguished Suzume handles her pain by cutting herself, obscuring the scars with her shadow-weaving. If it hadn't been mentioned in the author's notes, I wouldn't have recognized the Cinderella because it's really only loosely based on that fairy tale.
I have to mention that I thought it was a cool touch to have Suzume's love interest as a person of colour. From all the Asian-inspired fantasy books I have read recently, this is probably my favorite, followed by Eon.