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?
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“Through its riveting plot twists…narrator Traci Kato-Kiriyama keeps all the threads of the plot straight and provides voices that range from robust to smooth as she differentiates females and males of varying ages, ethnicities, species, and personalities. She sustains a calculated pace, enabling fantasy enthusiasts to relax into the story…As Kira enlists the help of seven death gods, Kato-Kiriyama makes the listening experience come alive.”
— AudioFile
“Kira[s] personal struggles between familial expectations and loyalty to the family shrine add complexity to her journey. Fresh urban fantasy grounded in Japanese culture.”
— Kirkus Reviews“Kira is a distinctly Japanese character whose sensibilities are refreshingly un-Westernized…The vivid, sometimes gruesome, writing [is] reminiscent of punchy anime dialogue.”
— Publishers WeeklyBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Courtney Alameda, a veteran bookseller and librarian, now spends her days writing thriller and horror novels for young people. Her debut novel, Shutter, was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and hailed as a “standout in the genre” by School Library Journal. She holds a BA in English literature with an emphasis in creative writing. A Northern California native, she now resides in Utah with her husband, a legion of books, and a tiny five pound cat with a giant personality.