Seven Deadly Shadows

by Courtney Alameda, Valynne E. Maetani

Overview

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?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062570826
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	01/26/2021
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	405,171
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

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 www.courtneyalameda.com.

Valynne E. Maetani is a writer and member of We Need Diverse Books. Her debut novel, Ink and Ashes, was the winner of Tu Books’ New Visions Award and an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor, was a Junior Library Guild selection and a Kirkus Reviews Best Book, and received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and now resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. Visit her online at www.valynne.com.

Editorial Reviews

Kira is a satisfying heroine, and her 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. Fans of Julie Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox and Kat Cho’s Wicked Fox will also appreciate the vivid, sometimes gruesome, writing reminiscent of punchy anime dialogue." — Publishers Weekly

“The arresting action and imagery are engrossing. Perfect for fans of Japanese folklore and manga similar to Death Note.” — Booklist

“Many cool monsters and some suspense keep the pages turning, with a bit of romance and banter.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

Many cool monsters and some suspense keep the pages turning, with a bit of romance and banter.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

The arresting action and imagery are engrossing. Perfect for fans of Japanese folklore and manga similar to Death Note.

Booklist

The arresting action and imagery are engrossing. Perfect for fans of Japanese folklore and manga similar to Death Note.

Booklist

Many cool monsters and some suspense keep the pages turning, with a bit of romance and banter.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

11/11/2019

In this homage to Japanese pop culture, Shinto priestess Kira Fujikawa, 16, must unite a cabal of death gods and reforge an ancient sword in order to defeat the king of hell. She is aided by Shiro, a fox demon with celebrity good looks, and a colorful band of creatures who all have their own motives for joining the fight. Alameda (Pitch Dark) and Maetani (Ink and Ashes) render the backdrop with almost reverential care toward accurately depicting the sights and sounds of contemporary Japan, and Kira is a distinctly Japanese character whose sensibilities are refreshingly un-Westernized. Fans of Julie Kagawa’s Shadow of the Fox and Kat Cho’s Wicked Fox will also appreciate the vivid, sometimes gruesome, writing reminiscent of punchy anime dialogue. Unfortunately, there is little payoff in the storytelling. Deep relationships are forged within a few pages, and the characters glide through momentous events with relative ease. While the plot never lacks for pace or lively fight scenes, nor does it linger to develop the relational powder keg of duplicitous death gods and outcasts working together. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Many cool monsters and some suspense keep the pages turning, with a bit of romance and banter.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

12/01/2019

Gr 7 Up—Kira Fujikawa loves spending time at the Shinto shrine that has been in her family for generations. The daily life of caring for guests and learning from her grandfather makes her feel protected beyond the blessings she knows are within the sacred ground. However, her days in the prestigious high school she attends on scholarship are less than ideal. No matter how great her grades are, she is singled out and bullied. Although she tries hard to be honorable to her family, she cannot seem to make her two lives harmonize. Then the shrine is attacked—leaving her feeling vulnerable on every front. Can she summon the courage needed to stand up for herself, or will her family's legacy be lost forever? Alameda and Maetini's novel displays how traditional Japanese folklore can be adapted into modern stories. Set mainly in the historical landscape of Kyoto, the intense action sequences feel as if they are right out of the pages of popular manga. Its well-researched details immerse readers fully but carefully into Japanese culture. Japanese vocabulary is clearly defined; while some readers may find words that are unfamiliar, the vivid descriptions of landscapes and creatures elicit appropriate feelings of terror and excitement. This leads to a successfully created magical world. Unfortunately, the narrative suffers from the shallow interactions between the main character and everyone else in the world. This is especially true during scenes of romance, when relationships develop too quickly and awkwardly to be believable. VERDICT Purchase for collections where books on Japanese culture are popular.—DeHanza Kwong, Butte Public Library, MT

School Library Journal

This story, based on the renowned Japanese film SEVEN SAMURAI, requires a narrator who can maneuver through its riveting plot twists and portray its enchanting characters. 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 a protagonist named Kira learns to survive amid ghosts and demons, especially Shuten-doji, who is searching for an artifact that has the potential to wreak havoc upon the world. As Kira enlists the help of seven death gods, Kato-Kiriyama makes the listening experience come alive. J.O. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2020 - AudioFile

This story, based on the renowned Japanese film SEVEN SAMURAI, requires a narrator who can maneuver through its riveting plot twists and portray its enchanting characters. 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 a protagonist named Kira learns to survive amid ghosts and demons, especially Shuten-doji, who is searching for an artifact that has the potential to wreak havoc upon the world. As Kira enlists the help of seven death gods, Kato-Kiriyama makes the listening experience come alive. J.O. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2020 - AudioFile

2019-10-21
In order to save her family's shrine—and the world—Kira must assemble an unpredictable band of death gods to stand against a demon.

Kira Fujikawa can see yokai, the demons that walk the streets of Japan, sometimes causing trouble and sometimes preoccupied with the problems of their own world. Because of this ability, her grandfather has trained her as a Shinto shrine maiden, tasked with removing evil from the world and with one day taking over the family's shrine. When a yokai raid leaves the shrine destroyed, Kira learns of a plot to resurrect an ogre king bent on defeating the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, and plunging the world into darkness. With the help of the shrine's guardian, Shiro, Kira embarks on a quest to assemble a band of shinigami, death gods who collect the spirts of the dead. Loosely based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, all characters are Japanese, and Alameda (Pitch Dark, 2018, etc.) and Maetani (Ink and Ashes, 2015) have taken care to present Shinto as a living religion with modern-day practitioners while still building a lively supernatural world. Though more time spent developing the ensemble cast's interesting backstories would have benefitted the overall narrative, Kira is a satisfying heroine, and her personal struggles between familial expectations and loyalty to the family shrine add complexity to her journey.

Fresh urban fantasy grounded in Japanese culture. (authors' note, glossary) (Fantasy. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews