Well, I was glad to have read it but I don't think it's a reread for me. It was most convincing to me when the author dwelled on the dialogue between the people sharing the adventure and when she lovingly described the food ^^ - being a long-time manga reader and anime watcher the shiny bits (the descriptions of the monsters, of the different world, of the fight scenes) were probably not as polished and detailed as I'm used to.

Ai Ling went at things a bit too unquestioningly for me (especially with regards to her powers) and Chen Wong was too good to be true - although I like the fact that we do not have a suddenly more important angsty hero background which overwhelms the heroine's own journey (sure he has angst, but when you compare it to Ai Ling's background, that certainly equals it in angst, even though she isnt't aware of it for quite some time).

Another downside is probably the fact that I'm a fan of Kylie Chan's epic Hong Kong/Chinese mythology/martial arts series and have been influenced by those images - I don't watch wuxia much myself, otherwise, and Japanese mythology is quite distinct from this book (an advantage).

For a first book this has a lot of potential, though. I'm looking forward to later books.