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A Thousand Steps into Night

Traci Chee

Start date: July 1, 2022

Finish date: July 31, 2022

Discussion: 2022 Member's BOTM discussions

Discussion leader: Zitong Ren

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What Members Thought

Aug 03, 2022 Eileen rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, mythology, cultural, 2022, audiobook, 2022-ng-group-challenge, teen-young-adult, supernatural-paranormal, asian-author

I am a huge fan of mythology, but especially mythology from countries other than the most common Greek/Rome/Norse. Traci Chee is completely unknown to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The cover is okay, but it didn't really grab me and when the mythology is unfamiliar to me, I sometimes have trouble getting into a story. When I first started (with the audiobook), it took several chapters for me to adjust to the new world and setting and I had to rewind a few times to remember who was talking I am a huge fan of mythology, but especially mythology from countries other than the most common Greek/Rome/Norse. Traci Chee is completely unknown to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect. The cover is okay, but it didn't really grab me and when the mythology is unfamiliar to me, I sometimes have trouble getting into a story. When I first started (with the audiobook), it took several chapters for me to adjust to the new world and setting and I had to rewind a few times to remember who was talking and what was going on. But after about 30 pages, I got completely sucked in. I did eventually grab the kindle copy to read along at the 50% mark, mostly so I could see the names of places, characters, and things, as well as read the footnotes about the Japanese words, and that just enhanced my experience even more. Still, the narrator, Grace Rolek, does a great job with the narration, and if I were to reread this book, I would probably read along with her narration throughout.

What I loved about this book was the world-building and the many characters that show up in this book. The Trickster Magpie spirit, Geiki, was one of my favorite characters and was very entertaining throughout the book. I also loved Roroisho, the mare, and the little spirit cat, even though both were only a small part of the book. I also really liked Miuko's character. She was someone who never fit into her village because she was "too adventurous for the girls, too opinionated for the boys, always ill-fitting and out of place." Ultimately, she is a girl who wants a say in her own destiny in a very patriarchal society where girls are expected to keep themselves pure until a man deigns to marry them, and then they are in charge of having and raising babies and taking care of the home and their man. This was both a strength and a weakness of the book as it sometimes became heavy-handed with the moral of the story. Still, I found myself cheering for her throughout the book, so it was definitely more a strength (IMO) than a weakness. Where you fall on the spectrum will probably depend on your own opinions.

There was a point in the middle of the book that was a major twist that gave you a completely different perspective on the first half of the book. Those of you who are sci-fi purists might feel a bit uncomfortable about it, but for some reason, because the Spirit world is so present in this world, I just didn't have an issue with it. Instead, I kept thinking to myself, "Oh, I wonder how that is going to play into this or that?" So personally, I really loved the twist and just didn't worry about the science.

One thing that did start to become repetitive for me was the author's love of the word "lugubrious" as in the "lugubrious priests". The first couple of times I thought, okay, that fits. But after a while, it felt like the author was using it just for the sake of using it.

The ending, while someone open-ended, did a great job of addressing many of the plotlines. And what I particularly loved is that the author ended it for Miuko in such a way to be really true to who she was.

Ultimately, I loved that this was a story about a humble servant girl who ended up going after the life she wanted while impacting her village in a very positive way.

I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.

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Jul 23, 2022 elise rated it liked it

Shelves: 2022-reads

3.5*
TW: sexual assault attempt, murder, misogyny

felt like it was meant for a younger ya audience (which I did not expect) but I enjoyed the second half much more than the first! (thought the ending was just okay though)

also liked the footnotes in the story that helped us understand the pronunciation and meanings better!

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