shadows on the moon - zoe marriott

i finished reading the book last week and it was worth reading. i was enthused to read it because i found the book cover interesting.

setting : “Moonlit Land, or Tsuki no Hikari no Kuni.”

suzume, the main character of the book witnessed the death of her father and cousin. her father was accused of treachery towards the moon prince. suzume and her cousin ran for their lives but only suzume got lucky because this old man named youta weaved shadows around her so she would be invisible to the soldiers. suzume's mother went out searching for her and eventually found her, surprised and was happy to see her alive amidst the dreadful death of her father and cousin. youta and suzume became friends and he gave her a new name 'Rin.'

i'll fast forward a little: suzume found out that her mom is getting married to her father's closest friends just few days after her father's death. suzume was devastated. youta found out that suzume has a gift--she can weave shadows like him. i know it's a jargon so lemme explain..she can weave shadow to make herself invisible and appear differently such look flawless etc. suzume was oblivious of what she can do, so, youta trained to use her 'gift.' one day, her stepfather invited folks from various countries known to be good friends with the moon prince so he could obtain influence. otieno, a son of one of the men, became suzume's love interest. suzumi's mother gave birth to twins. on that same eve her lunatic stepdad wanted to kill her. suzume ran away out of horror the turned homeless and got locked up in prison after she was acused of being a thief. she met akira in prison and she learned she's a skilled shadow weaver. the two escaped. akira gave suzume her third name 'Yue.' akira taught everything she knew about weaving shadows. she also told suzume that she was once a shadow bride. once a shadow bride a woman could ask anything from the moon prince. a shadow bride will earn so much power. suzume was amazed and wanted to be a shadow bride herself because she wanted to avenge her father and cousin as well as revenge against her own mother. akira and suzume succeeded with their shadow bride mission. suzume was a perfect match and eventually became one. oriento and suzume ended up together. that's about it.

the end.

my take on the book--t'was interesting really. reading its first few pages made me think of those typical japanese classic flicks...cherry blossoms, kimono, women with their chalk white faces, geisha etcetera etcetera. the killing of suzume's father and cousin was grotesque--there goes my favorite word again lol. my only concern was, some terms were in japanese so i guess it wouldn't hurt for footnotes. another thing was, i never thought that the author was british! the way the book was written made me think that the person who wrote it was probably japanese. i even thought that it was a book originally written by a japanese author and possibly was translated in english as in the case of the girl with a dragon tattoo originally written in swedish. well anyways, it's a nice read. i recommend that you guys read it and see for yourselves. i liked it because it's not your typical love story. love maybe typical i know but suzume's story isn't.