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paragraphsandpages 's review for:
Empress of all Seasons
by Emiko Jean
While I think I overall enjoyed this, I wasn't blown away.
I really enjoyed the set-up of the story, both using the competition as a starting point and the tales from the gods to build up some of the lore, but I found myself losing interest as the story went on. Even the competition became less interesting as it began to grow repetitive, and it felt like it was rushed to get to the rest of the story. It did a good job of hooking me in though, but it just wasn't able to keep me invested. I also grew tired of the riddles as they seemed to become more and more obvious, and I wish some unique trials or riddles could have been involved in the season rooms. The final challenge was also a bit of a let-down, but I did like how it was drawn from the original lore, so I didn't mind too much.
The romance was also something that weakened the story for me. Their love was too instant for me to feel the chemistry, and I never really understood it. It was only further ruined by things that happened later, even if I get what the story was trying to do with it. The fact I never really felt their love for each other earlier on weakened a lot of the ending for me as well. I also wasn't a fan of the quasi-love triangle going on, even though Mari was only ever interested in one of the guys. Akira could've just been a really great friend, and platonic love could've driven his actions rather than romantic love that would never be returned. I really liked Akira's plot besides that, but I just hated that he was reduced to a rebuffed love interest at points, when a friendship could have been so much stronger.
The ending itself also felt quite quick, like it was trying quickly to wrap everything up after the tense battle. I did enjoy how it was framed overall, but they didn't need to tie up every loose end or finish it off so quickly. I feel like some more time could've been spent here to make it feel more satisfying, or just have left more of it open to interpretation (though that could've been frustrating in its own right).
Overall, there were definitely aspects of this story I enjoyed, but it failed to hold my interest by the end, and I wish some things would have been done slightly differently.
I really enjoyed the set-up of the story, both using the competition as a starting point and the tales from the gods to build up some of the lore, but I found myself losing interest as the story went on. Even the competition became less interesting as it began to grow repetitive, and it felt like it was rushed to get to the rest of the story. It did a good job of hooking me in though, but it just wasn't able to keep me invested. I also grew tired of the riddles as they seemed to become more and more obvious, and I wish some unique trials or riddles could have been involved in the season rooms. The final challenge was also a bit of a let-down, but I did like how it was drawn from the original lore, so I didn't mind too much.
The romance was also something that weakened the story for me. Their love was too instant for me to feel the chemistry, and I never really understood it. It was only further ruined by things that happened later, even if I get what the story was trying to do with it. The fact I never really felt their love for each other earlier on weakened a lot of the ending for me as well. I also wasn't a fan of the quasi-love triangle going on, even though Mari was only ever interested in one of the guys. Akira could've just been a really great friend, and platonic love could've driven his actions rather than romantic love that would never be returned. I really liked Akira's plot besides that, but I just hated that he was reduced to a rebuffed love interest at points, when a friendship could have been so much stronger.
The ending itself also felt quite quick, like it was trying quickly to wrap everything up after the tense battle. I did enjoy how it was framed overall, but they didn't need to tie up every loose end or finish it off so quickly. I feel like some more time could've been spent here to make it feel more satisfying, or just have left more of it open to interpretation (though that could've been frustrating in its own right).
Overall, there were definitely aspects of this story I enjoyed, but it failed to hold my interest by the end, and I wish some things would have been done slightly differently.