These also slow the pace they force an artificial sense of urgency in an otherwise slow, sensory journey and hijack the flow of Tea’s adventures. Multiple characters, including a dead brother and a handsome prince, surround stubborn, headstrong Tea as she finds herself implicated in events she doesn’t understand the interstitial chapters make it clear that learning more will not make things better. The level of detail is astounding, confusing, but nevertheless fascinating politics both local (the brief backmatter is a bit of a guide) and magical (the origin tale of the Faceless and heartsglass, introduced in the prologue, finally appears at the three-quarter mark) permeate everything. Chapters detailing young Tea’s early training through her debut as an asha intercut with 17-year-old Tea on a lonely beach raising monsters and planning war, relating her past to a nameless bard. The asha are known for performing, fighting, and magic beautiful, brown-skinned Tea is taken from her provincial village to Kion to begin training as a dark (in magic) asha when she accidentally raises her dead brother. Something of a high-fantasy Memoirs of a Geisha, Chupeco’s latest excels in originality.
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