"Our lives are like water, always flowing forward in the streams of time. When we encounter what is unexpected, our best choice is to flow around the obstacle."

I liked the story because it fused the ninja-like assassins with supernatural powers (here represented as senses).
I also really liked a dichotomy between the nightblades and dayblades as in the balance between the evil and good in the world - one cannot exist without the other and there should always be a balance. The same applies to human nature.

The author obviously decided to create a Japanese-inspired world, judging by the characters' names.
However, I did not like the overall execution. The writing was too simple for my taste and I spotted a few spelling mistakes.

The characters were interesting and likeable, but not fully developed, which is a pity because the author could have taken the advantage of the 3rd narrative POVs... but he didn't. The first chapter was also very confusing because it was the only one written in the 1st narrative but I think it should have been left out.

I disliked that the story took the coming of age direction with a love triangle at the end but most of all I disliked the overwhelmingly dark and pessimistic atmosphere... it simply left a bad taste in my mouth. I don't have any wish to continue the series.

2 stars - an interesting idea and premise, but bad execution.

Triggers:

Spoiler

- A young boy witnesses his mother being gang raped and killed in front of his eyes.
- A young girl is sold by her own father to the brothel so he could pay his debts.
- Some main characters are tortured and killed.