I really loved this story. Even though I do have some issues with the writing. I like how the author crafted the characters to be a mish mash of Samurai and Jedi. with there being a lot of narrative about honor and having them using what seemed to me a pseudo supernatural power set. I had a strong sense of empathy for what the characters had to go through, mainly because they had no control over how they got placed in their current situations.
With that being said. I feel the writing wasn’t up to par with the story the author was crafting. I didn’t feel a sense of what the characters where seeing through their own eyes or what they were feeling in their own words. Everything was pretty much just explained matter of fact’ly in a quick blerb as an appendix to a statement or a scene. For example, during the pretty anticipated clash between two main adversaries. Ryuu is pretty conflicted as to what actions he wants to take during this battle. and instead of narrating what is going on in his head or in his heart what the author wrote felt pretty flat. basically it was, he couldn’t move because he was very, very conflicted. I found myself filling in a lot of the blanks as to how characters felt internally or what was being interpreted in their eyes.
Eve with that I thoroughly enjoyed it and really anticipating the next entry to this story. It’s only a few books down the list now as I bumped it up the list a bit after finishing this one!