Akustrei

Honestly, I was at the library and I thought the cover was funny so I read it.

This is a ridiculously stupid story of a horrendously stupid girl who happened to live in Japan a long, long time ago. First off- that wasn't a proper ending. Yeah, some one I care about dies and my family is captured by my long-ago enemy, but hey! I've got the power of the spirits! Who needs friends and family, anyways?

I also read the thing in the back talking about the historical Himiko. She sounded a lot like Lady Tsuki, who everyone in the book is afraid of and generally just hates. Lulz? Also, Friesner mentioned how this book she read for research was so detailed and accurate and contained a bunch of the names of the herbs used in Japan- hey, Friesner didn't mention any herbs in the book! Or rather, she did but didn't name them. Big mistake there. I'm pretty sure at least one of the reasons that Warriors was so popular was because they included specific details that made you feel like you were there. Like, actually there. In Spirit's Princess, you were never there. You were an outsider looking in and attempting to imagine every detail of the 464 ridiculous pages with almost no description. Some houses are on poles? That makes sense. Some are in pits? In the same village? Yes, this makes a whole lot of sense.

Annnnddd to the title. I realize that Friesner is trying to keep the theme with the Princesses of Myth series, but no. Just no. There were a bunch of spirits, and only a couple had actual names. So was it her dream guy who was literally in her dream? Nah, I'm 80% sure that he's a living character waiting to be discovered. So no specific spirit guides, or owns, or is affiliated with Himiko... the title should be Spirits' Princess. But maybe that was too confusing for you.

Yes, I realize the second book came out and the cover is like a bazillion times better than this one, but I doubt the writing will improve that much. The description says "shamaness." Wtf? They're already changing terminology on us. *sigh*