by Traci Chee
ASIN/ISBN 9780358469988
Publication: March 1, 2022

**I was provided a copy of the book through NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.**

A Thousand Steps into Night reads like a fairy tale. It even begins like one, but I don’t think “fairy tale” fully encompasses how phenomenal the book is. It is a tale of an ordinary girl who doesn’t quite fit into her ordinary life. When she is cursed by a demon, she must race against time to remove the curse or risk becoming a demon. This ordinary girl, who was always more than her ordinary life, now must take extraordinary measures to return to an existence that may no longer be enough to contain her.

I enjoyed the book for its dry humor, the wondrous world-building, and its many spirits and characters. Although seemingly ordinary, Miuko bucks social norms because she is loud and clumsy as opposed to quiet and docile. Her strength of character is exhibited in her actions even as she wrestles with a growing dark side. In trying to retain her humanity, she begins to recognize how limiting her life has been. She’s never had free rein of her mind and body because society regulated her autonomy for simply being a girl. Her journey is wrought with realizations about what she has had to endure and how society has oppressed women.

My personal favorite supporting character is Miuko’s companion, Geiki the magpie. Geiki steals nearly every scene, pairing well with his desire to steal every shiny thing in sight. While he provides much of the humor, his comments provide an unexpected perspective that encourages Miuko and readers to reassess societal norms.

Miuko encounters many people and entities along the way, but it never feels overwhelming, nor does it feel like filler. The overall experience is exceptional, but there are moments when Miuko’s journey starts to feel stretched out. This slowly goes away as it heads into the second half when things start falling into place. Also, there are moments the social issues would have worked better without further examination from Miuko, especially since she just mentioned something a few pages ago. While I may be nitpicking a little, it all comes together nearly perfectly as the story heads to its conclusion. Chee is superb at plotting, and it is on full display here. 

A Thousand Steps into Night was an amazing read that just kept getting better as Miuko inched closer to removing the curse. The social commentary was much appreciated because it allowed me to further reexamine my status and how I am breaking barriers as well as a woman’s role in folktales from my own culture.