Book Review: A Mortal Song

 

Summary: Heir to Mt. Fuji's spirit kingdom, Sora yearns to finally take on the sacred kami duties. But just as she confronts her parents to make a plea, a ghostly army invades the mountain. Barely escaping with her life, Sora follows her mother's last instructions to a heart-wrenching discovery: she is a human changeling, raised as a decoy while her parents' true daughter remained safe but unaware in modern-day Tokyo. Her powers were only borrowed, never her own. Now, with the world's natural cycles falling into chaos and the ghosts plotting an even more deadly assault, it falls on her to train the unprepared kami princess.
 As Sora struggles with her emerging human weaknesses and the draw of an unanticipated ally with secrets of his own, she vows to keep fighting for her loved ones and the world they once protected. But for one mortal girl to make a difference in this desperate war between the spirits, she may have to give up the only home she's ever known.

 Review: I really loved this book! The writing weaves us through a world of magic and tragedy as seen through the eyes of a seventeen year old girl. The pain she felt and the real struggles Sora goes through when finally experiencing her human nature were believable and drew me in easily. The cast was really well written and enjoyable, even when a love triangle started. 
The ending great too, open to a myriad of possibilities but finishing up with closure and tying off all loose ends. A standalone novel unrelated to a series, it was a wonderful finish to an enchanting book!

Content:There might have been a few uses of D*** or H***, I can't remember for sure so it might be entirely clean but this is the worst it would get. There's a few kissing scenes. A fair amount of violence and, though items are said to be drenched in blood, the story never gets very gory. Creatures such as ogres, ghosts and the Japanese creatures kami and kitsune are all used along with forms of magic.
All in all it was a pretty clean read though I'd suggest it for at least preteen or above due to the ghosts and romance.