3.5 stars. A very quick and entertaining, queer action thriller. Lot's of fighting. This is quite a short book which makes it a fast read but I would have liked it to expand a bit more on its queer themes and backstory of Shindo's character since the queer aspect is what sets this apart from other Yakuza themed thrillers.

I just finished watching Blue Eye Samurai around the time I saw this book, and it had similar themes, of a mixed-race girl in Japan doing violence, so I was really hoping for them to have similar themes and feels. They don't really, but I still enjoyed the read, though I felt like it felt a bit lackluster on all levels, probably due to the short length. My favourite part was the ending, when they get into gender expression and presentation ever so briefly, and the winding down of the story. For being advertised as a thriller, I was disappointed at the lack of thrills it gave me, and I wish some of the more fucked up stuff was explored more instead of being glanced over and never addressed again. It would have also been nice to see more of Shindo's backstory, because it really intrigued me and I wanted to know more.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you so much for giving me access to this arc! I really enjoyed this and it made me realize how I really need to add more translated fiction to my list. I’m excited to see the response from other readers when it comes out because it was action-packed and so engrossing.