Dragon Sword and Wind Child Book

This is a gorgeous story, but not without flaws.
Saya is our protagonist, an "ordinary" teenage girl who learns that she is the one destined to have the power to awaken and still the Dragon Sword, the only weapon that can end the war that is raging between the Light and Dark. I know, sounds a bit too familiar, a bit generic right? Still, I found myself quickly pulled in by the beautiful atmosphere of the story.

I was instantly intrigued by the story's concept of Light and Dark. One side is led by Prince Tsukishiro and Princess Teruhi, the children of the God of Light, who represent life and so they are immortal. On the other side are those who follow the Goddess of Darkness, of death, of earth. Her people die and are reincarnated over and over. Saya is the reincarnation of the Water Maiden, a princess who is born on the side of Darkness but who is always drawn to the Light and, more specifically, to Tsukishiro. While she does not remember her past lives, we are given hints of a relationship between Tsukishiro and the last Water Maiden, Sayura, who killed herself. This book weaves the tale of Saya as she decides what side she will fight on, and the consequences of her choice.

Unfortunately, this book has flaws that are big enough to turn off many readers. The characters are all a bit flat and Saya in particular is a very passive protagonist. (I normally like my female leads to be strong and decisive, however, I do think the point here is that Saya always desires to follow the Light which goes against her very nature as a child of Darkness, and so she's always caught between the two which leads to her feelings of being unable to truly belong on either side and with that comes insecurity, indecisiveness and passivity.) There is a romance that develops later in the book that I think could definitely have been left out. And while I actually like the feel of translated stories, I know that this can be a huge turnoff to some people. Also, the writing does get overly descriptive at times and borders on tedious. And the ending - well, I won't go into it but let's just say, I didn't care for it much.

Still, there are some truly thrilling, heart-racing scenes in this book. And, every once in awhile, a character would say something that would absolutely take my breath away. And the whole atmosphere or feeling or whatever of the story just captured me for some reason. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book to just anybody, but there was enough here for me to appreciate it for what it was.