Stories which dive into the morality of power as a double-edged sword have always fascinated me. When I find villains in speculative fiction intriguing, it’s often because something about their extreme actions is recognisably human. Along similar lines, I also love stories where protagonists grapple with moral ambiguity as a result of dangerous newfound powers, and must decide what they are willing to compromise and to stand for.
A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee is a captivating exploration of these ideas, centering on a young girl’s transformation as she journeys through a Japanese-inspired supernatural world and faces the collisions between demons and humanity.
Seventeen-year-old Miuko has grown up with her single father in a strongly hierarchical world: their family is a member of the serving class, and the realm of Awara imposes numerous restrictions on women. While running an errand one day, Miuko is affronted by an unknown demon, and cursed to begin turning into a Shaoha — a malevolence demon, the Death Woman — herself. The priests from her village immediately react with hostility when Miuko returns, and shortly afters, even her beloved father fails to recognise her and becomes terrified of her.
In shock and with no other choice, Miuko flees the village of Nihaoi. This leads her to an unexpected companion, a mischievous magpie spirit named Geiki, and they set out to follow a lead that may help unravel her curse. Yet all the while, a demon prince named Tujiyazai continues to appear to Miuko, trying to compel her in unsettling ways, and demon voices arise which she must battle.
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A Thousand Steps into Night
Awara is a fantasy realm which is reminiscent of historical Japan. I was captivated by the worldbuilding, which stands on a rich foundation from Japanese mythology of demons and spirits, with the addition of Chee’s spins on the characters and the divine rules of destiny and obligation they follow. Powerful entities like the Lunar Gods have distinct personalities, and the priests at the Heavenly Houses of worship flesh out their relationship with the humans in this particular world. The manga and anime series Blue Exorcist, where the protagonist is half-demon in a complex world of exorcists and the supernatural, came to mind in the best way while I was reading.
Miuko meets new spirits and demons along her journey, but the human towns and cities she travels through are equally unfamiliar to her. She discovers that unlike her spirit friend, Geiki, who is entirely accepting of Miuko and her fierce personality, the towns they enter all have similarly patriarchal attitudes as in Nihaoi and disdain towards independent girls like Miuko who don’t fit their perceptions of women. The more that these frustrations arise, hindering Miuko as she’s trying to undo her curse, the more she realises that she can no longer accept these limitations put on her by the human world.
These societal issues create the backdrop for the several layers of transformation which Miuko undergoes in A Thousand Steps Into Night. As she fights the physical progression of the curse, she’s also undergoing the kind of internal growth she’d never imagined while in Nihaoi. And it’s the people Miuko encounters that shape this, leaving indelible impressions on her: from her friend Geiki to a spirit girl with an abusive father. One of the most influential of the characters isn’t even physically present in the story: Miuko’s mother, who had left their family to pursue greater adventures beyond Nihaoi when her daughter was a child. It was moving to see how Miuko’s understanding of her mother changes, as she herself grows and admits that she also craves that kind of freedom.
At a turning point in the journey, Miuko is forced to face, head-on, how much she had changed as a person since the beginning of the book. The narrative was thought-provoking with its ideas around past selves, the ways we come to new understandings of our innate desires, and the role of our own choices in our lives’ turning points.
Shortly after she is first cursed, Miuko meets a character whose situation is the inverse of hers: Tujiyazai is a legendary demon who has possessed a human, the noble doro. He relishes seeing Miuko’s curse turn her into a demon with dangerous powers, and when he appeals to her to join him, his words unlock the craving for greatness which she had suppressed all her life. At first, there’s moral ambiguity which arises in their interactions, too. It seems like Tujiyazai is genuinely helping her despite being an untrustworthy demon, and Miuko acts in unnerving ways shaped by the curse and the murderous voices interfering with her mind. Tujiyazai serves as a foil to Miuko: he is a representation of what she might ultimately become if she went down the precise path which her powers are drawing her towards.
This conflict is crucial to the story: Miuko is desperate to retain her humanity in spite of the demonic forces calling to her, but the transformation she undergoes throughout her journey prompts her to question whether going back to being human, especially the oppressed young woman she was in the past, could really be the right path. And if she can’t return to being that way, then the question arises: what can she hold on to from her past? What is it that really defines her humanity?
In a confrontation between Miuko and Tujiyazai, the demon prince reveals his backstory and desire for vengeance — a plan which Miuko fiercely rejects. Both of them have been wronged by the Omaizi rulers of their world, yet she refuses to retaliate through destructive actions that would affect the innocent. And while Tujiyazai has no hesitations over massacres, Miuko is driven to protect even people she doesn’t personally know, right down to the prince he has possessed. It’s this compassion which enables Miuko to resist the demon voice urging her to kill even the greatest enemies.
And so, Miuko comes to the implicit understanding that being human doesn’t mean accepting the subservience she’d always been taught. Her humanity is found in her core moral integrity and respect for life — something which is fundamentally incongruous with becoming a Death Woman. It’s an aspect of her character which is established early on, when she instinctively saves Geiki from attack and also tries to protect her father. And as the book reaches the climax, Miuko’s protectiveness forces her to choose whether to make a huge personal sacrifice for others, creating an ending with a huge emotional impact.
A Thousand Steps Into Night appears to be a standalone at present, but I’d gladly stay with these characters for several books, and it feels like we only brushed the surface of the lore within this world. There’s much to revisit and dwell upon with its ideas of morality, humanity and transformation, but it’s also a thrilling adventure. I would highly recommend it to Young Adult fantasy readers who loved The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi, and the Shadow of the Fox trilogy by Julie Kagawa.
A Thousand Steps Into Night is published by Clarion Books.
Read an excerpt here.
Wendy Chen is a writer and reviewer based in Sydney, Australia. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthology Meet Me at the Intersection (Fremantle Press, 2018). You can find more of her book recommendations on her blog, and on Instagram @writteninwonder_
