The sometimes fabulous, sometimes embarrassing, and often dramatic life of Her Imperial Highness Princess Izumi Tanaka is a story that formed in Emiko Jean’s Tokyo Ever After. I quite enjoyed the first book in what is officially a series with the upcoming release of Jean’s Tokyo Dreaming. Lately, I’ve been reading Tokyo Dreaming. Continuing where we left off: The young princess is joined in Japan by her mother, as the parents rekindle their flame that sparked nearly two decades prior. This is the inevitable jumping-off point for the often light-hearted drama that would ensue and we’re on a sometimes trope-heavy yet enjoyable ride of chapters.

Between imperial rules and personal struggles of a young woman finding herself as everyone tells her who to be, the book discusses what attempts to change will re-form in its original mold. Despite being similar to its predecessor, Tokyo Dreaming allows Zoom-Zoom to grow a little into herself while surrounded by chamberlins and her family. Of course, this is where a large portion of the conflict arises. Questions arise about who she is, where her priorities lie, and most importantly for a young princess with evil twin fashionista cousins sitting in the wings, what to wear?

On a personal note, I’ve always found teenage conflict to be a touch pedant, trivial if you will. I’ll admit conflict between Izumi and the twins, Akiko and Noriko, wasn’t surprising initially. To say I found it eye-rolling at times in Tokyo Ever After would be an understatement. However, this time around, the three young princesses finally have that spark for reasonable contention. That said, the persistent butting of heads that comes from the press, feels more like a device to catch us up or exposit something outside of Izumi’s perspective. Good or bad, it is present to encourage more friction than it possibly should, like real tabloids.

The tropes embed themselves rather quickly. Some dialogue is easy to skim over as you’ve read it a few times before, then there’s fake dating, and what ensues from thereon. I said it last time out, but Emiko Jean does have a talent for writing books where you know the direction we’re going, and precisely what will be said next. At least most of the time. Towards the end, I found myself asking questions such as if Izumi knew something because of established relationships or if it was for plot convenience to detail the scene.

That said, the final act, the conclusion to what you’ll spend a few hours building to, felt rushed to do something without giving that time to breathe. Since the book releases on May 31st, I’ll avoid spoilers. However, I will say I don’t think any of that was logical or continuing on from the preceding scenes. In my point of view, the conclusion to the second book of this light-hearted teen romance felt like it was contriving a way into the genre rather than the natural progression of characters. This somewhat logical construction of puzzle pieces falling into place seems unable to connect and assemble a lasting impact on the world we’ve fallen into through Izumi’s perspective.

I think the only reason I’m left unimpressed by the final act is quite possibly how hastened that final fragment of conflict is resolved. Some segments in the middle or early on might feel like we’re repeating some bits simply to play catch-up, retreading the ground the first book has definitively trudged through. There is so much time spent either reminding those with foggy memories or slowly expositing to set up what will happen next. An ending with such a rapid-fire pace behind it, one I believe is merely there to fit the genre and not the character, can be a little head-turning.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy Tokyo Dreaming for what it was. Another adventure into the Princess Diaries-esque world of a young Japanese-American heiress of the Japanese imperial throne. Still with enough twists, intrigue, and a flavor of something I’m sure many find somewhat exotic, Izumi’s life is still as enchanting as ever before. It could be considered a tricky second metaphorical album to the triumphant predecessor. Despite the gripes I have with the book, it entertains well enough.

Ultimately, I could fault Tokyo Dreaming for not sticking the landing entirely well, however, it was the journey that got us there that held my attention for long enough. I may criticize some of Jean’s more predictable progression, then sometimes she captures those coming-of-age teenage moments of realization perfectly. In fact, there were moments that personally made me glance outward at my own relationships. Conclusively, Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming are light-hearted and meant to be romantic fantasy escapism in a contemporary setting, and both achieve this just to differing degrees.

An advanced manuscript of Tokyo Dreaming was provided by Flatiron Books for this review.

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Tokyo Dreaming - Emiko Jean

$18.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Some character progression between books.
• The conflict with the twins feels reasonable this time out.
• Another snapshot of Izumi's fabulous and dramatic princess life.

Cons

• The rushed ending fell a little flat.