Random guy's review
I am a big fan of touhou, and out of all the printwork I have read (which is a lot, everything except WaHH, Sangetsusei, CoLA, and CDS, and I even read all of the music CDs stories), this one is the most enjoyable. This printwork in particular explore a lot about the Human Village and its relation with the youkai, and it also portrays a lot of aspects about the characters that we do not see in the games.
The events in the book started around after TD and SoPm, and it stretches over ULiL and LoLK, and I like that you can really see how some of the events or details in the book can tell you when it happened. For example, a character from that game appeared, or Reimu is using an ability she did not have before this game, so and so. It also connects a lot of the events from the games into the story, which I really enjoy as a touhou fan, but it might not be so nice for someone else.
Let's talk about the main character. Kosuzu is in the center of the story, but some others frequently makes appearance as well, most notably Reimu, Akyu and Mamizou. Kosuzu is a curious girl who has a weird fascination for youkai and youma books, to the point that Reimu and Marisa decided to keep an eye on her. Despite that, she is also not good with scary stuffs, but she is kind-hearted and her banter with Akyu always give a lot of background knowledge on Gensokyo. Akyu is just Akyu, she is a knowledgable person who writes the Gensokyo Chronicle (aka PMiSS and SoPm), but she also has a more childish side to her which she usually only shows to Kosuzu. Reimu is portrayed as a serious shrine maiden who also never lets go of any opportunity to make money, and her wits and intuition as well as her understanding of the rules of Gensokyo makes her look like a mature and very aware person (which is very different from how she is in Lotus Eater, and I prefer this version). As for Mamizou, I hate that character so let's skip her.
Also this printwork made me start to like Marisa more than Reimu, even though I liked Reimu more in the beginning.
The story is very enjoyable as a touhou fan, but for non-fans, I am not so sure, since there are a lot of characters that made cameo in this work, and one cannot understand the whole pictures of the story without some background knowledge from the games or from the previous printwork.
Some problem I had while I was reading this (spoilers so consider before reading)
First of all, I don't like how this entire story is set in the Human Village, and the blue/green one (Keine) did not show up. There was even a youkai-related incident at the temple school in the Village, but she still only made a cameo and did not get involved. Why?
Secondly, some of the story feels completely useless. My problem is the Nue part. She made an appearance right after the ox head thing, but it went nowhere. She even had less panels that that guy who was preaching about the end of the world and advertising Eientei's meds. (Yes I counted). Also, in volume 1, they introduced Sakuya and had her appear for 1 panel. I understand why it was made that way, but it feels a bit off.
Lastly, screw you Mamizou, I hate you so much, good thing Sumireko did not also appear in this printwork or Imma kermit sudoku