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sreddous's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A colorful story with some interesting and delicate problems to solve!
I think the magic system here is really cool. The idea of abominations and how they can take different forms was really spooky and made me never be able to trust anything, which was a ton of fun.
The stakes are super terrifying and high all the time, which makes the action scenes super easy to get lost in. The political and social stuff is interesting too. The depiction of the way the stepmom treats Zhara and her sister genuinely made me anxious (in a good way!) and it was interesting watching Zhara try to manage such delicate social AND magical situations. The little cinnamon-roll romance was perfectly lovely. I appreciated how much actual time the main characters spent together, connecting -- talking about their hobbies and about experiences they'd like to have. Nice stuff!
I see some other reviewers kind of wondering where the Sailor Moon comparison comes in, and I think that's a fair question - I think the elemental magic thing could technically count as the overlap but in general I'd agree this isn't really similar in tone or pacing or emotional friendship connections that Sailor Moon is.
The thing that stops this from being an immersive experience for me is: the dialogue. There were a lot of times that the dialogue felt like a shortcut to telling the audience things, and it felt unnatural a lot. I found myself getting super annoyed pretty often at how repetitive and "tell this to the audience! Make sure they are told!" a lot of things feel through the dialogue. I had to put the book down for a little while out of annoyance around page 325 when we have the Princess incredulously ask Han if he's stupid literally twice, then, she immediately switches tone and talks about how she wants to team up with him because she already knew he was stupid. Jiyi and Xu also constanttttttly comment on how stupid Han is. And then, almost literally every time Xu addressed Han when they were in hiding, Xu is constantly almost accidentally calling him by his prince title or real name. The "My pri -- I mean, Han," stuff was a cute little "oops!" gimmick the first time, but it was just annoying and tell-don't-show-okay-I-get-it-jeez by the 600,000th time.
And the bigger problem is: in my opinion, Han doesn't even really ever do anything ALL that legitimately dense. He just... asks a lot of clarifying questions. Well, I, the reader, am often as lost in this world as he is, so I don't really appreciate Xu and the Princess calling ME stupid, like, not kidding, SO MANY TIMES, for having the same questions. It just made it hard to connect to these characters.
Overall, I enjoyed this! I'd read a sequel since this world is so interesting, as long as, in the place of repetitive dialogue, we instead get more cool magical details.
I think the magic system here is really cool. The idea of abominations and how they can take different forms was really spooky and made me never be able to trust anything, which was a ton of fun.
The stakes are super terrifying and high all the time, which makes the action scenes super easy to get lost in. The political and social stuff is interesting too. The depiction of the way the stepmom treats Zhara and her sister genuinely made me anxious (in a good way!) and it was interesting watching Zhara try to manage such delicate social AND magical situations. The little cinnamon-roll romance was perfectly lovely. I appreciated how much actual time the main characters spent together, connecting -- talking about their hobbies and about experiences they'd like to have. Nice stuff!
I see some other reviewers kind of wondering where the Sailor Moon comparison comes in, and I think that's a fair question - I think the elemental magic thing could technically count as the overlap but in general I'd agree this isn't really similar in tone or pacing or emotional friendship connections that Sailor Moon is.
The thing that stops this from being an immersive experience for me is: the dialogue. There were a lot of times that the dialogue felt like a shortcut to telling the audience things, and it felt unnatural a lot. I found myself getting super annoyed pretty often at how repetitive and "tell this to the audience! Make sure they are told!" a lot of things feel through the dialogue. I had to put the book down for a little while out of annoyance around page 325 when we have the Princess incredulously ask Han if he's stupid literally twice, then, she immediately switches tone and talks about how she wants to team up with him because she already knew he was stupid. Jiyi and Xu also constanttttttly comment on how stupid Han is. And then, almost literally every time Xu addressed Han when they were in hiding, Xu is constantly almost accidentally calling him by his prince title or real name. The "My pri -- I mean, Han," stuff was a cute little "oops!" gimmick the first time, but it was just annoying and tell-don't-show-okay-I-get-it-jeez by the 600,000th time.
And the bigger problem is: in my opinion, Han doesn't even really ever do anything ALL that legitimately dense. He just... asks a lot of clarifying questions. Well, I, the reader, am often as lost in this world as he is, so I don't really appreciate Xu and the Princess calling ME stupid, like, not kidding, SO MANY TIMES, for having the same questions. It just made it hard to connect to these characters.
Overall, I enjoyed this! I'd read a sequel since this world is so interesting, as long as, in the place of repetitive dialogue, we instead get more cool magical details.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Child abuse
guessgreenleaf's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism
ezwolf's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I feel like I've hit a bit of a wall with enjoying the books I've read recently, but this book was a fun and fast paced read.
The way the author used English to mimic how characters would have spoke in other languages was so interesting and gave it a unique quality. The magic system, while similar to others I've read about, still felt different than what I've read before.
I loved that both Zhara and Han had younger siblings that they were fighting to protect. And Xu! I loved Xu, they are probably my favorite character with Yuli coming in close second. Even though there was a romantic subplot with Zhara and Han, the friendship between them and Xu and Jiyi and eventually Yuli felt genuine and just as important as the romance. And the inclusion of queer characters was a delightful surprise.
The writing was a bit repetitive at times, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
The way the author used English to mimic how characters would have spoke in other languages was so interesting and gave it a unique quality. The magic system, while similar to others I've read about, still felt different than what I've read before.
I loved that both Zhara and Han had younger siblings that they were fighting to protect. And Xu! I loved Xu, they are probably my favorite character with Yuli coming in close second. Even though there was a romantic subplot with Zhara and Han, the friendship between them and Xu and Jiyi and eventually Yuli felt genuine and just as important as the romance. And the inclusion of queer characters was a delightful surprise.
The writing was a bit repetitive at times, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story.
Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Body horror, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, and Animal death
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