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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
THE TITLES OF THIS DUOLOGY RHYME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a war for light and love & a victory of pain and loss
while DSBAFW was in part repetitive, mundane, and predictable, it makes up for it by establishing satisfying ends to both our heroes' journey. lan and zen, though diametrically opposed, provide equally interesting insights into the paths they chose and the reasoning behind it. one stands for vengeance and the other for righteous anger, but, in a kingdom on the brink of extinction, one cannot exist without the other. that realization leaves their interactions charged, hurt and desperation fighting to win. in the end, it is their love that succeeds in taking over and drives them to the heartbreaking choice that ultimately saves the kingdom.
i'm often more lenient with books that can wrench tears out of me, and DSBAFW did incredibly well in that regard. though i found the plot lacking in some parts, the characters remained interesting to me throughout and i had an absolute blast in the Last Kingdom. i wouldn't say no to going back.
quotes that shifted my brain chemistry
while DSBAFW was in part repetitive, mundane, and predictable, it makes up for it by establishing satisfying ends to both our heroes' journey. lan and zen, though diametrically opposed, provide equally interesting insights into the paths they chose and the reasoning behind it. one stands for vengeance and the other for righteous anger, but, in a kingdom on the brink of extinction, one cannot exist without the other. that realization leaves their interactions charged, hurt and desperation fighting to win. in the end, it is their love that succeeds in taking over and drives them to the heartbreaking choice that ultimately saves the kingdom.
i'm often more lenient with books that can wrench tears out of me, and DSBAFW did incredibly well in that regard. though i found the plot lacking in some parts, the characters remained interesting to me throughout and i had an absolute blast in the Last Kingdom. i wouldn't say no to going back.
quotes that shifted my brain chemistry
"I am a disciple of the School of the White Pines. I am the matriarch of the Jorshen Steel clan. And I am a practitioner of the Last Kingdom. I will not stand by while my people die."
Perhaps one day, they would live in a land where they no longer needed to run.
Just how much of the beauty of life in this land had the humans destroyed over time?
"I left the broth for you on the table," he said quietly. "It will replenish your qì. When we meet again, I will make it for you fresh."
"I learned the lesson from my mother that there is no telling what might happen in war," she said. "But I can tell you we will meet again. If not in this life, then in the next one." She paused. "And I will still beat you in every art of practitioning, little fox spirit."
quotes that gave me a weird lump in my throat
He knew her qì so well that, in this big city filled with people, he had found her.
In every life, whether this one or the next or ten thousand more, Zen would jump with her.
The truth remained between them: the stars might burn and ash might rain from the skies, but Lan had not the strength to take, with her own hands, the life of the boy she had once loved.
He had stopped moving, leaving a respectable five paces between them. She wished it were farther. She wished it were closer.
And I would want to love you, without being forced to choose a different path.
"There, we will have everything we didn't in this life. We will meet at a school bookhouse, perhaps—the courtyard outside a classroom, where you will be eating pork buns and I will be studying beneath a giant cypress tree. We will wed, with a big ceremony full of family and friends and masters, and we will have children and teach them everything there is to know about this world. And there, I will love you every moment of every day that was owed to us in this life."
And if Zen could close his eyes and pick the single point in time when his story had begun to diverge from his chosen path...it would be the moment in the crowded Haak'gong teahouse when he'd set eyes upon the girl with the silver-bells voice and a páo like snow.
"With you by my side, I have already known a lifetime of joy."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Grief
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
all books that make me cry deserve a 5 star I AM SO USED TO THE POWER OF LOVE BEING USED AS AN ARMOUR PLOT BUT WHEN I KNOW THAT HE IS NOT COMING BACK I JUST BURST INTO TEARS. i even put hope in shanjun knowing that he is the ‘doctor’ but bro the author really said not today 😭😭 ‘in another life’ baby there is no another life i need to know it right now… also lan telling the story about how in another life when there is no war and conquest, when they will don red robes for marriage just broke me life is so cruel…
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
really enjoyed this sequel! there were parts that i enjoyed more than the previous volume (ie:zen and lan's tender relationship, the crushing angst, and the expanded demon lore ) and parts that i enjoyed less (ie: the utter pointlessness of erascius, lan's complete inflexibility for the first 1/2 even though she wasn't raised in the sect and thereby shouldn't have such strongly held prejudices?? ) so i think they about cancel each other out, yielding the same rating from me. i will say though, my poor bb zen deserved better . ok that is all
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes