Loooovvvvvvvved this. Recommended to all for its serious issues and light humor, good friendships, actual stakes and tension but nothing too horrible happening on-screen. The story occupies its novella length comfortably and moves along well. The fantasy elements and ghost story are delightful. This is what I needed right now, or maybe just what I crave all the time.

library_gremlin's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-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

figsofpeach's review against another edition

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relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

bookswithjk's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A bit of a departure from the other three books, but this may be my favorite of the series. The message is clear - what is a person, but a thousand stories? We may know only version, but others may know a second, a third, etc.

readerbot_lu's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Did I like it? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes

Favorite Quote

“People grow up. I get to grow up, and I get to change. I’m not going to mope around heartbroken forever because we thought we were both going to get to leave and see the world, and then I couldn’t. You can’t expect me to be your old friend from home who loves to hear about your great adventures!” (Ru, 57)

Positives

This novella felt much darker than the others because Chih was actually one of the story participants. I mentioned in my review of Into the Riverlands that Chih seems to be taking a more active role in the stories they “observe” and that trend continues here. Chih’s grief and nostalgia Chih felt very real to me.

Negatives

One of the themes of this series is how people aren’t always human. This was a powerful subplot in this novella, but I felt like

having Myriad Virtues turn into a human doppelgänger of Thien at the end (which solved the main plot problem)

doesn’t reinforce the neixins’ personhood and independence from the human clerics.

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