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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for an eARC of this book; all opinions are my own.
Ever since her younger brother attacked her and her older brother, Elle has had one goal: keep her brother safe, and keep her head down. So, instead of exercising her immense healing power, she is underemployed as a calligrapher, creating glyphs and potions for the fairy temp agency. Her plan to stay innocuous fails when one of her potions accidentally saves Luc, a half-elf, and he requests glyphs to aid in his next mission. Little does Elle know, that mission is to hunt down her younger brother.
My feelings are so mixed... The concept of this book is really intriguing: fairies and other mythical creatures exist and have their own bureaucracy and way of life amidst that of humans. However, the execution falls short in many ways. The rules of this world are so confusing and ephemeral that I kept forgetting why certain things were the way they were, and then realized I hadn't forgotten and the book had simply failed to tell me. Certain aspects of the world, such as the laes, were interestingly explained and manipulated through the story, but at other times I was left floundering as characters threw around words that were never defined in the context of this story.
The pacing of this book was equally confusing, with the climax happening around 70% of the way through, and the last 30% being a weird crawl to the end following an entirely different plot. I truly believe the climax that occurred at the beginning of the third act could've been stretched out since the main conflict of the story (that Luc is hunting down Elle's brother) resolves within the span of literally one chapter. I like the resolution of the story but felt that it could've easily been incorporated into the first conflict, instead of an entirely new plot being constructed for the last 30% of the book.
While there were some absolutely heart-wrenching moments (read: just one, but it was *devastating*), the prose in some places was cringey at best. Tell me why Elle's narration went "somewhere in the world a trombone went womp womp. She is supposedly 124 years old; why is she narrating like a teenager. I love when immortal characters have an immature streak, think Magnus Bane from the Shadowhunters series, but I love it even more when that immature streak contrasts with their wisdom and seriousness from living so long. Maybe it's different in the world of Bitter Medicine because there are so many immortals and they live amongst one another, so the grief of outliving your family isn't pressing, but I don't know... I just wish that these characters acted more like the centuries-old beings they are supposed to be, instead of spouting cringe-inducing lines every other page.
The cringe lines also make the R-rated scenes stand out even more. I genuinely didn't know whether this was an adult or YA book because of the narration style until people were losing clothes and we didn't fade to black. The scenes themselves were alright, and really just made the immature prose stand out even more. There's a certain audience for adult books with more casual prose, and I am unfortunately not in that audience :/.
One thing that is indisputably in this book's favor: the representation. Almost every character is some shade of queer, and there was incredible racial diversity as well. The representation is definitely a high point of this book, and I wish more books were as unapologetically diverse as this one. This is the one aspect of the book I can't criticize at all.
I really wanted to love this book, but it is so scattered that I can't help feeling disappointed. I think the characters and story have so much promise; I just wish the execution were tighter.
Ever since her younger brother attacked her and her older brother, Elle has had one goal: keep her brother safe, and keep her head down. So, instead of exercising her immense healing power, she is underemployed as a calligrapher, creating glyphs and potions for the fairy temp agency. Her plan to stay innocuous fails when one of her potions accidentally saves Luc, a half-elf, and he requests glyphs to aid in his next mission. Little does Elle know, that mission is to hunt down her younger brother.
My feelings are so mixed... The concept of this book is really intriguing: fairies and other mythical creatures exist and have their own bureaucracy and way of life amidst that of humans. However, the execution falls short in many ways. The rules of this world are so confusing and ephemeral that I kept forgetting why certain things were the way they were, and then realized I hadn't forgotten and the book had simply failed to tell me. Certain aspects of the world, such as the laes, were interestingly explained and manipulated through the story, but at other times I was left floundering as characters threw around words that were never defined in the context of this story.
The pacing of this book was equally confusing, with the climax happening around 70% of the way through, and the last 30% being a weird crawl to the end following an entirely different plot. I truly believe the climax that occurred at the beginning of the third act could've been stretched out since the main conflict of the story (that Luc is hunting down Elle's brother) resolves within the span of literally one chapter. I like the resolution of the story but felt that it could've easily been incorporated into the first conflict, instead of an entirely new plot being constructed for the last 30% of the book.
While there were some absolutely heart-wrenching moments (read: just one, but it was *devastating*), the prose in some places was cringey at best. Tell me why Elle's narration went "somewhere in the world a trombone went womp womp. She is supposedly 124 years old; why is she narrating like a teenager. I love when immortal characters have an immature streak, think Magnus Bane from the Shadowhunters series, but I love it even more when that immature streak contrasts with their wisdom and seriousness from living so long. Maybe it's different in the world of Bitter Medicine because there are so many immortals and they live amongst one another, so the grief of outliving your family isn't pressing, but I don't know... I just wish that these characters acted more like the centuries-old beings they are supposed to be, instead of spouting cringe-inducing lines every other page.
The cringe lines also make the R-rated scenes stand out even more. I genuinely didn't know whether this was an adult or YA book because of the narration style until people were losing clothes and we didn't fade to black. The scenes themselves were alright, and really just made the immature prose stand out even more. There's a certain audience for adult books with more casual prose, and I am unfortunately not in that audience :/.
One thing that is indisputably in this book's favor: the representation. Almost every character is some shade of queer, and there was incredible racial diversity as well. The representation is definitely a high point of this book, and I wish more books were as unapologetically diverse as this one. This is the one aspect of the book I can't criticize at all.
I really wanted to love this book, but it is so scattered that I can't help feeling disappointed. I think the characters and story have so much promise; I just wish the execution were tighter.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
This book pleasantly surprised me with a beautiful and tender relationship I found myself rooting for.
this was a terrific read, I loved the multilingual, multicultural world Tsai depicts, and I absolutely can't wait to read more books set in this world. (is that happening? is it coming?) I particularly loved a couple of small details about the sex scenes -- they talk about condoms AND lube, plus we see the FMC asking the MMC several times if he wants to keep going with the sex they're having. so nice to see!
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
medium-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is surprisingly casually queer. This is a very diverse book and I appreciate the queer main character, Luc. M/F romance with HEA.
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia, Racism