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sparrowhearted's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Might return to this review when it's not five in the morning.
- Biggest gripes are the writing choices as far as tone is involved (inconsistent, shifts occasionally so jarring it made me laugh in places i really shouldn't have).
- I usually struggle a lot with first person perspectives and while, from a technical standpoint, the writing is really inconsistent and muddy in that regard (are we looking at the world from Sai's perspective? Why do we suddenly know this particular little piece of information??) I had almost no issues with the perspective.
- Nothing overwhelmingly novel or groundbreaking, but sweet and a very easy read.
- Also, yes, largely predictable. One particular minor plot beat caught me off guard, but not in a way that had me reeling.
- Definitely for a target demographic younger than me, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how much fun I got out of the book all the same.
- The protagonists are a little flimsy, but mostly likeable all the same.
- Cheesy and cartoonish in places but all that considered I would probably recommend this book if someone were looking for an easy read that doesn't take up much brain space and comes with a fun xianxia coat of paint.
- Don't know if I would reread it, but I had fun with this.
- Biggest gripes are the writing choices as far as tone is involved (inconsistent, shifts occasionally so jarring it made me laugh in places i really shouldn't have).
- I usually struggle a lot with first person perspectives and while, from a technical standpoint, the writing is really inconsistent and muddy in that regard (are we looking at the world from Sai's perspective? Why do we suddenly know this particular little piece of information??) I had almost no issues with the perspective.
- Nothing overwhelmingly novel or groundbreaking, but sweet and a very easy read.
- Also, yes, largely predictable. One particular minor plot beat caught me off guard, but not in a way that had me reeling.
- Definitely for a target demographic younger than me, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how much fun I got out of the book all the same.
- The protagonists are a little flimsy, but mostly likeable all the same.
- Cheesy and cartoonish in places but all that considered I would probably recommend this book if someone were looking for an easy read that doesn't take up much brain space and comes with a fun xianxia coat of paint.
- Don't know if I would reread it, but I had fun with this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Blood
bionerdatgc's review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury
bluemoonrabbit's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
If I have to read "my fated one" one more time I may rip out my hair.
The book was mostly fast paced (minus some slog in the middle), especially fast at the end, it could have benefitted from more pages, I really wanted to like this book, in fact, the first 40% was enjoyable, and the book initially sat at 4 stars. The beginning really caught my attention, I loved the idea of Sai being a matchmaker and the opening scene was very well done in my opinion, a great way to open a book, but by the 40% mark the story starts slowly crumbling apart until it becomes a complete mess by the end. Specifically,it all fell apart when Jyn got injured in the desert (according to the notes past me made at least).
I am not sure where to even begin with this book, so I guess I will start with the horrendous prose. I did not notice it in the beginning, the writing seemed fine initially, but the more I read, the more annoying and juvenile it was, the prose is just so crap and I can't put into words why, it is just such poor quality. The dialogue is bad too, it is unnatural for one, but once Sai finds Jyn it gets even worse. I could go on and on about how much I hated Sai's use of petnames, he didn't even pick one pet name, he called Jyn every crappy nickname under the sun and the author always inserted them not only into the most awkward unnatural places, but the sheer quantity of the petnames made me want to put the book down forever.
The petnames are made even worse by the fact that their love feels so half baked and forced to begin with, the worst thing about reading this book was the fact I would read a passage and see what exactly the author was trying to do, convey, set up, and not in a good way, I would read a crappy paragraph and go "I see she is trying to set up Sai to have xyz personality and bring that back later in the book". I should not be able to pick apart a book like that when I am casually reading in bed.
This kind of like transparent writing made it really hard to believe they liked eachother, it was so instalove, which I don't even hate, and it technically makes sense here but it was still hard to read, especially because there was a grumpy sunshine trope shoehorned in, made worse by Jyn's very rough and awkward transition from "Go away Sai" to "I love you". All just so...unbelievable?
The characters were half baked too, all of them but especially the supporting cast. Captain Tian and his relationship to Sai made no sense, Feng was annoying andher death meant nothing , and that one weird cannibal guy was a wild card we did not need. The emperor's characterization sucked too. And Sai, that man was SO stupid and for what? For one, he can see red threads of fate but won't believe in shamans and dragon scales? He was also so stupid for punching Captain Tian, I had to put the book down. Jyn was another bad one, her self harm scene was so random, we have had 0 indication beforehand aside from her brooding a bit and now she is all depressed and cuts herself? So depressed she tried to kill Sai as a kid? . So random.
Alot of the story is really unrealistic, the sheer violence and how much the characters got hurt, even with adrenaline there is no way they could have moved let alone kept figting throughout the story, yes fiction will be unrealistic but this story took it way too far to the point of breaking immersion. The violence happening to begin with was odd, this reads like a solid younger end YA then randomly adds crazy gore out of nowhere, imagine watching Ponyo and Miyazaki inserts the level of violence you see in Princess Mononoke into Ponyo, very jarring. Also Sai caring so muchabout the blue dragon kid, then never even mentioning all the dead kids he had from his 700 lifetimes is SO weird like, fuck dem kids I guess because he didn't have them with his "fated one"? Him losing control was also just cringey, with the red eyes and bloodthirst and "omg Sai stop this, they're dead" please, is this Twilight? At this point, I am just complaining about random scenes that made no sense, of which there are ALOT, so it is better to move into worldbuilding.
It was lackluster. Honestly we know nothing, and when we learn things, it doesn't make sense, such as thesuper tall library, when Sai was looking at all those books on that shelf, the books were so diverse in topic, you'd think a library that large would be much more organized. The environments make no sense, jumping between deserts and mountains and seas, but they travel for 2 days on foot? Everything lacks thought, basically. Even the story of the dragons interluded within the book, though clearly a stylistic choice, came off as lazy.
Lastly, two large complaints, all to do with the last chapter or 2. One, DON'T FEED A NEWBORN HONEY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HER? Two, Sai was lowkey a pedo I can't lie,his logic for staying away from Jyn as she grew up wasn't "Gee would it not be weird to see my future lover grow from a baby into a woman, would it not be weird to eventually have sex with someone you knew for their whole life when you were the adult", no, HIS logic was " I want Jyn to have a normal childhood without me because she has been through so much", YOU SHOULD NOT WANNA BE IN YOUR WIFE'S CHILDHOOD EVER IF SHE IS A BABY AND YOU ARE A GROWN 25YO MAN!!!
Anyway, book cover is gorgeous and I've read worse.
The book was mostly fast paced (minus some slog in the middle), especially fast at the end, it could have benefitted from more pages, I really wanted to like this book, in fact, the first 40% was enjoyable, and the book initially sat at 4 stars. The beginning really caught my attention, I loved the idea of Sai being a matchmaker and the opening scene was very well done in my opinion, a great way to open a book, but by the 40% mark the story starts slowly crumbling apart until it becomes a complete mess by the end. Specifically,
I am not sure where to even begin with this book, so I guess I will start with the horrendous prose. I did not notice it in the beginning, the writing seemed fine initially, but the more I read, the more annoying and juvenile it was, the prose is just so crap and I can't put into words why, it is just such poor quality. The dialogue is bad too, it is unnatural for one, but once Sai finds Jyn it gets even worse. I could go on and on about how much I hated Sai's use of petnames, he didn't even pick one pet name, he called Jyn every crappy nickname under the sun and the author always inserted them not only into the most awkward unnatural places, but the sheer quantity of the petnames made me want to put the book down forever.
The petnames are made even worse by the fact that their love feels so half baked and forced to begin with, the worst thing about reading this book was the fact I would read a passage and see what exactly the author was trying to do, convey, set up, and not in a good way, I would read a crappy paragraph and go "I see she is trying to set up Sai to have xyz personality and bring that back later in the book". I should not be able to pick apart a book like that when I am casually reading in bed.
This kind of like transparent writing made it really hard to believe they liked eachother, it was so instalove, which I don't even hate, and it technically makes sense here but it was still hard to read, especially because there was a grumpy sunshine trope shoehorned in, made worse by Jyn's very rough and awkward transition from "Go away Sai" to "I love you". All just so...unbelievable?
The characters were half baked too, all of them but especially the supporting cast. Captain Tian and his relationship to Sai made no sense, Feng was annoying and
Alot of the story is really unrealistic, the sheer violence and how much the characters got hurt, even with adrenaline there is no way they could have moved let alone kept figting throughout the story, yes fiction will be unrealistic but this story took it way too far to the point of breaking immersion. The violence happening to begin with was odd, this reads like a solid younger end YA then randomly adds crazy gore out of nowhere, imagine watching Ponyo and Miyazaki inserts the level of violence you see in Princess Mononoke into Ponyo, very jarring. Also Sai caring so much
It was lackluster. Honestly we know nothing, and when we learn things, it doesn't make sense, such as the
Lastly, two large complaints, all to do with the last chapter or 2. One, DON'T FEED A NEWBORN HONEY ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL HER? Two, Sai was lowkey a pedo I can't lie,
Anyway, book cover is gorgeous and I've read worse.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Torture, and Murder
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and War
Minor: Child death and Sexual content
justinekorson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
4.75
I genuinely really enjoyed this novel. The romance between them was very sweet and although I knew who the two of them were right off the bat (the subtly of their backstories wasn't very subtle) I still had fun reading about it. I have to admit though that I think I confused this story with a different one because I thought this story would be queer. Jyn and Sai were so cute though and it was queer (their son's partner was a man and there were other queer characters) just not between the main characters like I assumed. I kind of hope there's a sequel because I'd love a story about their son being reincarnated but... I don't think I'd like to see R'ong again (his partner). If it's done well though I think I could be into it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War
emmychao's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
zluvsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
5.0
How the actual heck do I convey my love for this novel? There’s just no way, but I will try I suppose.
This was such a compelling emotional read. The world building was great and I loved the characters that had so much personality.
Sai, my silly little man. He was everything and more to me. I admired his strength and how he handled everything that happened in the last few chapters of the book. He was so down bad for his Fated One, it was amazing to read about. Just overall such a funny character who I will cherish forever and want to protect forever. Sai fan page over here!!
Jyn!! Oh my heart bleeds for Jyn. She’s just such a badass and the fact that she had to deal with what she had to deal with for so long is just like wow. She’s stronger than I ever could be in every way imaginable. I love protective badass FMCs and she was the embodiment of that. It was so funny seeing her interact with Sai when they first met.
Okay, so I just started crying again thinking about the ending like!!!!!! I just think that this is such a great read and everyone should read it. A beautiful fantasy first and foremost but with a love story at the heart of it. The romance was so good, I was giggling and blushing and crying and just like so interested in everything that I was reading.
There’s lots of violence, gore, blood, and just overall death in this but it was written in a way that you can feel it so heavily. I could smell and taste and see and hear everything. All my senses were attuned to this book!!!! Truly no words for how much I love it. Possibly my new favorite romantasy of all time. I love Sai and Jyn and A-Ma. I wish nothing but the best for them.
I love that some characters got what they deserved but oh my god, the swift deaths in this made my heart drop because I was not expecting them at all. My heart hurts. 11/10. I love pain, do it again!
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for allowing me to read an eARC and Saga Press for providing me with a physical ARC as well.
Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for allowing me to read an eARC and Saga Press for providing me with a physical ARC as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
the_alexeli's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-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
4.25
From the beginning, Kwan's writing is vivid and immersive, sweeping you into bith the story and the world. I absolutely adored the various folklore creatures and how eery they were. They helped sink me into the story even more.
The journey is this story is more an adventurous one than a perilous one. But that didn't seem to hinder my enjoyment at all even though I typically like a more action packed plot. I think it helped that Sai was such an endearing and sweet protagonist that you couldn't help but empathize with. Having a soft, sunshine boy be the protagonist of a hetero love story plot line was actually really refreshing.
One thing I would suggest is adding a content warning page. There was a couple pretty heavy themes to be blindsided by.
The journey is this story is more an adventurous one than a perilous one. But that didn't seem to hinder my enjoyment at all even though I typically like a more action packed plot. I think it helped that Sai was such an endearing and sweet protagonist that you couldn't help but empathize with. Having a soft, sunshine boy be the protagonist of a hetero love story plot line was actually really refreshing.
One thing I would suggest is adding a content warning page. There was a couple pretty heavy themes to be blindsided by.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
devynreadsnovels's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail