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bionerdatgc's review
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
littleskylights's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
I wouldn't say that it necessarily blew my mind in any way, but it was a fun story, and I enjoyed the characters and the plot. It was pretty obvious from the beginning what the twist was, but it was still interesting to watch it unfold.
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts
justinekorson's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War
kaneebli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, and War
Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
fictionandfarming's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.5
The Last Dragon of the East is a fast-paced and dramatic fantasy romance debut from Canadian author Katrina Kwan. Told from the POV of Sai, a young man struggling to keep his family’s teashop afloat while also caring for his ill mother, the story kicks off quickly and sends Sai on an epic adventure inspired by Chinese legends and myths.
Our introduction to Sai and his regular life is quick and well-executed, displaying his ability to see the red threads of fate and the way the people around him react to his gift before taking us back to the teashop where we meet Sai’s mother. While his mother doesn’t get a lot of page time, the moments we do get are very sweet.
The pacing after Sai finds himself in trouble and sent to find the dragon felt disjointed until we reach the point where he meets Jyn. Once the pair are forced together the pacing begins to feel much more natural and everything begins to really come together.
As far as characters go, Jyn was the highlight for me, the poor woman has really been through it, not to mention the way Sai kept needing to be saved. I would have loved to see more of Feng, but she certainly leaves an impression regardless. I can’t help but feel that Sai is such a big dork (meant affectionately), the man has no sense of self-preservation, but he certainly means well and has such an optimistic attitude to everything.
While I enjoyed the way Kwan told the story, the violence was comically over-the-top and detracted from the story. The sheer amount of violence was heavy-handed and stretched my ability to suspend disbelief, and there was a feeling of dissonance between the romantic/myth storyline and the violence.
Overall, a solid debut from a promising author that will definitely appeal to lovers of soulmates and love stories that feel like the stuff of legend.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada/Saga Press for making the DRC available to me. All opinions are my own.
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cannibalism
Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
voxiies's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I really loved Sai and very much enjoyed reading this from his point of view. His ability to see the red string of fate on others (and his own gray string) had me very intrigued. Sai's journey throughout this book was very surprising. At first I thought this story was going to be much more on the cozy side, but was pleasantly (well, sort of) surprised by the darker turns in Sai's quest. The highs were high and the lows were sub-level.
While I did enjoy all the characters I wish this book was more rounded out. I wanted to know more about Jyn, all the dragons, Feng, and even the Emperor. I would have also loved more about their world and even greater details about the fei and other creatures encountered. Though I can understand why it was not included since the story was restricted to Sai's point of view.
Overall I loved reading this story about Sai and his Fated One even if it broke my heart and mended it a bit in the end.
Thank you to Saga Press and NetGallet for the eArc!
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Cannibalism