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mollieweitzman's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
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
4.0
This book is very well written and true to itself!! So good as an audiobook! I seriously flew through it, such a fun fantasy! One thing that drove me crazy was the time skips. There’s no indicator of how old Xingyin is at any point and she’ll be in the celestial kingdom for a few chapters but all of a sudden it’s referenced that she’s just been there for years??? At least it was consistently done that way but it made it impossible to tell how much time has really passed when “years” is just referenced in passing inner monologue. The author also uses a lot of foreshadowing in her descriptors of certain characters which made the relationships very predictable, some people might like this like I liked that I was able to guess certain twists but other times I wish I’d been more surprised. Xingyin can definitely be a little annoying and frustrating sometimes as many MCs often are but again it’s very consistent and she stays true to herself. I’m excited to read the next one!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
sam_reads19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, and War
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Death of parent
annamorgan27's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol and Death of parent
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Death, Classism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture, War, and Death of parent
gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
Buddy read with KatiEllen'sBookishAdventure & HillsOfBooks.
I was so behind on the buddy read, with no pressure other than my own, that I decided to download the ebook for my travels. I then found the audiobook on YouTube, from Harper Collins, with a narrator with a mesmerising voice, which really helped me properly ground myself back into the story from chapter 4 and was super helpful in the pronunciation of our character names.
I loved Xingyin and all that she stood for. She did come across as very stubborn and prideful, that some may not get on with, but for me, I interpreted her pride as a strong sense of self and resilience and I feel like her competitive nature and determination to prove herself, time and time again, came from her isolation in a very tight family home up until this point.
I felt like her abundance of pride was more to do with Xingyin never having to face such critique before and has had to face a sharp humbling by going into servitude to get established in the Imortal Realm.
I struggled with the time jumps. This is something I tend to struggle with most times. It just feels cloudy to me, and I lose sense of time and place. I couldn't comprehend how many achievements had been made in such quick succession because I couldn't grapple with how much time was supposed to have passed. I think the only solid acknowledgement of it was a passing "2 years" mentioned, but other than that, I found it hard to feel grounded, was disorientated in that earlier portion after the flee, and a lot felt told rather than shown during these speed through the years. I felt like I needed a more cultivated balance of not showing us everything, but showing us enough that it made sense that a substantial amount of time has past... but also... immortals... so time is a construct.
I had so many conflicting emotions when it came to Liwei and Wenzhi. I loved them. I hated them... I think I was just team Xingyin all the way because I just felt for her through everything, but the heartbreak I felt was probably more than she had!
I enjoyed that although this was fantasy, it had a lot of militant themes too. I don't typically read lots of military fantasy, or fantasy where it's a larger portion of the story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially seeing all the different parts of the Celestial Kingdoms, who sided with who, political intrigue, etc.
Overall, this was a fantastic start to the Celestial Kingdom duology and an even better debut.
I was so behind on the buddy read, with no pressure other than my own, that I decided to download the ebook for my travels. I then found the audiobook on YouTube, from Harper Collins, with a narrator with a mesmerising voice, which really helped me properly ground myself back into the story from chapter 4 and was super helpful in the pronunciation of our character names.
I loved Xingyin and all that she stood for. She did come across as very stubborn and prideful, that some may not get on with, but for me, I interpreted her pride as a strong sense of self and resilience and I feel like her competitive nature and determination to prove herself, time and time again, came from her isolation in a very tight family home up until this point.
I felt like her abundance of pride was more to do with Xingyin never having to face such critique before and has had to face a sharp humbling by going into servitude to get established in the Imortal Realm.
I struggled with the time jumps. This is something I tend to struggle with most times. It just feels cloudy to me, and I lose sense of time and place. I couldn't comprehend how many achievements had been made in such quick succession because I couldn't grapple with how much time was supposed to have passed. I think the only solid acknowledgement of it was a passing "2 years" mentioned, but other than that, I found it hard to feel grounded, was disorientated in that earlier portion after the flee, and a lot felt told rather than shown during these speed through the years. I felt like I needed a more cultivated balance of not showing us everything, but showing us enough that it made sense that a substantial amount of time has past... but also... immortals... so time is a construct.
I had so many conflicting emotions when it came to Liwei and Wenzhi. I loved them. I hated them... I think I was just team Xingyin all the way because I just felt for her through everything, but the heartbreak I felt was probably more than she had!
I enjoyed that although this was fantasy, it had a lot of militant themes too. I don't typically read lots of military fantasy, or fantasy where it's a larger portion of the story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially seeing all the different parts of the Celestial Kingdoms, who sided with who, political intrigue, etc.
Overall, this was a fantastic start to the Celestial Kingdom duology and an even better debut.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Self harm, War, and Violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Bullying
tashtasher's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, War, and Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent, Blood, Bullying, and Gore
morvvenna's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Classism, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and War
Minor: Torture and Pregnancy
mayhem9683's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Torture
Moderate: Emotional abuse
avie_j's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Torture
sugaryplum's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book so much! The author writes in such a beautiful way, especially the descriptions (through it felt a bit slow at times!). I loved the love triangle, it felt really respectful and the main character wasn't simply throwing people around! It honestly felt like the perfect YA book.
The only thing I wish was for the pace to be a bit quicker at times, it felt like there were too many descriptions of how things looked that were fitted between scenes making me really impatient to find out what's happening, I stopped caring about the ceiling when we are at a moment full of suspense and my eyes ended up skipping the descriptions to get going! It just felt a bit winded, HOWEVER, the book is so amazing that you honestly can very easily ignore these parts. There is so much story, the characters are so well written and there is a good amount of plot twists that you'd never expect. Another thing I congratulate the author for is closing all the plots so well in the end, the book would be great as a stand alone (not fully sure if I will read the sequel, it ended so well!) and I was left without questions. If you love fantasy, romances with princes, light and respectful love triangles with strong female leads without gore and unnecessary bloodshed this is for you!
This NEEDS to be turned into a TV show or something! It deserves the praise.
The only thing I wish was for the pace to be a bit quicker at times, it felt like there were too many descriptions of how things looked that were fitted between scenes making me really impatient to find out what's happening, I stopped caring about the ceiling when we are at a moment full of suspense and my eyes ended up skipping the descriptions to get going! It just felt a bit winded, HOWEVER, the book is so amazing that you honestly can very easily ignore these parts. There is so much story, the characters are so well written and there is a good amount of plot twists that you'd never expect. Another thing I congratulate the author for is closing all the plots so well in the end, the book would be great as a stand alone (not fully sure if I will read the sequel, it ended so well!) and I was left without questions. If you love fantasy, romances with princes, light and respectful love triangles with strong female leads without gore and unnecessary bloodshed this is for you!
This NEEDS to be turned into a TV show or something! It deserves the praise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny