Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan

14 reviews

jackiie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, War, Abandonment, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Grief, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Vomit and Child abuse

annorabrady's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

I liked the story when told from Ahn's POV but I felt like having Altan's POV was unnecessary and rarely added to the story. In many cases, I feel like his POV detracted from the story because it gives the reader too many answers before they've been earned. His character is good, don't get me wrong, just not one I think that should share in the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Classism, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

caityreviews's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

It was ok, but I found it very predictable. The prose was also not very good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

kirstenf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Murder, Medical content, Blood, and War

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, Torture, Suicide, and Confinement

booksthatburn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

JADE FIRE GOLD stars Ahn, a peasant girl who finds out that her past is more complicated than she remembers, and Altan, in hiding and making a play for his lost throne.

I loved the first part of the book and then felt like the second half was just okay. It had a tendency to cut away after emotionally intense moments. There felt like too many scenes of watching someone open a door (literally or metaphorically), gasping at what they found inside, then immediately switching to the other character's perspective in a different location and a different emotional beat. A few of these switches were when Ahn and Altan were in the same scenes together. I liked some of those moments where one of them says something and then the perspective switches for the other person's reaction, but it started to feel like a movie with too much cross-cutting. It's a fine technique, but it shouldn't be the only way to edit the scene.

The characters' backstories are conveyed through worries, nightmares, and thoughts about how the present day is shadowed by the past. Because of the empire's use of physical mutilations as punishment followed by shunning, there are complicated layers of ableism established early on which then don't really go anywhere. The audiobook narrators work well as a pair, their performances fit the characters.

I like how there are several queer secondary characters, but it started to feel a bit like both protagonists got their own gay best friend. That thought might just be my irritation in the book as a whole coming out in something pithy, but it’s a thought I couldn’t shake once I had it. At times it feels more like they're queer so that they won't distract from the romance with the main pair, which was so flimsy that even the possibility they could like someone else would be enough to shred it. It felt like Ahn and Altan spent so long dancing around the idea of a relationship that by the time they actually maybe acknowledge their feelings I’d formed the opinion that they wouldn’t be good together. It’s just enough romantic vibes to keep it from being a platonic guy/girl teamup, but not enough romance to matter to the plot. It’s an awkward middle ground which might be setting up something for the clearly intended sequel, but as of this review in 2022 it doesn’t look like that’ll happen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Death of parent, Child death, Ableism, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy, Vomit, and Suicide

kbairbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

As always my reading experiences based on my own perceptions, my own expectations, and my own understanding. I definitely think that this was not as good of a reader as it could’ve been because in my effort one day to see how many pages there were in this book I saw the last line and that colored my perception of what was happening at certain points because I thought there was a note of incest but I was wrong and it makes me sad that my eyes betrayed me like that and messed with my perceptions of the story.There was too much world dumping at the beginning of the book and I spent the entire ready of the book confused which was frustrating and I liked it the lesbian lovers and the representation there and it was a fine read I just spent the majority of it confused and their questions at the end but I almost kind of don’t care about the answers? I don’t know if this was a confusing read for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Confinement, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Self harm, Child death, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and War

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Eating disorder

Minor: Animal death

abbyschalupa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Death, Gaslighting, Self harm, Grief, Blood, and Suicide

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Gore, Abandonment, Classism, and Death of parent

bookishflower's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-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

3.75

3.75/5 
- I have to kill you trope
- elemental magic 
- political intrigue 
- slow burn romance 
- heavily inspired by Chinese mythology 

This book had beautiful writing with a rich influence of Chinese mythology, wlw and mlm rep, good world building and magic system, and importantly a balance of light and dark moments. 

I do, however, think I would have enjoyed it even more if I went into it with the right expectations. I was recommended Jade Fire Gold as a book similar to Avatar the last Airbender if zutara was endgame, but I think it’s more accurately a book centred in politics and family trauma. The romance is more a slow-burn sub-plot- which I didn’t mind at all as I enjoy a keener focus on the fantasy world over romance- but was surprising based on my expectations going in. 

Once I got my head around that, however, you definitely root for the characters- I personally loved Tang Wei and the cluelessness of the main characters when they are around each other- they are lovable and true to their characterisation throughout with good character development. 

I believe the book would be perfect as a duology rather than a stand-alone to finish up

what happened to Ahn’s mother, what Altan’s sister wants and her story, if Leiye returned Tai Shun’s feelings, how Altan will be as a ruler, how Ahn and Altan’s relationship will develop, and how Ahn will cope with the impact of what she has done. But it is still very enjoyable and a good standalone in its own right. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Self harm, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Torture

Moderate: War

Minor: Animal death

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Blood, Gore, and War

mothie_girlie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Misogyny