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boreasword's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
5.0
finedanddandy's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
fmlbuddyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dimdim_333's review against another edition
3.0
OKKK SOOOO for the most part I really liked this book. There was much more action, and I loved seeing the different POVS of all the different characters, especially my gorls Shae and Wen….i was lowkey so sad though because of what Hilo did in the book, and no he’s like not my favorite character anymore sadly….ANYWAYS, I needed to take off two points because there was so much political plot points in the book and it really wasn’t presented in a way where they build on each other. I feel like the plot was kind of like these political mini stories and then was wrapped up in the end in a mostly cohesive way (the ending was like the best part for me). I do feel like she tried to put in to much political drama that it kind of saturated the story way too much, to the point where I was getting a little tired of reading the book at certain points. But I’m glad I stayed towards the end because I thought the ending was done really well…
kim012's review against another edition
4.0
If the women in this book would just make all the decisions instead of all of these men I feel like a lot of stuff could have been avoided.
stru's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
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
4.25
kathrynk's review against another edition
3.0
I have thoughts about this book. I liked the first one well enough, it really felt like it was building the world and the conflict for the second book. But, like nothing happened? There was a lot of set-up but very little active conflict. It’s very political. I think the plot and characters are mostly okay. I liked Shae’s and Wen’s story arcs. The dueling was cool. It was fine.
But I have several issues with the book that just took me out of it early on. The main thing though is the actual writing drove me nuts. I listened to this as an audiobook initially, and maybe that made everything more apparent, but everything is soooo over explained. Fonda Lee gives no room to her readers to figure out things for themselves. She’ll write one line about something, and then spend another paragraph telling us the impact and implication of that line. My favorite example goes something like this: “he saw a bottle with a lit rag in it land on the floor.” As the reader you’re like oh shit, that’s a Molotov cocktail. But then Lee writes “he realized that in a couple seconds it would explode, putting everyone in the building in danger.” Like no shit, that’s what a Molotov cocktail does? Another one: “he took off his jade and hid it behind a brick and started to sweat and shudder” okay so at this point we know all about jade withdrawal. “So-and-so realized that other guy was going through jade withdrawal but took it off so it wouldn’t get confiscated.” Yes! That was obvious! I don’t need you to tell me! This happens throughout the book, where characters’ thoughts and feelings are told instead of shown to us. It was incredibly frustrating to listen to. I will say that once I switched to reading the text (to get through the book quicker…) it was a lot less noticeable, but still there.
The other part of the writing I didn’t like - reading this book (especially listening to it) was like listening to someone describe a movie to you that you can’t see or hear. There’s so much tell and very little show. For example, there’s very little dialogue. There’s a lot of “he told this person that….” So we’re told the conversation happens, but we don’t get to see it happen. There are also so many time skips that are only conveyed through this “tell don’t show” style of writing. For example, a chapter could end with a character knowing he needed to do XYZ, it’s gonna be a big deal. But then in the next chapter it will be like “it had been four months since so-and-so did XYZ.” So we don’t even get to see it happen! If feels like we’re reading the cliff notes and it makes the book draaaag. It’s incredibly frustrating because there are aspects of the book and series that I do find really interesting and I know at it’s core there is a good story here, but I feel so distant from every character that I just don’t care.
And that brings me to the final main thing about this book that I didn’t enjoy - Hilo. I hate Hilo. I know we’re supposed to be rooting for the Kaul’s but Hilo is horrible and I want him gone and honestly, Ayt Mada deserves to win this clan struggle because Hilo does such a poor job managing his clan. And I feel like all the talk about how the the clan way of life is the only way of life is just so toxic and does not endear me to to anyone on Kekon. I think the clan way of life should die.
Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to give it lower than three stars. I don’t think it’s a bad book, and I will probably read the third book eventually because I do want to know how it all ends, but this was a very frustrating reading experience.
But I have several issues with the book that just took me out of it early on. The main thing though is the actual writing drove me nuts. I listened to this as an audiobook initially, and maybe that made everything more apparent, but everything is soooo over explained. Fonda Lee gives no room to her readers to figure out things for themselves. She’ll write one line about something, and then spend another paragraph telling us the impact and implication of that line. My favorite example goes something like this: “he saw a bottle with a lit rag in it land on the floor.” As the reader you’re like oh shit, that’s a Molotov cocktail. But then Lee writes “he realized that in a couple seconds it would explode, putting everyone in the building in danger.” Like no shit, that’s what a Molotov cocktail does? Another one: “he took off his jade and hid it behind a brick and started to sweat and shudder” okay so at this point we know all about jade withdrawal. “So-and-so realized that other guy was going through jade withdrawal but took it off so it wouldn’t get confiscated.” Yes! That was obvious! I don’t need you to tell me! This happens throughout the book, where characters’ thoughts and feelings are told instead of shown to us. It was incredibly frustrating to listen to. I will say that once I switched to reading the text (to get through the book quicker…) it was a lot less noticeable, but still there.
The other part of the writing I didn’t like - reading this book (especially listening to it) was like listening to someone describe a movie to you that you can’t see or hear. There’s so much tell and very little show. For example, there’s very little dialogue. There’s a lot of “he told this person that….” So we’re told the conversation happens, but we don’t get to see it happen. There are also so many time skips that are only conveyed through this “tell don’t show” style of writing. For example, a chapter could end with a character knowing he needed to do XYZ, it’s gonna be a big deal. But then in the next chapter it will be like “it had been four months since so-and-so did XYZ.” So we don’t even get to see it happen! If feels like we’re reading the cliff notes and it makes the book draaaag. It’s incredibly frustrating because there are aspects of the book and series that I do find really interesting and I know at it’s core there is a good story here, but I feel so distant from every character that I just don’t care.
And that brings me to the final main thing about this book that I didn’t enjoy - Hilo. I hate Hilo. I know we’re supposed to be rooting for the Kaul’s but Hilo is horrible and I want him gone and honestly, Ayt Mada deserves to win this clan struggle because Hilo does such a poor job managing his clan. And I feel like all the talk about how the the clan way of life is the only way of life is just so toxic and does not endear me to to anyone on Kekon. I think the clan way of life should die.
Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to give it lower than three stars. I don’t think it’s a bad book, and I will probably read the third book eventually because I do want to know how it all ends, but this was a very frustrating reading experience.
nerual_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
itscori15's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. It just keeps getting better and better. This world always has me on my toes! Cannot wait to see what happens next. I’m so nervous! 😬