Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

12 reviews

city_girl_writer's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

What an unconventional romantasy thriller in every part of each genre!
  • Fantasy = reincarnation in an endless loop like a curse
  • Romance = multiple love stories throughout time
  • Thriller = wanting to turn the page to find out what happens next with outside forces getting in the way of these love stories
This will not be for everyone (especially not for romance readers who want a HEA), but it was really cool to see 3 interconnected love stories come together and yell "what the fuck?!" at the end. I will read more from this author in the future.

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sarahb919's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

A wild ride from start to finish!

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adalinemccormick's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.75


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heather667's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.0


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litoreads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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


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sandreline's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious 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

4.5

To temper expectations, I think this book was marketed poorly. If you want traditional romance beats, look elsewhere. This is not that. It is a fantasy story with a romance at its center, but I would not categorize this as "romance" or "romantasy."

That said, I adored every moment of the Emporer and the Endless Palace. If I were to pick two books to express the vibes I'd go with This Is How You Lose the Time War and... Wuthering Heights? Iykyk. 

Beautifully written and thoroughly engaging. 

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Thanks to Harlequin for the free copy of this book.

 - I found THE EMPEROR AND THE ENDLESS PALACE to be a gorgeous and frustrating book. The concept is fantastic and romantic, but the execution left something to be desired.
- I loved this conception of fated mates, weaving in ancient mythology, welding this magic with the glitter of modern circuit parties.
- However, we jumped so quickly between timelines that the relationship didn’t actually have much space to grow beyond us just being told that they were drawn together. Any actual reasons or chemistry were absent.
- Some plot threads kind of disappeared, side characters reappeared or didn’t without much logic, and I’m honestly not sure what was happening in the final scenes.
- Side note: I see so many reviews hating on the euphemism “my influence,” but I thought it was funny, lol. 

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justinekorson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

This was a very surprising story. Told in three POV's (the same POV's?? they're the same souls who keep being reincarnated) this was an incredible read that blended different timelines into one. I was excited and anxious to read each new part. I enjoyed trying to connect their past lives with their present lives before the story itself told us who was who. (I still ended up being wrong though). I was so intrigued by each chapter and wept a little over its very sad end. I had so much hope for River and Joey in their present life but apparently it wasn't meant to be. I also felt really bad for Calvin in this story who sounded like a really good person who genuinely loved River. 

I know this isn't the final version of the book and that the actual final draft is much longer so I'm excited to read the physical book (which I've already bought a copy of) and meet the author (I'm going to do this at an event soon). I'm going to have so much fun reading over the story again and I can't wait!!

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thatqueengabby's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

i won an advanced reader's copy through a goodreads giveaway in exchange for a review.
i came into the novel really wanting to like it, and there were certainly parts that i did. once the story got going, i found myself hooked, wanting to see how it all played out. it was certainly interesting, but in the end, i still found myself wanting more. i wanted a little more clarity in the ending, and in a way,
it was a little disappointing to see that neither liu xin nor dong xian could break the cycles, setting up for another reincarnation
.
for a story about love, it sometimes felt very superficial? my copy was just over three hundred pages, and split between three povs, that averages to just one hundred pages per pov. with the amount of sex scenes, it almost seems to say that sex is equal to love? but i am aromantic and asexual, so perhaps i am just not the correct audience for this novel.
also
justice for calvin, who truly deserved so much better. i was really hoping in the end we would see river go back to calvin and ask for forgiveness

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srm's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Bittersweet love story spanning millennia with a nice helping of smut. What's not to like?

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