Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

4 reviews

gaelstorm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was interesting and unique! I struggled to pick a rating because part of me liked it more than 3 stars but it also fell flat other times.... So I guess I'll settle for a middle of the road 3 stars with a slight leaning upwards. It was a great story concept but I wish there had been a bit more character development and that it had continued with more of the plots than it did. Since we follow 3 different timelines (which I loved), that unfortunately means that each timeline got less attention than I thought it deserved (each one could have been a full novel!). I am so glad I read it though! I flew through it and enjoyed a lot of it. 

Warning: this is not a romance book in the sense of the romance book genre. It's a romance in the way that Romeo & Juliette is a romance; the story is all about love and star-crossed lovers. So don't be disappointed when it doesn't really fit into the "romance genre."  The genres are more fantasy, mythology-retelling, thriller, with the main plot centering on romance, but not the romance genre. 

Content Warning! (I'll put this here as well as in StoryGraph's content warning section)
This book contains a fair fit of sex, and while some of it is consensual, quite a lot of it is either non-consensual or questionably consensual (e.g. drugs involved). However, I don't feel like those scenes were romanticized too much (at least how I interpreted it); it's definitively part of the plot that people are taking advantage and not being great people. At the same time, the scenes also weren't gratuitously violent or super traumatic in my opinion, but read with caution if this will upset you! Like I said above, this is not a typical feel-good romance.

<b>❤️ What kind of romance can I expect in this book?</b>
(no major plot spoilers but still hidden if you don't wanna know)

Genders: m/m
POV: 1st person POV, 3 different timelines, rotating every chapter
Themes & Tropes: star-crossed lovers, unrequited love, mythology retelling, reincarnation
Sex Scenes? Yes
Explicit Rating: R
How Much: quite a lot but not in a way that felt like constant smut, and not all were consensual, see content warnings if you need to

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual assault, and Drug use

Minor: Infidelity, Abandonment, Body horror, and Death of parent

sarahb919's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Violence, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Animal death, Self harm, Bullying, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Ableism, Colonisation, Gore, and Stalking

Minor: Classism, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

heather667's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Rape

ezwolf's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.0

I love reincarnation stories and I went in to this with high hopes that weren’t quite met. 

It was a fun surprise to realize this was based on the origin of the term “cut sleeve”. It isn’t mentioned in the synopsis but a scene about halfway through made me realize and subsequently Google it. 

I loved how each incarnation of River and Joey were so different but also so similar. The whole idea of, I loved you (was betrayed by you) so much that we’re reborn over and over, repeating our story, trying to right a wrong. River's sister was a fantastic character and even though the focus of the story was on River and Joey, I would have loved to have seen more of her.

I think my biggest grievance was with the sex scenes. Sex scenes are not a problem on their own, but I felt like they were the worst written parts. Most of the scenes in the first half of the book seemed kind of unintentionally comical to me and continuously and abruptly brought me out of the story. There's a definite tone shift that happens about midway through and they lose the comical edge, but that only helped a little.

I highly recommend checking content warnings for this book. It just skirted the edge of what I am okay reading. 

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Sexual content, Classism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Body horror, Mental illness, and Animal death

Minor: Abandonment, Ableism, Medical content, Death of parent, Vomit, and Cancer