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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is exactly the fast paced, action filled fantasy I absolutely love.
How fast paced it is, however, also a downside. While the jumps in time and location don’t feel jarring, and the writing doesn’t make the events feel like they happened in the span of days when the narrative says weeks, an awful lot happens in only a few hundred pages. Plus, everything that happens is important. There’s no ‘filler’ to give the reader time to breathe, and so some of the major events almost feel unimportant.
I can only hope the next book raises the stakes and the scope of the politics to combat this, which the last chapter left me very hopeful for! I went into this hoping there’s be more politics and less fantasy, but even though it was the other way around I can’t complain.
Everything else in this is just amazing.
The characters are, yes, flawed and a little repetitive, but so distinct and their motivations are so well explained. Even the villains are likeable as characters while being horrible people - honestly even the good guys aren’t all that likeable as people.
The world feels real, and while I wish there’s been more palace time I appreciate that more time was spent establishing characters instead.
How fast paced it is, however, also a downside. While the jumps in time and location don’t feel jarring, and the writing doesn’t make the events feel like they happened in the span of days when the narrative says weeks, an awful lot happens in only a few hundred pages. Plus, everything that happens is important. There’s no ‘filler’ to give the reader time to breathe, and so some of the major events almost feel unimportant.
I can only hope the next book raises the stakes and the scope of the politics to combat this, which the last chapter left me very hopeful for! I went into this hoping there’s be more politics and less fantasy, but even though it was the other way around I can’t complain.
Everything else in this is just amazing.
The characters are, yes, flawed and a little repetitive, but so distinct and their motivations are so well explained. Even the villains are likeable as characters while being horrible people - honestly even the good guys aren’t all that likeable as people.
The world feels real, and while I wish there’s been more palace time I appreciate that more time was spent establishing characters instead.
adventurous
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Lu would be King, and will not let her gender, her parents or her sister stand in the way. When she is betrothed to a cousin (and a despicable and manipulative one at that) she circumvents her nations traditions in an attempt to win her own hand in marriage. After her betrothed attempts to murder her she flees into the wilds and must scrounge up some allies to save the throne - even if it takes a ghost army to do it.
This book is difficult to be brief about. It is the story of Lu - the girl who would be King; and her sister Min, who only ever wanted to be accepted, and approved of. It is the story of an ostracized orphan, Nokhai, who must grapple with personal losses and new transformations while on the run from persecutors he doesn't wholly fathom. It is a story of a Prince schooled in manipulation and deception, who seeks to rule the world. It is the story of a mysterious monk his search for a lost city, and mystical power. It is the story of a hidden and enchanted city - and the monarchs that rule it seeking to preserve their way of life from the brutality of the outside world - and I'm excited to see where Yu takes the series.
Lu is incredibly singleminded, but my heart is reserved for Nokhai and his parallel journey from ostracized orphan to a leader. Min, Lu's sister also has an interesting trajectory, I fear it will be that of a falling star (or supernova...) and that Min will be crushed under her sister's persistence.
I really enjoyed the world building, and seeing familiar tropes from a different mythology.
This book is difficult to be brief about. It is the story of Lu - the girl who would be King; and her sister Min, who only ever wanted to be accepted, and approved of. It is the story of an ostracized orphan, Nokhai, who must grapple with personal losses and new transformations while on the run from persecutors he doesn't wholly fathom. It is a story of a Prince schooled in manipulation and deception, who seeks to rule the world. It is the story of a mysterious monk his search for a lost city, and mystical power. It is the story of a hidden and enchanted city - and the monarchs that rule it seeking to preserve their way of life from the brutality of the outside world - and I'm excited to see where Yu takes the series.
Lu is incredibly singleminded, but my heart is reserved for Nokhai and his parallel journey from ostracized orphan to a leader. Min, Lu's sister also has an interesting trajectory, I fear it will be that of a falling star (or supernova...) and that Min will be crushed under her sister's persistence.
I really enjoyed the world building, and seeing familiar tropes from a different mythology.
dnf at page 285
the premise sounded so cool and i really wanted to love this, but unfortunately it didn't stand out against other ya fantasy books for me, especially when the plot really started dragging about halfway through. i did like Lu much more than the average warrior princess character but her story quickly got overshadowed by the love interest, whom i found pretty boring, and her sister, who intrigued me at first (she's the character archetype of the whiny shrinking violet who slowly finds her voice, but i thought Min felt more real than other characters like this), but as the story slowed down and started dragging on i got pretty sick of her. Mimi Yu's writing is nice, though, and i think definitely has potential so maybe i'll check back in with her a few books down the line!
the premise sounded so cool and i really wanted to love this, but unfortunately it didn't stand out against other ya fantasy books for me, especially when the plot really started dragging about halfway through. i did like Lu much more than the average warrior princess character but her story quickly got overshadowed by the love interest, whom i found pretty boring, and her sister, who intrigued me at first (she's the character archetype of the whiny shrinking violet who slowly finds her voice, but i thought Min felt more real than other characters like this), but as the story slowed down and started dragging on i got pretty sick of her. Mimi Yu's writing is nice, though, and i think definitely has potential so maybe i'll check back in with her a few books down the line!
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One of my most anticipated reads of 2019 became one of my most disappointed reads of 2019. I had such high hopes for this book because of the fact that it’s Asian inspired and we don’t really have that many out there. Plus it’s a fantasy and that’s my go-to genre. Unfortunately I was just so disappointed with this book in every aspect. I mean, I didn’t hate the book but it just lacked so much that I just felt very “meh” about it.
My biggest issue was probably my lack of interest and connection with any of the characters. At first glance, Lu seemed like your typical badass female warrior but nothing about her stood out to me. I found her very mediocre for the most part. As for Min, the other main character and Lu’s younger sister, she stood out to me in the wrong ways. For the entire book, I simply found her naïve, childish, and way too innocent that she was constantly used by the others in the court. She had no backbone and even at the end, when she grew up a little and started to see the world for all of its negative aspects, she grew up in the worst ways – all bitter and mean.
As for the plot, a lot of it felt as if we were just wandering around and it just felt so dull. I did enjoy a little about that other realm or whatever but the author didn’t explore that very much and I felt that was a missed opportunity. Even the love interest/romance in the book felt uninteresting – in fact, I would even say that it took me away from the plot itself because it was actually pretty unnecessary. I think Lu could have managed without the romance.
Overall, while this book wasn’t terrible, nothing about it really stood out to me. There weren’t any great action scenes, the characters weren’t really interesting, the plot was dull and even the ending was pretty obvious. The book also ended on a cliffhanger but because I am so “meh” about this book, I don’t think I am intrigued enough to continue with this series.
One of my most anticipated reads of 2019 became one of my most disappointed reads of 2019. I had such high hopes for this book because of the fact that it’s Asian inspired and we don’t really have that many out there. Plus it’s a fantasy and that’s my go-to genre. Unfortunately I was just so disappointed with this book in every aspect. I mean, I didn’t hate the book but it just lacked so much that I just felt very “meh” about it.
My biggest issue was probably my lack of interest and connection with any of the characters. At first glance, Lu seemed like your typical badass female warrior but nothing about her stood out to me. I found her very mediocre for the most part. As for Min, the other main character and Lu’s younger sister, she stood out to me in the wrong ways. For the entire book, I simply found her naïve, childish, and way too innocent that she was constantly used by the others in the court. She had no backbone and even at the end, when she grew up a little and started to see the world for all of its negative aspects, she grew up in the worst ways – all bitter and mean.
As for the plot, a lot of it felt as if we were just wandering around and it just felt so dull. I did enjoy a little about that other realm or whatever but the author didn’t explore that very much and I felt that was a missed opportunity. Even the love interest/romance in the book felt uninteresting – in fact, I would even say that it took me away from the plot itself because it was actually pretty unnecessary. I think Lu could have managed without the romance.
Overall, while this book wasn’t terrible, nothing about it really stood out to me. There weren’t any great action scenes, the characters weren’t really interesting, the plot was dull and even the ending was pretty obvious. The book also ended on a cliffhanger but because I am so “meh” about this book, I don’t think I am intrigued enough to continue with this series.
tw: attempted rape scene
4.5 stars
BRILLIANT SHOWSTOPPING!!!!!
I have almost no words that can coherently describe how desperately I have longed for this kind of sweeping epic East Asian fantasy that is reminiscent of those 50+ episode historical dramas that had backstabbing family politics, bloodlust, ambition, betrayal, dangerous emotions!, and everything else. Needless to say, this book completely took me by surprise by how far it leaned into the bitterness and complicated feelings with siblings, especially royal ones. I just ????? this book hit all the right notes and while it definitely took some time to build up, once you dug into the politics and all the messy messy emotions and ambitions and cruelty, we had a winner.
this review makes absolutely no sense! but anyway pick this book up PLEASE
4.5 stars
BRILLIANT SHOWSTOPPING!!!!!
I have almost no words that can coherently describe how desperately I have longed for this kind of sweeping epic East Asian fantasy that is reminiscent of those 50+ episode historical dramas that had backstabbing family politics, bloodlust, ambition, betrayal, dangerous emotions!, and everything else. Needless to say, this book completely took me by surprise by how far it leaned into the bitterness and complicated feelings with siblings, especially royal ones. I just ????? this book hit all the right notes and while it definitely took some time to build up, once you dug into the politics and all the messy messy emotions and ambitions and cruelty, we had a winner.
this review makes absolutely no sense! but anyway pick this book up PLEASE
I have to admit, it took me a while to warm to The Girl King as a book, as initially it seemed as though it was going through all the usual YA tropes and heading in an utterly predictable direction. We have, after all Boy Who is Secretly Special But Traumatised, Girl Who is a Better Fighter Than Everyone and that's just the main characters, not to mention there's a Tragic Romance That Can Never Be...
The basic premise of The Girl King is that Lu has been raised to believe by her father than she is going to be named as his heir - she somehow has been allowed, in a very hierarchical and gender-strict system, to be both a pampered princess and be trained as a warrior. Meanwhile, her weedy sister Min is always in Lu's shadow, so when Lu is overlooked in favour of their slightly-unhinged cousin, Min immediately gets groomed to marry said cousin regardless of his obvious negative qualities. Min also has a secret, and this is one place where things start to diverge slightly from my experience of YA and she starts to want power for herself.
Meanwhile Lu has been forced to flee the capital after the death of her father and has met up with Nokhai, who she knew when they were both younger and who is one of the last survivors of a people who Lu's father has pretty much massacred wholesale. Nokhai is a shapeshifter but unable to control his abilities; together, they set out to try and find allies for Lu in order to help her regain the throne and unseat the dodgy cousin. This plan goes all sorts of wrong as the allies they try to recruit are not themselves the most reliable of people.
One thing I didn't expect is that the moustache-twirling cousin meets a bad end before the end of the book, putting Min and Lu as antagonists in their own right rather than Min as someone else's puppet. I'm not sure I would buy the next book in this series (and to be honest, I got this one from the library) but I wouldn't turn it down if I managed to get my hands on it the same way. All in all, some interesting ideas and an author who may bear watching in the longer term.
The basic premise of The Girl King is that Lu has been raised to believe by her father than she is going to be named as his heir - she somehow has been allowed, in a very hierarchical and gender-strict system, to be both a pampered princess and be trained as a warrior. Meanwhile, her weedy sister Min is always in Lu's shadow, so when Lu is overlooked in favour of their slightly-unhinged cousin, Min immediately gets groomed to marry said cousin regardless of his obvious negative qualities. Min also has a secret, and this is one place where things start to diverge slightly from my experience of YA and she starts to want power for herself.
Meanwhile Lu has been forced to flee the capital after the death of her father and has met up with Nokhai, who she knew when they were both younger and who is one of the last survivors of a people who Lu's father has pretty much massacred wholesale. Nokhai is a shapeshifter but unable to control his abilities; together, they set out to try and find allies for Lu in order to help her regain the throne and unseat the dodgy cousin. This plan goes all sorts of wrong as the allies they try to recruit are not themselves the most reliable of people.
One thing I didn't expect is that the moustache-twirling cousin meets a bad end before the end of the book, putting Min and Lu as antagonists in their own right rather than Min as someone else's puppet. I'm not sure I would buy the next book in this series (and to be honest, I got this one from the library) but I wouldn't turn it down if I managed to get my hands on it the same way. All in all, some interesting ideas and an author who may bear watching in the longer term.
Warnings: parental abuse, domestic abuse, slavery, violence
The Girl King was an interesting read, with a storyline that keeps you on your toes, and a wide variety of characters to interest you. Told through three main perspectives in the third person - Lu, Min and Nokahi - it is a politically-minded story that has themes of imperialism, colonialism and xenophobia. Lu is the older daughter of the Hu (an ethnic group)Emperor, and a natural leader - she has been trained like a warrior, studied statecraft like a politician, and the grace of a princess to round her out into the perfect heir. Which is why she is enraged when her father instead chooses her first cousin (and her archenemy) for his heir, and her to be his wife. Meanwhile, Min, her younger sister has been bullied by the Empress (who is Hana, another ethnic group) into being a docile obedient princess who doesn't have much aspirations of her own, but who is starting to awaken some latent magical powers. Nokhai comes from a line of shape-shifters called Kith, whose culture had been decimated and people enslaved by the Hu two generations ago.
With such a volatile political situation, the ascension of the next Emperor results in Lu being framed for her father's death, and ridiculed as the eponymous Girl King. The people in the kingdom are a mix of Hu and Hana, but while their loyalties are more towards the Hu monarchy, they definitely are much more comfortable with a man in charge; Lu rails against this misogyny as she thinks she is better than her cousin Set, who marries Min instead (manipulating a 15 year old is super easy for the golden warrior). As a fugitive, she goes on with Nokhai to gain support from Yunis, another city-state that was conquered by her own ancestors. While on the way, she has to face the truth about her line, how they have destroyed other cultures or subjugated them, how they mistreat people just because they have magic, and contend with her family's bloody history.
While Lu is a good character to look through, primarily because she is, well, badass, and also because she grows so much in the book, understands her privilege and the honor she falsely attributed to her family line, Min is pretty much the opposite. The latter is set up to be the antagonist, or at least to be used by the antagonists which makes her blatant oversight over the terrible things her husband and his advisor do even more frustrating. Granted, she was bullied by her mother and Set showing her any interest was enough to give her loyalty to him, but she keeps supporting him even when he shows he has no qualms about endangering her, or even after 'witnessing' what he and her mother did; heck, she keeps going on and on about giving him babies to be heirs *eyeroll* Even when she gains her own power, she only wants to use it for Set's sake, with no ambition of her own. Nokhai, meanwhile feels terribly underutilized only as a love interest and I hope with that ending, he has a larger role to play in the plot of the next book.
The magic system of this book could have done with more development. For most of the book, I was confused as to the existence of Yunis, and why there were gates made before it crossed into the Inbetween. Then there is the whole shamanesses thing, which is never really cleared. As for the sisterly rivalry, that seems to be an exaggeration in the blurb - Min and Lu barely have any interaction, and Min is never really at odds with Lu; her resentment towards the golden child seems justified, but she also looks up to Lu, so it seems odd that she sides with Set over her (yes I know he is her husband but still...). Otherwise, on a plot and pacing level, as well as diving into the themes it wanted to discuss, this book was pretty good. I just feel it needed to do better in the amount of detail that went into the world-building and motivations for the characters.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Gollancz, via Netgalley.
The Girl King was an interesting read, with a storyline that keeps you on your toes, and a wide variety of characters to interest you. Told through three main perspectives in the third person - Lu, Min and Nokahi - it is a politically-minded story that has themes of imperialism, colonialism and xenophobia. Lu is the older daughter of the Hu (an ethnic group)Emperor, and a natural leader - she has been trained like a warrior, studied statecraft like a politician, and the grace of a princess to round her out into the perfect heir. Which is why she is enraged when her father instead chooses her first cousin (and her archenemy) for his heir, and her to be his wife. Meanwhile, Min, her younger sister has been bullied by the Empress (who is Hana, another ethnic group) into being a docile obedient princess who doesn't have much aspirations of her own, but who is starting to awaken some latent magical powers. Nokhai comes from a line of shape-shifters called Kith, whose culture had been decimated and people enslaved by the Hu two generations ago.
With such a volatile political situation, the ascension of the next Emperor results in Lu being framed for her father's death, and ridiculed as the eponymous Girl King. The people in the kingdom are a mix of Hu and Hana, but while their loyalties are more towards the Hu monarchy, they definitely are much more comfortable with a man in charge; Lu rails against this misogyny as she thinks she is better than her cousin Set, who marries Min instead (manipulating a 15 year old is super easy for the golden warrior). As a fugitive, she goes on with Nokhai to gain support from Yunis, another city-state that was conquered by her own ancestors. While on the way, she has to face the truth about her line, how they have destroyed other cultures or subjugated them, how they mistreat people just because they have magic, and contend with her family's bloody history.
While Lu is a good character to look through, primarily because she is, well, badass, and also because she grows so much in the book, understands her privilege and the honor she falsely attributed to her family line, Min is pretty much the opposite. The latter is set up to be the antagonist, or at least to be used by the antagonists which makes her blatant oversight over the terrible things her husband and his advisor do even more frustrating. Granted, she was bullied by her mother and Set showing her any interest was enough to give her loyalty to him, but she keeps supporting him even when he shows he has no qualms about endangering her, or even after 'witnessing' what he and her mother did; heck, she keeps going on and on about giving him babies to be heirs *eyeroll* Even when she gains her own power, she only wants to use it for Set's sake, with no ambition of her own. Nokhai, meanwhile feels terribly underutilized only as a love interest and I hope with that ending, he has a larger role to play in the plot of the next book.
The magic system of this book could have done with more development. For most of the book, I was confused as to the existence of Yunis, and why there were gates made before it crossed into the Inbetween. Then there is the whole shamanesses thing, which is never really cleared. As for the sisterly rivalry, that seems to be an exaggeration in the blurb - Min and Lu barely have any interaction, and Min is never really at odds with Lu; her resentment towards the golden child seems justified, but she also looks up to Lu, so it seems odd that she sides with Set over her (yes I know he is her husband but still...). Otherwise, on a plot and pacing level, as well as diving into the themes it wanted to discuss, this book was pretty good. I just feel it needed to do better in the amount of detail that went into the world-building and motivations for the characters.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Gollancz, via Netgalley.
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This story is everything you could ever possibly want in a fantasy
Go preorder it now
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This story is everything you could ever possibly want in a fantasy
Go preorder it now
Goodbye