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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
"Sometimes uncertainty is better than languishing in the familiar." -Mimi Yu, The Girl King
Initial Thoughts
The Girl King is an engrossing, fascinating, immersive fantasy story featuring a pampered, tomboy princess, inheritance, succession, oppressed people, drama of court life, magic, and shapeshifting.
What I Didn't Like:
There was a theme that I found distasteful, and if I had known that that particular theme was within The Girl King, I probably would not have picked the book up. I do not want to say what that theme is because I feel like it could be a spoiler. That being said, the theme isn't the main aspect of the story, but more of adds to the characterization of characters, and gives more insight of the time period and culture within this world. I also feel the theme was done in a way that I could easily read on despite of it.
What I did Like
The story was incredibly fascinating as The Girl King unfolded. Honestly, it was interesting how the characters all had the potential to be a 'villain' or 'hero'.
The Girl King pleasantly surprised me on how well I enjoyed this story, and how my attention was held from start to finish.
I felt like the characters were well thought out and and the plot climbed in a steady manner.
Other Thoughts
On the side note, I was wondering if The Girl King was another gender bent King Arthur retelling due to the title, and it is not.
Overall, The Girl King is an interesting and a well written story. I do want to continue the series, with the next book, Empress of Flames.
Initial Thoughts
The Girl King is an engrossing, fascinating, immersive fantasy story featuring a pampered, tomboy princess, inheritance, succession, oppressed people, drama of court life, magic, and shapeshifting.
What I Didn't Like:
There was a theme that I found distasteful, and if I had known that that particular theme was within The Girl King, I probably would not have picked the book up. I do not want to say what that theme is because I feel like it could be a spoiler. That being said, the theme isn't the main aspect of the story, but more of adds to the characterization of characters, and gives more insight of the time period and culture within this world. I also feel the theme was done in a way that I could easily read on despite of it.
What I did Like
The story was incredibly fascinating as The Girl King unfolded. Honestly, it was interesting how the characters all had the potential to be a 'villain' or 'hero'.
The Girl King pleasantly surprised me on how well I enjoyed this story, and how my attention was held from start to finish.
I felt like the characters were well thought out and and the plot climbed in a steady manner.
Other Thoughts
On the side note, I was wondering if The Girl King was another gender bent King Arthur retelling due to the title, and it is not.
Overall, The Girl King is an interesting and a well written story. I do want to continue the series, with the next book, Empress of Flames.
I struggled to get into this book if I’m honest, which was a shame as I thought it sounded fantastic. I did end up enjoying it, but I didn’t really connect directly with any of the characters.
I liked the way Lu’s story was told, her narrative arc worked quite well for me. I did want a little more on her relationship with her parents, and the background there. And also there were a lot of events mentioned before the book started which I found quite confusing.
Min’s story was harder for me at first - as she was younger than I realised and quite naive. And then so trusting and easily used. She frustrated me as I wanted so much more for her.
I think the story itself is well written, just not a style I got on with. I hope others love it though :)
I liked the way Lu’s story was told, her narrative arc worked quite well for me. I did want a little more on her relationship with her parents, and the background there. And also there were a lot of events mentioned before the book started which I found quite confusing.
Min’s story was harder for me at first - as she was younger than I realised and quite naive. And then so trusting and easily used. She frustrated me as I wanted so much more for her.
I think the story itself is well written, just not a style I got on with. I hope others love it though :)
Muchos están llamando el 2019 literario el año de la fantasía asiática y me encanta. ¡Se vienen tantas novelas inspiradas en Asia y atsdfyguhj finalmente voy a conseguir toda esa fantasía diversa que estoy buscando! Vamos de a poco, sí, pero ya estoy emocionada. The Girl King es un libro que tengo en la mira desde que vi su título y portada, y sin duda lo amé por completo.
Disfruté muchísimo este libro. Me encantó cada segundo de la lectura, me devoré este libro en un día y de seguro muero por conseguir la secuela. Pero ahora que lo pienso, en realidad no tengo muchas cosas buenas que decir además de "me encantó este libro". Creo que necesitamos ver más fantasía diversa tal como la que plantea Mimi Yu, fantasía que se permita ser compleja e inesperada y adictiva así como DIVERSA. Los personajes, la ambientación, la magia, la originalidad de la historia y el fluir de este cuento... Todo. Lo amé todo. ¡NECESITO EL SEGUNDO LIBRO! ¿Ya lo dije? ¿Si?
Ahora, ¿mis quejas? 1) The Girl King es un libro bastante cliché dentro del género. Entiendo que hemos visto este libro mil veces desde el lugar privilegiado, y es hora de verlo desde otro lado, pero yo aún así quiero ver libros distintos. Quiero fantasía diversa, sí, pero que salga de los clichés y de jugar en lo seguro. Y quiero algo nuevo. The Girl King no es nada que no haya leído antes. 2) Todo daba la impresión de que iba a leer sobre villanos y antihéroes y hermanas y TODO ESO QUE ME FASCINA EN UN LIBRO, pero no fue así. Es más, creo que nuestra protagonista fue más una heroína que cualquier otra cosa (ugh) y la única antiheroína fue reducida a un personaje tonto del que me gustaría saber más. 3) Se supone que hay tres narradores pero sus capítulos no están balanceados y entonces sólo leemos mucho de algunos y poco de otros, y no siento que haya llegado a conectar con alguno de ellos. 4) No me parece ninguna maravilla, siendo honesta. 5) Meh.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
nokhai my beloved 😩😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, War
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Genocide, Incest, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Colonisation
Let me start this off by saying that I am a HUGE fan of Asian Fantasy. It's actually my favorite sub-genre and I crave more of it. I was super excited for this book because not only is it AF, it's #ownvoices! (If you're looking for some amazing #ownvoices Asian Fantasy I highly recommend Shadow of the Fox and Girls of Paper & Fire!) Sadly, this book fell flat for me. But, the one thing I did love was the Asian aspect and the culture! I'm so sad I didn't like it because I really was looking forward to it. I wanted so badly to like it, but I just couldn't connect to anyone or anything. (This is the second #ownvoices AF I was disappointed in recently, Empress of All Seasons didn't do it for me either *cries*)
The only character I remotely cared about was Omair. I felt literally nothing - not even hatred - for any of the others. Min was horrible; a dull, simpering princess with the personality of a wet rag.
Spoiler
Being possessed and going psycho evil villainess actually made her better, oops.I hated the multiple POVs. I was detached enough reading 3rd person and being told instead of shown, but the switching POVs made it even worse. I hated Min's chapters. I didn't like or care about her at all as a character, and her chapters were the most boring (although thankfully they got more interesting toward the end, after the shamaness appeared). I would just get remotely interested in one of Lu's chapters and it would switch to Min and totally throw me out of the story, and it was like I had to start from scratch to build my interest back up again. EVERY. TIME. So by the time something was actually happening in the story, all I felt was total apathy.
Speaking of something actually happening - I'm talking 100 pages from the end. IN A FIVE HUNDRED PAGE BOOK. Other than the major even that led to Lu escaping the empire, literally nothing happens for four. hundred. pages. There was no plot whatsoever in that giant chunk, resulting in me being so bored I wanted to gouge my eyeballs out.
I was interested in the magic, but it all felt quite vague and I had trouble grasping it. The world building kind of sucked in that aspect (not for the Asian feel and culture, I felt like that was well done). I would have liked to see more about the magic system - how the Triarch worked (I only had a vague grasp on them), and the Kith/slipskins. It would have been much more interesting that the not-plot and focus on character development (*coughs* or lack thereof).
I really think this should have been a 300 page book. With the lack of action and world building, there wasn't anything overly important in the middle of the book. I skimmed a great deal after page 300 and still came away knowing what happened. I didn't feel like I was missing anything. The only interesting part was the last 50 pages, and by that point I was too ticked off at having wasted so much time reading the last 450 pages that I didn't even care anymore.
I don't know if I'll bother with the second book. I might give it a chance since it is Asian Fantasy in hopes that there's more of the parts I did like.
This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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
I received this book in a YA mystery subscription box. It is not something I would have ever picked up for myself but I’m so glad it was included.
This book blew me away, I was captivated from the very beginning and it gripped me throughout. Nokhai is one of those rare characters you become so invested in.
Brilliant writing, brilliant pace & brilliant imagery. Can’t wait to read the second instalment.
This book blew me away, I was captivated from the very beginning and it gripped me throughout. Nokhai is one of those rare characters you become so invested in.
Brilliant writing, brilliant pace & brilliant imagery. Can’t wait to read the second instalment.