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bookishbunnyb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
sanne6je's review against another edition
2.0
This was so unoriginal with many time skips that you have to make sense of yourself.
words_and_dreams's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
The synopsis sounded right up my alley but the execution didn't meet my expectations.
Overall, enjoyable fantasy with a romantic sub plot based in East Asian Mythology. Dark v Light, chosen one, prophecies, courtly intrigue, it was all there.
I really found Altan and Ahn to be a hero and heroine you could get behind. Neither had easy choices to make or easy paths to walk on. If felt as though the story built and built but the emotional pay off wasn't quite there for me.
I liked the author's writing style though so would read more of her work.
Overall, enjoyable fantasy with a romantic sub plot based in East Asian Mythology. Dark v Light, chosen one, prophecies, courtly intrigue, it was all there.
I really found Altan and Ahn to be a hero and heroine you could get behind. Neither had easy choices to make or easy paths to walk on. If felt as though the story built and built but the emotional pay off wasn't quite there for me.
I liked the author's writing style though so would read more of her work.
meisbooknook's review
3.0
I wanted to love this book. Badly. Maybe my high expectations are the thing that tanked this book for me.
This book starts off well - I liked the character motivations and the pacing. The integration of Chinese Folklore, and the side characters were a bonus.
Then it becomes rushed. I wish it was split into two so we could have more time at each plot point, more world building & more relationship development. Instead it relies on too many time skips, leaving gaps in the narrative.
JFG reminded me A LOT of Avatar the Last Airbender & The Poppy War trilogy. It's okay to be influenced by another work. There is so much written that it's hard to come up with ideas that are wholly your own. It's another for the plot and character traits to be almost mirrored.
Ahn and Altan very much felt a pull towards each other from the moment that they met. As the book progresses, they go from reluctant alliance to falling for each other. I wish we had more development here. There were a lot of conflicting thoughts on both sides that were suddenly brushed aside within a few pages. Considering there is a sequel, their relationship could have been more drawn out instead of rushed. I liked that they supported each other through tough times, but I felt like still it wasn't enough for them to be in love.
‼️ Note: The author chose to portray chopsticks in hair in this book. Something that is very disrespectful to the Asian community. As a mixed Chinese woman, I wish that she would have said hairpin or hair stick instead. It's an easy change.
This book starts off well - I liked the character motivations and the pacing. The integration of Chinese Folklore, and the side characters were a bonus.
Then it becomes rushed. I wish it was split into two so we could have more time at each plot point, more world building & more relationship development. Instead it relies on too many time skips, leaving gaps in the narrative.
JFG reminded me A LOT of Avatar the Last Airbender & The Poppy War trilogy. It's okay to be influenced by another work. There is so much written that it's hard to come up with ideas that are wholly your own. It's another for the plot and character traits to be almost mirrored.
Ahn and Altan very much felt a pull towards each other from the moment that they met. As the book progresses, they go from reluctant alliance to falling for each other. I wish we had more development here. There were a lot of conflicting thoughts on both sides that were suddenly brushed aside within a few pages. Considering there is a sequel, their relationship could have been more drawn out instead of rushed. I liked that they supported each other through tough times, but I felt like still it wasn't enough for them to be in love.
‼️ Note: The author chose to portray chopsticks in hair in this book. Something that is very disrespectful to the Asian community. As a mixed Chinese woman, I wish that she would have said hairpin or hair stick instead. It's an easy change.
laelyn's review against another edition
4.0
This was such an amazing read! "Jade Fire Gold" is an epic, exciting novel, filled to the brim with interesting lore and complex characters.
The prose is beautiful, the world building detailed and lush. It paints a vivid world that you can really see in your mind, that comes to life so easily and naturally. It's a light read, easy to follow yet at times beautifully lyrical. The story is fast-paced, sometimes even a little too much so. It definitely makes for a quick and absorbing read that I had a hard time putting down. There's a lot of action and intrigue that never gets boring. Yet despite of all that action, Tan takes her time to develop her protagonists and allows us to really get to know them intimately. And oh, Ahn and Altan are amazing main characters that I immediately fell in love with and their romance is beautifully slow-burn. While both, especially Ahn, suffer from the typical ya-style Chosen One trope, I actually think it was very well done in this particular book. They are complex, both with their own issues and flaws and strengths, and they exist as fully-formed characters outside of their romance, too. To be honest, while I loved the romance aspect of it, it was never at the forefront of either of their stories and it made me like them even more.
The side characters were intriguing and loveable too, though I felt like they were never entirely fleshed out. Which is part of my main (and really, only) issue with this awesome debut.
While "Jade Fire Gold" has all the ingredients of an absolutely epic masterpiece, it never really manages to flesh out all these concepts and ideas. The aforementioned side characters are only one example of this. While Tang Wei at least seems to be a fully formed character, I couldn't really tell you anything about her girlfriend, Linxi, beyond her role in the story and the fact that she is, well, Tang Wei's girlfriend. Leiye is probably the most interesting, most mysterious and as such most intriguing side character and the book keeps building up this mystery surrounding him, but in the end it falls flat. Tai Shun has serious Sunshine Baby Cinnamon Roll vibes but barely gets any screentime. The same lack of details haunts the relationships between these characters. We are told of the epic Altan / Leiye / Tai Shun friendship but there is very little of its impact actually being shown on the page beyond some lines at the end of the book that feel a little sudden because of the missing actual development of this relationship before. Ahn's friendship with Linxi is apparently a very deep one, but the story itself doesn't show any of it. There is a hint at something maybe-romantic-maybe-not between Tai Shun and Leiye that never gets resolved either. This wouldn't be an issue at all if this were part one of a series/duology/trilogy (and the ending definitely suggests there is more to come), but for all I know this is, so far, a standalone novel. The only friendship that actually felt like a real friendship was the one between Altan and Tang Wei, and boy do I love these two a LOT. Would I read an entire novel consisting only of their adventures together? The answer is YES and PLEASE.
But it's not just the characters and relationships, it's also the plot itself. There are multiple time jumps, most of them short-ish, that make sense at some points but feel absolutely rushed at other times. For example, when Ahn arrives at the emperor's palace she's being trained in using her magic for what feels like a long time, considering she can actually use her magic quite well come the next big plot point. All we get on page, though, is basically a "so then she's training every day" and suddenly she's done training and a skilled magic user. Her entire training arc is just glossed over. This kind of thing happens more than once.
The ending, or more like the final big fight, suffers from rather a similar problem. It feels rushed and is over so quickly and so easily that it just never manages to excite, to feel threatening, to emotionally grab the reader.
While this seems a lot of criticism, it basically boils down to one single problem: The details of the story, be it of the plot, the characters or the relationships, aren't fully fleshed out and thus remain superficial and kept me from fully engaging with the novel.
Still, there is so much incredible potential in the writing, the worldbuilding, the story, the characters that it kept me hooked all the way. And that epilogue? That epilogue made me SCREAM so here's hoping that this won't stay a standalone. I need more!
3,5 stars rounded up to 4 for this incredibly entertaining, beautiful read.
Many many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the arc!
The prose is beautiful, the world building detailed and lush. It paints a vivid world that you can really see in your mind, that comes to life so easily and naturally. It's a light read, easy to follow yet at times beautifully lyrical. The story is fast-paced, sometimes even a little too much so. It definitely makes for a quick and absorbing read that I had a hard time putting down. There's a lot of action and intrigue that never gets boring. Yet despite of all that action, Tan takes her time to develop her protagonists and allows us to really get to know them intimately. And oh, Ahn and Altan are amazing main characters that I immediately fell in love with and their romance is beautifully slow-burn. While both, especially Ahn, suffer from the typical ya-style Chosen One trope, I actually think it was very well done in this particular book. They are complex, both with their own issues and flaws and strengths, and they exist as fully-formed characters outside of their romance, too. To be honest, while I loved the romance aspect of it, it was never at the forefront of either of their stories and it made me like them even more.
The side characters were intriguing and loveable too, though I felt like they were never entirely fleshed out. Which is part of my main (and really, only) issue with this awesome debut.
While "Jade Fire Gold" has all the ingredients of an absolutely epic masterpiece, it never really manages to flesh out all these concepts and ideas. The aforementioned side characters are only one example of this. While Tang Wei at least seems to be a fully formed character, I couldn't really tell you anything about her girlfriend, Linxi, beyond her role in the story and the fact that she is, well, Tang Wei's girlfriend. Leiye is probably the most interesting, most mysterious and as such most intriguing side character and the book keeps building up this mystery surrounding him, but in the end it falls flat. Tai Shun has serious Sunshine Baby Cinnamon Roll vibes but barely gets any screentime. The same lack of details haunts the relationships between these characters. We are told of the epic Altan / Leiye / Tai Shun friendship but there is very little of its impact actually being shown on the page beyond some lines at the end of the book that feel a little sudden because of the missing actual development of this relationship before. Ahn's friendship with Linxi is apparently a very deep one, but the story itself doesn't show any of it. There is a hint at something maybe-romantic-maybe-not between Tai Shun and Leiye that never gets resolved either. This wouldn't be an issue at all if this were part one of a series/duology/trilogy (and the ending definitely suggests there is more to come), but for all I know this is, so far, a standalone novel. The only friendship that actually felt like a real friendship was the one between Altan and Tang Wei, and boy do I love these two a LOT. Would I read an entire novel consisting only of their adventures together? The answer is YES and PLEASE.
But it's not just the characters and relationships, it's also the plot itself. There are multiple time jumps, most of them short-ish, that make sense at some points but feel absolutely rushed at other times. For example, when Ahn arrives at the emperor's palace she's being trained in using her magic for what feels like a long time, considering she can actually use her magic quite well come the next big plot point. All we get on page, though, is basically a "so then she's training every day" and suddenly she's done training and a skilled magic user. Her entire training arc is just glossed over. This kind of thing happens more than once.
The ending, or more like the final big fight, suffers from rather a similar problem. It feels rushed and is over so quickly and so easily that it just never manages to excite, to feel threatening, to emotionally grab the reader.
While this seems a lot of criticism, it basically boils down to one single problem: The details of the story, be it of the plot, the characters or the relationships, aren't fully fleshed out and thus remain superficial and kept me from fully engaging with the novel.
Still, there is so much incredible potential in the writing, the worldbuilding, the story, the characters that it kept me hooked all the way. And that epilogue? That epilogue made me SCREAM so here's hoping that this won't stay a standalone. I need more!
3,5 stars rounded up to 4 for this incredibly entertaining, beautiful read.
Many many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the arc!
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
4.0
4.5/5
Omg this book was so good! I don’t know why I didn’t think about reading this sooner! I heard from a booktoker telling how she hated this book so I decided to give it a go and I loved it so much. The characters were so interesting as well as the plot. The story in a way reminded me of Avatar: the Last Airbender which made me really happy. The ending was amazing and the epilogue had me wanting more!
Omg this book was so good! I don’t know why I didn’t think about reading this sooner! I heard from a booktoker telling how she hated this book so I decided to give it a go and I loved it so much. The characters were so interesting as well as the plot. The story in a way reminded me of Avatar: the Last Airbender which made me really happy. The ending was amazing and the epilogue had me wanting more!
ashley_mrose530's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
I liked the idea of this book. I thought the world was interesting and the magic system was different and fascinating, but I didn't really vibe with the story overall.
I felt emotionally distant from the characters and their motivations and I'm not sure if that's just because I was listening to the audiobook - because sometimes I do feel more distant from a book in this format - or if it was the writing in general. I know I didn't really care for Ahn as a character. I feel like she was too trusting when she literally grew up in poverty and knew how people could lie and manipulate each other.
I did like Altan more. I liked how he seemed pretty morally grey especially at the beginning and throughout the story he grew to be more trusting and emotive. I think he had the best character growth out of the two of them as well. He learned the power of forgiveness and love while Ahn really kind of ended up where she started. She started the book off by being afraid of her magical abilities and refusing to use them and by the end she still refused to use them and didn't acknowledge how they could be used to help rather than hurt. It was not fulfilling for a main character in my opinion.
And then at the end of the book they separate and that bothered me a lot too. I didn't understand Ahn's motivations for leaving the country she grew up in at all. What was she looking for? Her mom? She has no idea if she's even alive? I could see it if she had a hint that her mom was alive but she didn't so I don't know why she even wanted to go searching for her. It seemed to set it up for a sequel but I don't see any record of a sequel on the way so I don't really know what the author was trying to do with this ending.
Anyway, it was an interesting read. Not the worst thing I've read this year, but it could have been better.
I felt emotionally distant from the characters and their motivations and I'm not sure if that's just because I was listening to the audiobook - because sometimes I do feel more distant from a book in this format - or if it was the writing in general. I know I didn't really care for Ahn as a character. I feel like she was too trusting when she literally grew up in poverty and knew how people could lie and manipulate each other.
I did like Altan more. I liked how he seemed pretty morally grey especially at the beginning and throughout the story he grew to be more trusting and emotive. I think he had the best character growth out of the two of them as well. He learned the power of forgiveness and love while Ahn really kind of ended up where she started. She started the book off by being afraid of her magical abilities and refusing to use them and by the end she still refused to use them and didn't acknowledge how they could be used to help rather than hurt. It was not fulfilling for a main character in my opinion.
Anyway, it was an interesting read. Not the worst thing I've read this year, but it could have been better.
titalindaslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.75
Oh this is 1000% for the ATLA fans that always wished Zutara actually happened - I firmly believe Ahn and Altan are them in an alternate universe!
There were a few things that knocked my rating down for this, the number one thing being pacing. How did so many pages go by and yet it felt like so little happened? Once I hit the halfway point, things started progressing much better! But then the conclusion hit and wrapped things up sooo quickly and conveniently. Turns out this was originally meant to be written as a trilogy, and knowing that I believe this story could’ve been told much better! I’m so sad we don’t get to see those books, because overall I did enjoy my time with this. It read like a C-drama version of ATLA, with predictable plot points but character relationship dynamics and tropes I’ll eat up every single time!
After reading Darker by Four and now Jade Fire Gold, June is clearly an author who appreciates and draws inspiration from the same media I enjoy, and I look forward to reading more of her books!
There were a few things that knocked my rating down for this, the number one thing being pacing. How did so many pages go by and yet it felt like so little happened? Once I hit the halfway point, things started progressing much better! But then the conclusion hit and wrapped things up sooo quickly and conveniently. Turns out this was originally meant to be written as a trilogy, and knowing that I believe this story could’ve been told much better! I’m so sad we don’t get to see those books, because overall I did enjoy my time with this. It read like a C-drama version of ATLA, with predictable plot points but character relationship dynamics and tropes I’ll eat up every single time!
After reading Darker by Four and now Jade Fire Gold, June is clearly an author who appreciates and draws inspiration from the same media I enjoy, and I look forward to reading more of her books!