Reviews with content warning for Blood - Jade Fire Gold

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

thenovelmaura's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

2.0

Apologies in advance for what will likely be a low-quality review; I read this book months ago (it was our January pick for the #ViolentQueensBookClub) and I didn't enjoy it very much, so I likewise didn't retain very much of it... I did enjoy the action scenes and the world-building! But the characterization fell flat (I clearly remember that I didn't like Altan or Altan and Ahn's relationship) and the ending was very rushed. This one also leans heavily into YA tropes to the point where everything felt incredibly predictable. So in summary, a great concept and poor execution resulted in a rather forgettable YA novel.

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robin_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.5

All in all a solid read, an interesting world and magic system.
Whoever said that this has Zutara vibes was absolutely right!
The pace is weird. At first it’s slow, then fast and then even faster. That threw me. Plus, the time skips and summaries of what was spoken about. I don’t like those.
The beginning of the romance felt a bit forced. I liked their dynamic before Tang Wei involved herself.

one day an author will kill their main character and leave them dead. One day authors will realize that that’s so much better than miraculously bringing them back from the dead. I will be waiting for that day.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-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

2.5

JADE FIRE GOLD stars Ahn, a peasant girl who finds out that her past is more complicated than she remembers, and Altan, in hiding and making a play for his lost throne.

I loved the first part of the book and then felt like the second half was just okay. It had a tendency to cut away after emotionally intense moments. There felt like too many scenes of watching someone open a door (literally or metaphorically), gasping at what they found inside, then immediately switching to the other character's perspective in a different location and a different emotional beat. A few of these switches were when Ahn and Altan were in the same scenes together. I liked some of those moments where one of them says something and then the perspective switches for the other person's reaction, but it started to feel like a movie with too much cross-cutting. It's a fine technique, but it shouldn't be the only way to edit the scene.

The characters' backstories are conveyed through worries, nightmares, and thoughts about how the present day is shadowed by the past. Because of the empire's use of physical mutilations as punishment followed by shunning, there are complicated layers of ableism established early on which then don't really go anywhere. The audiobook narrators work well as a pair, their performances fit the characters.

I like how there are several queer secondary characters, but it started to feel a bit like both protagonists got their own gay best friend. That thought might just be my irritation in the book as a whole coming out in something pithy, but it’s a thought I couldn’t shake once I had it. At times it feels more like they're queer so that they won't distract from the romance with the main pair, which was so flimsy that even the possibility they could like someone else would be enough to shred it. It felt like Ahn and Altan spent so long dancing around the idea of a relationship that by the time they actually maybe acknowledge their feelings I’d formed the opinion that they wouldn’t be good together. It’s just enough romantic vibes to keep it from being a platonic guy/girl teamup, but not enough romance to matter to the plot. It’s an awkward middle ground which might be setting up something for the clearly intended sequel, but as of this review in 2022 it doesn’t look like that’ll happen.

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doodeedoda's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

3.5

As always my reading experiences based on my own perceptions, my own expectations, and my own understanding. I definitely think that this was not as good of a reader as it could’ve been because in my effort one day to see how many pages there were in this book I saw the last line and that colored my perception of what was happening at certain points because I thought there was a note of incest but I was wrong and it makes me sad that my eyes betrayed me like that and messed with my perceptions of the story.There was too much world dumping at the beginning of the book and I spent the entire ready of the book confused which was frustrating and I liked it the lesbian lovers and the representation there and it was a fine read I just spent the majority of it confused and their questions at the end but I almost kind of don’t care about the answers? I don’t know if this was a confusing read for me.

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abbyschalupa's review

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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mandkips's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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bookishflower's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-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

3.75

3.75/5
- I have to kill you trope
- elemental magic
- political intrigue
- slow burn romance
- heavily inspired by Chinese mythology

This book had beautiful writing with a rich influence of Chinese mythology, wlw and mlm rep, good world building and magic system, and importantly a balance of light and dark moments.

I do, however, think I would have enjoyed it even more if I went into it with the right expectations. I was recommended Jade Fire Gold as a book similar to Avatar the last Airbender if zutara was endgame, but I think it’s more accurately a book centred in politics and family trauma. The romance is more a slow-burn sub-plot- which I didn’t mind at all as I enjoy a keener focus on the fantasy world over romance- but was surprising based on my expectations going in.

Once I got my head around that, however, you definitely root for the characters- I personally loved Tang Wei and the cluelessness of the main characters when they are around each other- they are lovable and true to their characterisation throughout with good character development.

I believe the book would be perfect as a duology rather than a stand-alone to finish up

what happened to Ahn’s mother, what Altan’s sister wants and her story, if Leiye returned Tai Shun’s feelings, how Altan will be as a ruler, how Ahn and Altan’s relationship will develop, and how Ahn will cope with the impact of what she has done. But it is still very enjoyable and a good standalone in its own right.

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