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4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
Starting off with the positives, and they're pretty strong positives; it's a fun story with an interesting premise. A fun new take on the love triangle concept. The characters have strong motivations and their actions are dramatic and bold. A big feminist message with an emphasis on chinese culture and a disabled main character, which makes it stand out compared to a lot of other books. The version I had also had some pictures of the different mechas throughout the book which is a cute touch that I'd sometimes go back to look through. It's also a pretty quick read.
The bad side: it feels like a Wattpad fanfic for Chinese History x Pacific Rim x Hunger Games. I can't speak on the Chinese History aspect, but it doesn't have the grand scale of PR or pull on heartstrings like HG, so it just kind of makes you think of these other stories that did it just a bit better.
There's far too much saying and not enough showing. I don't need the main character spelling out every little thing she's feeling at every second, let your actions speak for you. Maybe that's the 18-year-old kid perspective.
I also spent almost the entire book thinking along the lines of "okay so there's a big kaiju theme in this world, what's the metaphor here" and there just... wasn't one? The twist relating to them doesn't happen until the literal epilogue, which is clearly setting up for the next book, but there was no lead-up to the twist at all (from what I could tell, but based upon my previous point, I don't think she'd leave much between the lines for us to guess at).
And the characters don't have very strong individual storylines. The main character was supposedly so incredibly driven by her dead older sister but that feels like it's only really there as a reason to start the plot, like a weird distortion of fridging her. Her first love interest spends the whole time being like "I'm docile and pretty but MAYBE there's a darker side to me lurking underneath but that's a problem for future books." The second love interest has character growth and real plot to him, but then the plot just ends and there's no real closure to his storyline and not enough reaction to it. There's an advisor that starts off being "I'm an asshole and annoying and you should hate me" to "okay I'm really on your side, I'll back you up as much as I can" to "I actually do not care about you at all. Not really betraying, just being passive." Another advisor is brought in somewhat later on and it picked out as a horrible person and so killing him is supposed to be a big moment but there's almost no weight to him at all besides a bit of character-related trauma. The emperor at the end is like "how dare you treat me like a woman... okay you're power-hungry and kinda a baddy, sure I'll just sit back and help."
Still, it was fun. Probably would've been better if I had kept my thinking to surface level consumption.
Characters: 2/5
Worldbuilding: 2/5 at start, 4/5 in the epilogue
Plot: 4/5
Writing: 2/5
The bad side: it feels like a Wattpad fanfic for Chinese History x Pacific Rim x Hunger Games. I can't speak on the Chinese History aspect, but it doesn't have the grand scale of PR or pull on heartstrings like HG, so it just kind of makes you think of these other stories that did it just a bit better.
There's far too much saying and not enough showing. I don't need the main character spelling out every little thing she's feeling at every second, let your actions speak for you. Maybe that's the 18-year-old kid perspective.
I also spent almost the entire book thinking along the lines of "okay so there's a big kaiju theme in this world, what's the metaphor here" and there just... wasn't one? The twist relating to them doesn't happen until the literal epilogue, which is clearly setting up for the next book, but there was no lead-up to the twist at all (from what I could tell, but based upon my previous point, I don't think she'd leave much between the lines for us to guess at).
And the characters don't have very strong individual storylines. The main character was supposedly so incredibly driven by her dead older sister but that feels like it's only really there as a reason to start the plot, like a weird distortion of fridging her. Her first love interest spends the whole time being like "I'm docile and pretty but MAYBE there's a darker side to me lurking underneath but that's a problem for future books." The second love interest has character growth and real plot to him, but then the plot just ends and there's no real closure to his storyline and not enough reaction to it. There's an advisor that starts off being "I'm an asshole and annoying and you should hate me" to "okay I'm really on your side, I'll back you up as much as I can" to "I actually do not care about you at all. Not really betraying, just being passive." Another advisor is brought in somewhat later on and it picked out as a horrible person and so killing him is supposed to be a big moment but there's almost no weight to him at all besides a bit of character-related trauma. The emperor at the end is like "how dare you treat me like a woman... okay you're power-hungry and kinda a baddy, sure I'll just sit back and help."
Still, it was fun. Probably would've been better if I had kept my thinking to surface level consumption.
Characters: 2/5
Worldbuilding: 2/5 at start, 4/5 in the epilogue
Plot: 4/5
Writing: 2/5
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
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
good book excited already for the second one pls don't let me wait too long
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really wanted to fall in love with this book.
It has feminism! Sci/fi AND fantasy elements! Giant robots! Techno/mystic mind links! Tasteful love triangle! Smashing the patriarchy!
I loved the colder female lead. We really don’t get to see many leading women be calculating and cold-hearted. I loved seeing that!
But i don’t feel like i was the target audience for this one. The writing feels like it’s written for a younger audience which is fair! The tone fluctuated between pretty formal writing (the standard for fantasy books) to stuff that would be at home in tumblr fanfics.
Neither of these tones are bad in of themselves, but the combination made for confused and stilted prose.
The premise is exciting and definitely worth a read! But both plot and writing style needed to be perfected with a few more edits.
It’s a first novel, but i’m excited to see more!
It has feminism! Sci/fi AND fantasy elements! Giant robots! Techno/mystic mind links! Tasteful love triangle! Smashing the patriarchy!
I loved the colder female lead. We really don’t get to see many leading women be calculating and cold-hearted. I loved seeing that!
But i don’t feel like i was the target audience for this one. The writing feels like it’s written for a younger audience which is fair! The tone fluctuated between pretty formal writing (the standard for fantasy books) to stuff that would be at home in tumblr fanfics.
Neither of these tones are bad in of themselves, but the combination made for confused and stilted prose.
The premise is exciting and definitely worth a read! But both plot and writing style needed to be perfected with a few more edits.
It’s a first novel, but i’m excited to see more!
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Merciless and bloodthirsty from start to finish, the descriptor of “A primal scream of a book” from E.K. Johnston is wholly accurate. I can only imagine what the R-18 early drafts of this book looked like since it’s already quite a dark story for a YA novel. And I loved that. The amount of bloodthirsty vengeance in this book was incredibly cathartic!
If you like extra brutal mecha animes featuring queer characters, you’ll really enjoy this book.
The book already comes with a trigger warning, which I really appreciated, but just to reiterate it: violence, abuse, suicidal ideation, discussion/references to sexual assault (no on-page depictions, but some violent acts with a strong undertone), alcohol addiction, and torture.
Now, SPOLERS AHEAD.
This is a book for everyone who has been wronged by the patriarchal system. The number of times I smiled as viciously as Zetian was telling. Zetian wreaks chaos and claims vengeance with a bloody fervor as a queer woman who was physically disabled by her family. I think out of the entire book, Zetian recounting the way her grandmother broke and bound her feet was one of the most stomach-churning moments for me. Zetian gets vengeance for herself, for her needlessly killed older sister, and for every girl harmed and killed by society. Truly, a book full of wish fulfilment. ❤
Admittedly, the first quarter of the book does take some getting through, especially with the “It’s over 9,000!” type moments as the book establishes the qi power rankings and how the Chrysalises work (necessary for understanding the world, but still). And there are plenty of moments where the book does more telling than showing (sometimes it’s helpful so the narration can speed past having to repeat what the reader already knows, but at other times it can make the scene feel oddly distant).
And then there is one particular paragraph where the story gets 3x gayer and hints at the, eventually fully realized, triad which made me so, so happy! I never understood why so many YA novels make the main character choose between love interests, like, why not both? So, it was absolutely wonderful to see that here!
If you like extra brutal mecha animes featuring queer characters, you’ll really enjoy this book.
The book already comes with a trigger warning, which I really appreciated, but just to reiterate it: violence, abuse, suicidal ideation, discussion/references to sexual assault (no on-page depictions, but some violent acts with a strong undertone), alcohol addiction, and torture.
Now, SPOLERS AHEAD.
This is a book for everyone who has been wronged by the patriarchal system. The number of times I smiled as viciously as Zetian was telling. Zetian wreaks chaos and claims vengeance with a bloody fervor as a queer woman who was physically disabled by her family. I think out of the entire book, Zetian recounting the way her grandmother broke and bound her feet was one of the most stomach-churning moments for me. Zetian gets vengeance for herself, for her needlessly killed older sister, and for every girl harmed and killed by society. Truly, a book full of wish fulfilment. ❤
Admittedly, the first quarter of the book does take some getting through, especially with the “It’s over 9,000!” type moments as the book establishes the qi power rankings and how the Chrysalises work (necessary for understanding the world, but still). And there are plenty of moments where the book does more telling than showing (sometimes it’s helpful so the narration can speed past having to repeat what the reader already knows, but at other times it can make the scene feel oddly distant).
And then there is one particular paragraph where the story gets 3x gayer and hints at the, eventually fully realized, triad which made me so, so happy! I never understood why so many YA novels make the main character choose between love interests, like, why not both? So, it was absolutely wonderful to see that here!