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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Self harm, Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Xenophobia, Genocide, Slavery, Grief, Medical content, and Torture
Minor: Animal death, War, Vomit, Suicide, and Infidelity
caidyn's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I finally revisited this and found it very good. Really, the political intrigue was well done and I had to remind myself this was YA a few times. I'm glad I decided to give this another try because I remember wanting to enjoy it so much. Just seems like the wrong time for the book.
Original review
I received this ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 37%
Let me just get this off my chest first:
I WANTED TO LOVE THIS!!!
It sounded so amazing, like it’d be a YA version of The Poppy War. Like, it sounded like it was going to be fucking epic and that I’d love it and immediately have an author that I would follow for the rest of my life.
But, that was what it could have been. That’s not the reality.
Immediately, I stepped into this world and knew one thing: Hesina, our MC, is the new queen after her father’s death. And she believes that he was murdered.
That’s it. That’s all I knew.
From there, it goes into her wanting to discover who did it. But, that’s not all that’s going on with the book. There’s very little characterization that I caught. No character jumped off the page for me, not even Hesina. It was all very bland, despite the intrigue going on. I could barely differentiate characters, which became a huge problem since there were a lot of characters being thrown my way.
Also, there’s more given in the description about the world than on the page. Such as, these things, sooths, were suddenly in the story. And my reaction was “who the hell are these things??” I thought they were legit creatures or something out of Game of Thrones. But, no. They’re people with magic. I didn’t find that out from reading 37% of the book. I found that out by reading the description while writing this review.
In the end, I was getting frustrated because I had no idea what was going on, who any of the characters were, and why things were important. So, I had to stop reading it. One day, once it’s published, I might come back and try it again. I’m very excited to see these ownvoices fantasies coming out. I’m all for it and I definitely will read more of the Asian books that are coming out this year.
But, I couldn’t do this one.
Original review
I received this ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 37%
Let me just get this off my chest first:
I WANTED TO LOVE THIS!!!
It sounded so amazing, like it’d be a YA version of The Poppy War. Like, it sounded like it was going to be fucking epic and that I’d love it and immediately have an author that I would follow for the rest of my life.
But, that was what it could have been. That’s not the reality.
Immediately, I stepped into this world and knew one thing: Hesina, our MC, is the new queen after her father’s death. And she believes that he was murdered.
That’s it. That’s all I knew.
From there, it goes into her wanting to discover who did it. But, that’s not all that’s going on with the book. There’s very little characterization that I caught. No character jumped off the page for me, not even Hesina. It was all very bland, despite the intrigue going on. I could barely differentiate characters, which became a huge problem since there were a lot of characters being thrown my way.
Also, there’s more given in the description about the world than on the page. Such as, these things, sooths, were suddenly in the story. And my reaction was “who the hell are these things??” I thought they were legit creatures or something out of Game of Thrones. But, no. They’re people with magic. I didn’t find that out from reading 37% of the book. I found that out by reading the description while writing this review.
In the end, I was getting frustrated because I had no idea what was going on, who any of the characters were, and why things were important. So, I had to stop reading it. One day, once it’s published, I might come back and try it again. I’m very excited to see these ownvoices fantasies coming out. I’m all for it and I definitely will read more of the Asian books that are coming out this year.
But, I couldn’t do this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death and Confinement
emerynmader's review
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is an absolute masterpiece. Although I found it a bit hard to fully immerse myself into the world and story, I was stuck incredibly deep in the end. No matter how much I though I knew what would happen, I kept being surprised and taken aback. Character driven, Joan He has crafted a wonderful debut that everyone interested in Fantasy should give a try.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
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