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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
celestialrock's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide
fool_ofabook's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
The writing was beautiful. I loved almost the entire thing UNTIL that horrible disgraceful end. I was so offended by the way the author revealed the secrets at the climax and how the real 'villain' (more like anti-hero?) was revealed in the f*cking epilogue. I physically cried, in utter heartache, at having believed in this book only for it to spit in my face.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Death, and Suicide attempt
reading_gives_serotonin's review
mysterious
tense
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
Moderate: War, Slavery, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
corvicore's review
mysterious
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Vomit, and Slavery
Moderate: War, Torture, and Trafficking
Minor: Suicide and Medical content
wateringpages's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
A HUGE breath of fresh air compared to what I normally see in YA Fantasy. There's a lot of politics and courtroom drama, so if you liked Six of Crows, you'll probably like this as well. The romance is slow and builds up extremely well, and it's a very muted and subtle one as well: present enough to be palpable, but not too overwhelming so that it distracts from the main plot.
Speaking of plot, I felt like there were a few pacing issues, but apart from that the plot unravels beautifully and you're left wanting for more with each chapter. Without giving away too much, the final plot twist is heavily foreshadowed but presented as trivial enough that you don't play attention to it, so once you do get there you almost feel stupid for ignoring all the signs.
The characters are all well developed, layered, and complex. They're all individual enough to have motivations that are completely separate or at least barely dependent on other characters. Inspite of that, take one of them out and the book falls apart. Joan He managed to find that fragile balance extremely well.
(Also, I CANNOT get over how gorgeous the cover is)
Speaking of plot, I felt like there were a few pacing issues, but apart from that the plot unravels beautifully and you're left wanting for more with each chapter. Without giving away too much, the final plot twist is heavily foreshadowed but presented as trivial enough that you don't play attention to it, so once you do get there you almost feel stupid for ignoring all the signs.
The characters are all well developed, layered, and complex. They're all individual enough to have motivations that are completely separate or at least barely dependent on other characters. Inspite of that, take one of them out and the book falls apart. Joan He managed to find that fragile balance extremely well.
(Also, I CANNOT get over how gorgeous the cover is)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Suicide
maurits's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I like the concept, but the story moved too fast. There was little time for worldbuilding and getting a good grip on the characters. This made the denouement of the story seem a bit out of place.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Suicide and Torture
btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
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
5.0
What an absolutely stunning book. I read this back in 2019 as an eARC, but I didn't have the words at the time to properly express how amazing I found this book, even more so today than I did back then.
At its heart, Descendant of the Crane is a book about morality. We all want to do the right thing, we all want to believe in the systems that have been put in place, and we all want to hope that the people around us are true, faithful, and honest. This book breaks down the concept of morality and truth and makes Hesina, our MC, question what is real and what is a veneer over a broken system.
What I love most about this book is that it showed the truth of humanity - no matter your position, your intentions, or your heart, humans are fallible and we make mistakes. Hesina makes choices that she believes are right and will lead her to the truth, but the brokenness of the system results in consequence after consequence, loss after loss. And she owns up to them, which is so rare to see, but you can see her taking accountability and bearing the weight of the losses on her shoulder.
The twist at the end still haunts me and I wish that we could've gotten a sequel for this one. Alas, not in the cards, but where it ends, there's hope for everyone left and I loved the potential we're left with.
Descendant of the Crane remains a favourite for me, and I definitely recommend picking this one up. I think it'll surprise you.
TW: death, grief, torture, violence, blood, injury detail, genocide, slavery, racism (of a magical group of people); mentions suicide, war, vomit
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
eARC gifted by Joan He's previous problematic publisher, so I won't be thanking them, but acknowledging the gifted copy.
At its heart, Descendant of the Crane is a book about morality. We all want to do the right thing, we all want to believe in the systems that have been put in place, and we all want to hope that the people around us are true, faithful, and honest. This book breaks down the concept of morality and truth and makes Hesina, our MC, question what is real and what is a veneer over a broken system.
What I love most about this book is that it showed the truth of humanity - no matter your position, your intentions, or your heart, humans are fallible and we make mistakes. Hesina makes choices that she believes are right and will lead her to the truth, but the brokenness of the system results in consequence after consequence, loss after loss. And she owns up to them, which is so rare to see, but you can see her taking accountability and bearing the weight of the losses on her shoulder.
The twist at the end still haunts me and I wish that we could've gotten a sequel for this one. Alas, not in the cards, but where it ends, there's hope for everyone left and I loved the potential we're left with.
Descendant of the Crane remains a favourite for me, and I definitely recommend picking this one up. I think it'll surprise you.
TW: death, grief, torture, violence, blood, injury detail, genocide, slavery, racism (of a magical group of people); mentions suicide, war, vomit
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
World Building: 4.5/5
Writing: 5/5
Pacing: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
eARC gifted by Joan He's previous problematic publisher, so I won't be thanking them, but acknowledging the gifted copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Blood, Genocide, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Slavery, Racism, Suicide, Vomit, and War
gladiolus17's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Suicide
typedtruths's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
DNF 95 pages.
Despite borrowing both the ebook and physical copy from the library, I didn't manage to finish it before its due date. I'm focusing on reading my own tbr this year so it wasn't a priority. I was definitely enjoying it enough to pick it back up again, sometime in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Suicide