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neonfrills's review
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book for review purposes.
An amazing debut and start to a series. The silkpunk elements are so fun and interesting, taking everything I’ve loved from the inventiveness of steampunk and then rooting it in East Asian history and culture. Ying is an amazing main female character who you can’t help but root for and feel overjoyed every time she overcomes an obstacle. In a lot of ways she takes the best things from a character like Katniss in the Hunger Games- she’s in a bad situation and has faced hardship, but uses that pain to make her stronger and more resourceful as she puts her mind to achieving her goals. Her romance with Ye-Yang is EVERYTHING; their interactions have that perfect, butterflies-in-your-stomach, cute but also a little dangerous and angsty type of romance that I go to YA for. I was a little disappointed in the ending, but I overall loved the vibes of this book and can’t wait to see what the sequel holds!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Minor: Misogyny
sarahbearas's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
I really, really wanted to love this book, but ultimately my feelings are that it’s just fine. It does nothing egregious but does nothing to stand out either. I really should’ve DNF’ed around the 50% mark but I pushed through because I liked the ideas that were presented.
Let’s start with the things I kinda liked:
- This was my first introduction to silkpunk, and I think it was an excellent introduction to this genre.
- This book reads very much like a C-drama, and that appealed to me.
What I didn’t like:
- The writing felt clunky, and a little juvenile for the content itself.
- The pacing was all over the place.
- The execution of this concept/idea just simply wasn’t my cup of tea.
To be more specific about what I said above…
Amber Chen takes on the ambitious job of introducing a complex fantasy world that’s based in the silkpunk genre. I keep mentioning this because it’s important to make a distinction between steampunk and silkpunk, especially since it is so explicitly stated that this is what this book is. In the words of Lyndsie Manusos from the Book Riot article on silkpunk:
“It’s more organic than steampunk. With silkpunk, form is just as important as function [...] It’s not a big chunk of metal coughing steam. It is beautiful. It is art.
The “punk” part, however, is pretty classic to the other “punk” sub-genres. Resistance and rebellion against authority are key elements.”
Ying’s resistance is obvious at first; secretly entering a guild that has only ever exclusively recruited and taught men, and succeeding despite everything thrown at her. Her choice, at the end of the novel, feels very in tune with resistance and rebellion, to me.
I remember while I was reading having the exact thought “This totally feels like a C-drama.” And lo and behold! That was the point. Having grown up around C-dramas and watching a few myself, I loved having that exact vibe shine through. That was very entertaining.
This has the bones of a good story. However, I don’t love the writing half the time, and the dialogue was often the sore thumb sticking out. It felt awkward, stilted, and unnatural. This was often the problem between Ye-yang and Ying and it made their scenes a drag. And speaking of dragging…the pacing was never consistent. I got about 50% and really struggled with how slow everything felt, especially since the story started incredibly fast.
All of this, the things I disliked, stem from a middling execution of the story. This really could’ve used a second look before publication, just to clean up sections of the story that feel slow, and really focus in on the themes. I have a hard time figuring out who to recommend this to; the content is not too heavy, but there are violent moments that don’t necessarily match up tonally with the writing. I’d say this is appropriate for the middle-older end of YA, and for those who wanted to experience a different punk subgenre, with C-drama vibes.
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Viking Books for Young Readers for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: War
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