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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
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:
N/A
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
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
adventurous
emotional
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:
Yes
Everyone who knows me is familiar with my obsession with Sue Lynn Tan, since the publication of her debut, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, a few years ago, I have read every single one of them and Immortal is no different. So I am very grateful for my advanced reading copy, although I have preordered the book as well because I suffer a severe case of spredgitis. And let´s be honest, the book is worth it!
Set in the same world as her other books, but without the need to have read any of them, Immortal will take us to the Kingdom of Tianxia, whose ruler, Liyen, is fighting to gain independence from the Immortal Realm while trying to keep Tianxia, and herself, safe from many dangers. While doing so she will test her alliances, morals and even her vision of what should a rules do to safeguard her people and how far she is able to go. What an absolutely delightful main character, with so many shades of grey and dilemmas that you will be enthralled by her choices.
My favourite thing about Sue Lynn’s books is her prose. It’s vivid, descriptive and evocative without losing its dynamism or sheer beauty. She has achieved the perfect balance, to my taste, of striking and poetic while keeping a frantic pace and always evolving plot. She is very good at narrating the impossible, while creating very sound characters and making them cry around various realms.
The book may be classed as a romantasy, since it does have a love story at its core, but I would hate it to be boxed into just that category as I think it would be closer to the xianxia genre (without going into more details to prevent spoilers). It has plenty of political intrigues and schemes, theological and ethical ones but, amongst it all, the great dichotomy between good and evil and its meaning, the end justify the means, and how much is one willing to sacrifice for the common good.
I cannot stress enough how much worth it is to give this author a try, with any of her books, because once you do, you will be buying every single one of them.
Set in the same world as her other books, but without the need to have read any of them, Immortal will take us to the Kingdom of Tianxia, whose ruler, Liyen, is fighting to gain independence from the Immortal Realm while trying to keep Tianxia, and herself, safe from many dangers. While doing so she will test her alliances, morals and even her vision of what should a rules do to safeguard her people and how far she is able to go. What an absolutely delightful main character, with so many shades of grey and dilemmas that you will be enthralled by her choices.
My favourite thing about Sue Lynn’s books is her prose. It’s vivid, descriptive and evocative without losing its dynamism or sheer beauty. She has achieved the perfect balance, to my taste, of striking and poetic while keeping a frantic pace and always evolving plot. She is very good at narrating the impossible, while creating very sound characters and making them cry around various realms.
The book may be classed as a romantasy, since it does have a love story at its core, but I would hate it to be boxed into just that category as I think it would be closer to the xianxia genre (without going into more details to prevent spoilers). It has plenty of political intrigues and schemes, theological and ethical ones but, amongst it all, the great dichotomy between good and evil and its meaning, the end justify the means, and how much is one willing to sacrifice for the common good.
I cannot stress enough how much worth it is to give this author a try, with any of her books, because once you do, you will be buying every single one of them.
2.5/5 stars. immortal is a YA fantasy about magical lineage, hidden pasts, and destined love. while the setup had potential, the execution didn’t quite land for me.
overall, the tone of the book skewed younger than expected, and the audiobook edition didn’t help—some of the voice choices made the characters feel more childish than they probably were on the page. it was hard to take the main character, liyen, seriously when she sounded like a melodramatic teenager who overreacted to every little thing. i cringed at the insta-love, and even when it was explained, it felt a bit too convenient. liyen's backstory ended up bordering on mary sue territory—powerful, special, and central to everything. finally, the villain lacked the kind of depth that would’ve made the conflict more compelling, and sounded like the classic 'bad guy' in a children's cartoon.
there’s definitely charm in the concept, but for me, the immaturity outweighed the payoff and i would recommend reading this one in print. if you're in the mood for light fantasy in an asian-inspired setting, it might still be worth checking out.
i received an ARC of the audiobook edition in exchange for an an honest review.
overall, the tone of the book skewed younger than expected, and the audiobook edition didn’t help—some of the voice choices made the characters feel more childish than they probably were on the page. it was hard to take the main character, liyen, seriously when she sounded like a melodramatic teenager who overreacted to every little thing. i cringed at the insta-love, and even when it was explained, it felt a bit too convenient. liyen's backstory ended up bordering on mary sue territory—powerful, special, and central to everything. finally, the villain lacked the kind of depth that would’ve made the conflict more compelling, and sounded like the classic 'bad guy' in a children's cartoon.
there’s definitely charm in the concept, but for me, the immaturity outweighed the payoff and i would recommend reading this one in print. if you're in the mood for light fantasy in an asian-inspired setting, it might still be worth checking out.
i received an ARC of the audiobook edition in exchange for an an honest review.
Cute cute cute. Loved the writing of this book, I did also enjoy the authors others books, it’s just so whimsical and packed full of fabulous mythology
The dynamic between Zhangwei and Lyien was actually really well done, I was scared it was going to be too insta-love (because I cannot stand that nonsense) but this was sweet and had such a great twist!
I’d recommend this book if you enjoy mythology, a whimsical world and a classic hero story
The dynamic between Zhangwei and Lyien was actually really well done, I was scared it was going to be too insta-love (because I cannot stand that nonsense) but this was sweet and had such a great twist!
I’d recommend this book if you enjoy mythology, a whimsical world and a classic hero story
DNF at 40% (audiobook). I don’t feel right rating it since I didn’t finish, but the amount I read is probably 2 stars. I really liked Daughter of the Moon Goddess, but Immortal lacked the character development of the previous books in this universe. Everything in this book felt rushed and unearned. I didn’t think the main character’s behavior made any sense for someone of her position. The enemies to lovers romance didn’t work for me at any level—I didn’t feel her initial hatred of the god of war made sense, and it made even less sense when she seemingly fell in love with him within 2 days, and even less sense when she was presumably betrayed by him but didn’t think critically about anything that was happening to her and immediately went back to hatred. The main character is constantly making rash decisions and then wonders why no one respects her. I think the author’s intent was that the MC is strong in her own right while facing powerful gods, but she only comes across as childish to me. I felt too frustrated with it all to spend another 8 hours with these characters.
I admit I don't think I was in the mood for this one. While this type of story is generally right up my alley, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story itself was interesting and I enjoyed most of it, especially the second half. However, I had a hard time with Liyen. I did not like her very much and thought she was pretty annoying in the first half of the book. I feel like the inciting incident just didn't hit hard enough for me, and therefore I didn't have very much empathy for her as a character. I did like Zhangwei, the God of War, and his character was ultimately why I finished the book.
I also feel like the pacing could have been a bit better--the first half really dragged for me and the second half felt rushed. The book felt both too long and too short, and I think splitting it into two shorter books would have improved it. I think having more time with Liyen in both parts of the story would probably have made me like her more, though who knows.
Anyway, I found this book to only be okay, and that might have just been because I was not in the mood for it. Still, I want to thank Avon and Harper Voyager, as well as NetGalley, for the eARC of this book.
I also feel like the pacing could have been a bit better--the first half really dragged for me and the second half felt rushed. The book felt both too long and too short, and I think splitting it into two shorter books would have improved it. I think having more time with Liyen in both parts of the story would probably have made me like her more, though who knows.
Anyway, I found this book to only be okay, and that might have just been because I was not in the mood for it. Still, I want to thank Avon and Harper Voyager, as well as NetGalley, for the eARC of this book.