Reviews

hmmmm.

i do enjoy the plot on this sec book. ping ‘er and prince yanming deaths surely made me cry. and i do feel i want to get in the book and punch wugang if i had the chance to. overall, i love this duology and this sec book doesn’t disappoint except….

the love triangle…..

while i do agree xingyin does not deserve liwei anymore (despite im rooting for them on the first book) but i do think that wenzhi love for xingyin is kinda out of nowhere. like i know he loves her but then on the first book there’s no detail on how close they were except they’re just as close as captain-subordinate kind of relationship or maybe a lil bit closer. but there’s a whole lot timeskip for the years xingyin spent in the army and lots of details missing for it to be this intense sjsjsjjs idk maybe it’s just me.

and when it’s totally possible to like two person at the same time (though i don’t really believe in that) i just hope xingyin does not drag liwei this long. no matter how many times she said she did not want to give any false hope…she did…..liwei deserves better and i hope he will find his love soon. this is my hc 😞

but yeah i still love this duology. maybe the ending not that much but yeah happy ending for all aight? dhdhdhdjdhd. and i def will anticipate any future book or series from the author hehe

sydneyreadsstories's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

vhaighleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring medium-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? No

5.0

sophiesmith's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad medium-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? N/A

3.25

mherrema's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

kelly_shea's review against another edition

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1.0

Loved the first book but hated this one by the end. As some others have said, the plot itself was pretty weak. I got bored about halfway through. Mostly, though, I found Xingyin insufferable. Her wavering between Liwei and Wenzhi was so frustrating. I don't enjoy love triangles in the first place. But I pushed through it because I thought that surely she would end up with Liwei. To choose Wenzhi after all that he put her through in the last book? I cannot believe that Xingyin put the "betrayal" of Liwei temporarily being betrothed (then breaking it of his own accord!) on par with what Wenzhi did. Wenzhi tricked her, stole from her, and kidnapped her by his own choices, and she could get over that - but couldn't forgive Liwei for almost giving in to family pressure. Poor Liwei. Wenzhi was a manipultive and borderline abusive character and I wasn't sad when he died, despite the author spending the whole book trying to push his "redemption" arc onto us. I was honestly quite annoyed at the revelation that he existed in the mortal realm. Characters coming back to life (not to mention Houyi) in this way really reduced the impact of their deaths in the first place.

I was similarly disappointed with how characters other than Xingyin developed in this book (Liwei and others were much more flat than in the previous installment), but for now I will leave it at this.

Clearly a lot of people liked this book & were satisfied with the ending, but I honestly wish I hadn't read it. I don't plan to read this author again, and will probably donate my copy of this book and pretend it doesn't exist.

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