Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Blood Phoenix by Amber Chen

1 review

dakota2093's review against another edition

3.0

dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I liked that the story had more of Nian and Ye-kan and I thought their story arcs were well written. I thought the pirate aspect was interesting and the worldbuilding was expanded to include more about Qirin and refugees. 

My main problem is that the book, and the series as a whole, felt unfinished. In the last 20% of the book

3 main characters die (Chang-en, An-xi and Lianshu) and the fates of Ying and Ye-yang are left unanswered.

I feel like a lot of the character development of Ye-yang and Ye-kan happened off screen and the development of Ying was kind of confusing as her inner monologue says that she always runs away from her problems and then after a few monologues by older side characters she apparently learns to face her problems by

sacrificing herself, however, if she is alive and living somewhere with Ye-yang she is literally running away from her problems for good and if she is dead that is just a depressing ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Colonisation, War

Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail