Reviews

I have enjoyed the first two books greatly however this book was a disappointment. The character development from the second book was thrown away for the sake of plot. Rin did not learn anything from the Nezha and Vaisra's betrayal. We did not eve see the effects of losing the characters from the second book.
The main personal conflict of the second book was that Rin lacked her own will, was afraid of having it due to the guilt lingering in her mind for killing people. It was a morally corrupt yet realistic decision. It made Rin more humane.
After the betrayal in the second book, I have expected her to slowly develop a will of her own with her own army. The book had so much potential, yet we just watched Rin to do the mistakes from the previous book over and over again. This destroyed the picture of Rin being a hardworker with high adaptibility.

She should have been able to learn how to lead and how to decide as a commander yet she failed to do so.

It did not make her development more believable, in the contrary it destroyed the character's only stable trait and left me-the reader- annoyed.
This is without talking about the obvious plot holes and unnecessary subplots

debra_reads_'s review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Dear The Burning God,
I don't really know how to process the fact that Ren's journey is done. She went through so much, came so far and fought so hard for what she thought was right for her world. Ultimately, the situation that she found herself in became unbearable and she was left with no other options than the ones she took, but it is still hard to see the end. I love Kuang's writing, and your story was so involved and deep. I wish I could spend more time in your complex world.