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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
lighthearted
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:
No
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
6 stars
i know i've only read two books in this series but this is my favorite so far because my people (huế; pronounced like "hweh") were mentionED!!!! IN FANTASY?!?! I LOVE IT! the anticipation of "will they, won't they eat them?"—had me on the edge of my seat! and the storyteller regaling mythical creatures via oral storytelling? i loved all of it! this is the kind of writing style that i love from nghi vo and i'm SO excited for this series to keep going because genuinely? i never want it to end. usually i want things to end because i love standalones. her knack for writing southeast asian fantasy? immaculate, darling!
lemme just flame the audiobook producers for a second: what are y'all doing? it's a good thing i own this physically (both ebook and paperbound) because i was tandem reading with the audiobook and the narrator pronounced the name "si-yu" wrong the entire time, saying "su-yi" instead 😬 how did this make it past every stage of production?? did nobody listen to the audiobook before release??? it's bad enough that people don't bother saying our names if they don't make fun of our names altogether. don't do this to asian projects 😒
----
cover artist: alyssa winans
i know i've only read two books in this series but this is my favorite so far because my people (huế; pronounced like "hweh") were mentionED!!!! IN FANTASY?!?! I LOVE IT! the anticipation of "will they, won't they eat them?"—had me on the edge of my seat! and the storyteller regaling mythical creatures via oral storytelling? i loved all of it! this is the kind of writing style that i love from nghi vo and i'm SO excited for this series to keep going because genuinely? i never want it to end. usually i want things to end because i love standalones. her knack for writing southeast asian fantasy? immaculate, darling!
lemme just flame the audiobook producers for a second: what are y'all doing? it's a good thing i own this physically (both ebook and paperbound) because i was tandem reading with the audiobook and the narrator pronounced the name "si-yu" wrong the entire time, saying "su-yi" instead 😬 how did this make it past every stage of production?? did nobody listen to the audiobook before release??? it's bad enough that people don't bother saying our names if they don't make fun of our names altogether. don't do this to asian projects 😒
----
cover artist: alyssa winans
adventurous
fast-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:
No
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a really great follow-up to the Empress of Salt and Fortune. I love the connecting storyline of following Chih as they travel around, and though I didn't find the tigers and their story quite as interesting as Rabbit and her tale, it was still compelling to have them correcting the errors in the story the cleric already knew.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Abandonment
A folk tale within a folk tale, just beautifully done. The ending left a teensy bit to be desired, and just wasn't as strong a finish as The Empress of Salt and Fortune... I think it just lacked a surprise element for me.