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fkshg8465's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, and Incest
thequiltyreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I found the characters loveable and was was really routing for some of them throughout the book.
I quite enjoyed jumping back and forward between the main characters perspectives. I did find the timeline a little hard to follow though so gave up on that part and just enjoyed the story.
I felt there were a couple of things never quite fully explained but I think this worked well with the fact this book had a strong link to a Folklore story that in itself has a lot of mystery wrapped around it.
Graphic: Death, Child death, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Murder, Blood, Slavery, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Infertility
bookycnidaria's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Sexism, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Miscarriage, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Sexual assault, and Racism
silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Infidelity
marigold_faye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Incest, and Child death
jazhandz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Graphic: Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Medical content, Child death, and Sexual harassment
kikicochrane's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Spoiler content below, includes end of book mentions.
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Incest, Death of parent, and Sexual content
unsure's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Almost every chapter has a narrator change. Of the 3 narrators, 2 are likeable. They're loyal, hard-working and smart. Li Jin is a girl/young woman stuck in a life where she can only watch others accomplish her dreams but still finds a way to be true to herself and protect her mother. Ren is a young, orphan boy who has a seemingly impossible task while navigating a new place and new people. Watching as their lives interwove was enjoyable. The 3rd narrator is not that good of a person, but he's a good foil for Ji Lin and ren.
The pov change were difficult though. With each switch, the tenses changed. This, along with the flashbacks, made reading a bit irritating. Additionally, the pov changes would sometimes start at the beginning of middle of the last pov, meaning you had to backtrack, which was especially frustrating when it was right in the middle of a tense scene and the characters were with eachother the whole time.
The mystical aspect was both enjoyable and overwhelming. I think it could have benefited from some streamlining. The 5 Confucius values were really cool, and I liked the is -he-isn't-he bit with the weretiger, but I think the concepts were kept too separate that it was difficult to accept that they'd both show up in the same storyline without some connecting factor.
The big problem was the characters' individual endings. The main villian doesn't get their proper comeuppance
Honestly the ending just disappointed and rather infuriated me. Massive spoiler-filled rant about the William-Ren storyline starts here
In summary, it was filled with ups and downs, and I ended up upset that the ending had some really bad bits when most of it had so much potential
Moderate: Death and Colonisation
Minor: Blood, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Incest, Infertility, and Injury/Injury detail
story_goblin's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Miscarriage
bonnienoire's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gore, Gun violence, Fatphobia, and Confinement
Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment