Reviews

Thanks to Netgalley and Text Publishing for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was an OUTSTANDING conclusion to this series!!

I highly implore you to read this series, as well as Joan He's other works!!

lpcoolgirl's review

Go to review page

5.0

Absolutely loved reading this book, it was such a great end to the duology!

mbarber's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Loved the first one this one just didn’t feel like a conclusion maybe that was the point but I still wanted more romance

thebookblossomblog's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

—

Thank you so much to Roaring Book Press, Joan He, and the Macmillan Influencer Program for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

—

I cried. I heard reimaginings of Three Kingdoms are sad. I didn’t listen. I fooled around and I found out. On another note, it was SO good! It was a lot more fast paced than the first one, which I really enjoyed, and I quite literally almost fell asleep several times because I didn’t want to stop reading at night.

We got to see how Zephyr’s story played out, and I think we all thought that it wouldn’t end particularly well, but regardless needed to see the ending. I quite literally zoomed through it. I think I read it in maybe two and a half days? But it didn’t even feel like that long. I was so completely consumed by the story that it felt like no time at all.

There were so many things I loved about this book, Zephyr first and foremost. She was so unhinged all the time and I loved her for it. I enjoy reading books from the point of view of characters like her— characters where the ends always justify the means. It’s so interesting to see the lengths they will go to in order to accomplish their goals, no matter who or what gets in their way. I loved her sarcastic thoughts that we got to see as well; those types of thoughts and reactions are always things I like to see.

I also loved Crow, much for the same reasons I loved Zephyr. He was such a good rival to Zephyr because they’re basically the same person in a different font. They’re so similar, so motivated by the same things, that it almost felt like I couldn’t tell who to root for! I think I wanted them both to prevail, even though I knew there was no way it would happen.

There’s so many reveals in the last, like, five percent of the book. I found myself gasping several times, and I felt like I understood so much more. It was such an amazing experience reading and I think it’s one of my favorite fantasy duologies to date.

And the ending… ouch. It really made me cry way too much. It left things open to interpretation, which I usually hate with a burning passion, but I LOVED it. It was done SO well, and I can tell this is a book I’ll be thinking about for a long, long time. I like to believe it was. And that’s something you’ll understand once you finish the book.

rashellnicole's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

5.0

rbelanger89's review

Go to review page

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is the second book in a YA duology, where main characters are between the ages of 15-19 years old. I have to suspended disbelief that teens are strategizing and leading armies and it seems like no one exists over the age of 21. But I know I’m not the target audience. I needed to finish this duology because I was interested in the relationship (both the rivalry and romance) between two strategists. That’s right, I didn’t care about the battling armies- I came for the Enemies to Lovers. And I ended up with Tragedy.

I’ll admit- they had us in the first half. The book struggled with some pacing issues, the first third of the book felt like it was dragging. Elements like a god inhabiting another body was fascinating in the first book of the duology, but the turn that it takes here… was not what I expected. It took me a long time to get into a nice flow with this book, but when I did it became quite a wild ride. I never predicted what came next and that in and of itself was refreshing, so I guess I need to brush up on my Chinese history. And I meant tragedy in the literary sense, because no one got the ending they wanted, including me. Still a good read!

icedpinecones's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

I've been reading Joan's books since descendant of the crane, five years ago now, and watching her finally get the duology she deserves is a feat within itself. She is a kind, passionate and spirited hard worker and I am honoured to of been given an ARC for this book. Terrified because I've never read a duology in which the second book didn't fall short of the first, but honoured none the less. I shouldn't have been worried. This review has taken me so long to write because in all honesty the book as so many details and so much nuance that I'd have to do a spoiler review and a spoiler free review, a book based on the duology as a whole and a book based on just this book. You see my problem? Anyways, this is a spoiler free review of just sound the gong, however this will have spoilers for the first book of this duology STRIKE THE ZITHER. The books are essentially two halves of a whole, so it's near impossible to talk about this one without the other! With that said; onto the CAWPILE! 🩷

CHARACTERS
The characters in Sound the Gong are the same as in Stike The Zither (which I'm going to begin abbreviating from here) however STG adds so many more layers. While in STZ we saw everyone mostly through Zephyrs perspective, were able to learn a lot more about everyone because she's in different bodies now. Tourmaline is my favourite, and her relationship with Ren melts my heart, but all the sworn sisters are given so so much more depth it's harrowing to see when things go lobsided. Alternately, we also learn so so much more about the other sides of the war (Miasmas camp and Cicadias camp) and this depth really adds to the overarching themes of the book; will this be worth it? Each character has charm & depth that's unlike anything I've known in any other book, and having to leave them at the end of the tale left me feeling numb.

ATMOSPHERE
The book is right into it, STG does not play around, with major twists and turns and wrenches to Zephyrs strategies & a heavy atmosphere layering intensity and hope and desperation over eachother. It truly is a war, with casualties all over that cannot be quantified. Even the smaller tidbits of information you get (such as one casual throwaway line from Joan about Tourmaline or a line about crows reaction to an event that takes place in STZ) really layer on the dread. You cannot predict how this book will end, and I can't predict for you if you'll love it or need the bonus epilogue, but I can say you'll be immersed!

WRITING STYLE
STG moves quickly and swiftly, much as a late stage war does, and Joan does an insanely good job of keeping you at that pace with her. It's lyrical, engaging, scenic & packed with so many quotable things that I'm due to buy a second copy and several highlighters to annotate.

PLOT
Ok so, spoilers for STZ, but we pick up exactly where we left off. Crow is actually working for Cicadia, Zephyr is inside Lotus's body & war is warring. The book is a direct sequel in the sense that it's the second half of a whole so it follows on and amps it up. I'd say it's way more action packed than the first, because the first was setting up the dominos and the second is letting them fall!

INTRIGUE
There's so much that intrigues me with this series, I'm not familiar with the romance of the three kingdoms so I was going in pretty fresh to it all, but I can't begin to tell you how much I've enjoyed this. The main things for me is the characters, how they've all god morals and code and loyalty that isn't really depicted in western media (loyalty ≠ infatuation or love) and I enjoy it. I enjoy watching characters clamber and do some of the most unforgivable things in the names of their lordesses!

LOGIC
You have no idea how amazing this is to read purely because of how many things are mirrored from book one to book two and how many things are picked up again. There is not a single plot hole, a single line unmatched, a single story not satisfactorily ended. Everything was PERFECT!

ENJOYMENT
INCASE YOU CANT ALREADY TELL!!! I am absolutely in adoration with this book, I've never read a duology where the second hasn't fallen short so I can't tell you how overjoyed I was to read this. It's truly just a masterpiece in my eyes, and I'll be rereading it for years to come just on how amazing it is!

Jessie (she/her)

[email protected]
www.instagram.com/icedpinecones
www.goodreads.com/icedpinecones
https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/icedpinecones

More...