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saoreads'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
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and War
killeenm18'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Torture, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual harassment
kelseyr713'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, War, Murder, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
The sexual assault is attempted, not completed, and alluded to vaguely.mossboss08's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Minor: Death of parent, Blood, and Rape
claudiamacpherson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Minor: Violence, Torture, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Confinement
kriti's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, and War
3arth2kaye's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death of parent
krystlethegreat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
It was okay, but I don't think there needs to be a book 2.
Graphic: Violence
Minor: Death of parent
shannnne_reads_words's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Death, Death of parent, and War
melethwi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Before I get into the review, I do want to say that I think this is a great fantasy book, especially considering the author says in her acknowledgments section that she had very little writing experience. I did enjoy this book, though at some points I felt lost and like I was dragging myself to keep reading.
I admit that I picked up this book because of the beautiful cover and title. The book did not disappoint, and the author showed her mastery of imagery in her beautifully elegant writing throughout the story (she has a really good vocabulary of great words, but has the tendency to repeat them to a point that is very noticeable..... I'm looking at you, "magnanimous.") This book was enchanting in its premise, and really dazzled me with the prose. I also really loved Xingyin as a leading lady. She was strong, smart, and reliable as a narrator.
Unfortunately, where this book lost stars with me was with the "romance." I did not feel particularly attached to any party, and most of the romantic development occurred "off-screen," so to speak. It felt like we were missing a whole book between a few of the chapters. For that reason, this book really failed to capture my attention for the first half because I was just trying to keep up. This could be explained by 99% of the characters being immortal and not really having a good sense of time, but the main relationship just felt really forced and then left me feeling really unsatisfied with the ending. I get that the author is setting up for a second book, but I was really hoping that after 500 pages of a book with "romantic" on the back cover, we would have a little more. :,(
Overall, I wouldn't let that deter you from reading this book. If you're a big fan of lush writing, of Chinese mythology, and VERY strong female leads, this book would be for you! Just... dampen your expectations for the romance, maybe?
More spoilery stuff:
For me, this book started off really fast. I barely had any time to get to know the characters before we were fully delving into the meat of the plot. We then met the main love interest, and their relationship took off really fast.
I got really interested again when
Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Kidnapping, Vomit, and Death of parent