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hazel_oat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: War, Alcohol, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse
Minor: Self harm and Drug use
madamenovelist'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
5.0
Graphic: Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Death, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
Moderate: Torture and Alcohol
alyssajp's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Graphic: Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and War
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Death of parent
weareinheritors'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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The world and descriptions of locales and some people are great, I really would've loved to see more. I also liked the magic and, of course, always love me some
The plot feels rushed and a little too easily resolved, but intriguing all the same. I don't like how *easy* it was to resolve a lot of long-standing worldbuilding issues (
I really didn't care for any of the main characters (Shuxiao is a real one, though. I want more of her, please). The sorta-kinda rebound love "triangle" almost made me DNF (specifically the
I'll read the sequel for the worldbuilding, but I'm not rushing into it.
Graphic: Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Minor: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Infidelity
nekomatagirl'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
Highly recommend!!!
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Alcohol
aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition
5.0
I freaking loved this, and I'm def gonna read the next book. It is longer than most books I have read, and I think without the audio, I would've struggled getting through some parts (a lot of the building, slower parts). But it was enjoyable all the way through. No spoilers, but my heart hurts a little at all that transpired with Xingyin's personal connections. I loved seeing her grow and all the things she had to do. A great mix of supernatural, fantasy, adventure, and love.
The cover art is also beautiful.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: War, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Kidnapping, Sexism, and Infidelity
bea_reads_books's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Kidnapping, and Violence
Minor: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Animal death, War, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
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
momma_needs_to_read's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The writing of this was done fantastically. I felt like I could close my eyes and see exactly what she wanted us to envision. The characters were also so well written and developed throughout the story. Xingyin is such a fierce badass, not only because of the way she always fights for what she believes in and never gives up hope of helping her mother, but because she literally went from nothing to becoming a phenomenal warrior all through incredibly hard and exhausting work. Her personal character development was amazing. I was very torn over her romances. I won’t spoil anything but I will say I have a clear favourite who I want her to be with.
This is definitely a story of love. Love of a mother. Love of a daughter. First loves. New loves. From the very beginning, you know, this is a story driven by love. What Xingyin is doing for her mother and what her mother did for her.
I definitely recommend this book. If you love Chinese mythology, or any mythology, a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies trope, or a fierce female warrior and magic, this book is for you!
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Gore, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, and Bullying
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual harassment
samchase112's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Violence, and War
Minor: Alcohol