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c_soup10's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
crimsoncor's review
5.0
Great finale to the series. I love how Villoso continually messes with tropes and subverts reader expectations. . In a lot of ways, on the most baseline level this really reminds me of Fleabag (yeah weird reference I know). Fleabag spends all this time establishing how awful the main character is but gradually over the course of the two seasons you come to realize that everyone else around her is actually worse. She's just the most honest about how terrible she is. And that is really what this feels like at times. Except that Tali actually wants really really badly to not be such a terrible person. It is such a fascinating character dynamic.
Also want to add a little about Khine. What an incredible character.
you definitely do lose some of the open world RPG feel by the finale, as plotlines and characters are forced to converge, but there is still the feel of so many things happening off screen that gives real depth to the world. Very interested in going back and reading her other trilogy now.
Spoiler
like the stuff with Tali's mother. You get the early hints that she might still be alive, just dropped in there. Then the mysterious stranger with no memory shows up and the reader is like, ah hah. And yes it turns out to be her mom. Okay, we're going to get some sort of redeeming sweet moment here in the midst of this shit world. Oh silly reader. Nope, not going to get that. Not only does she not get her memory back, but Tali gets to discover that her mom never actually loved or wanted her. Oh. yeah, everything still sucksAlso want to add a little about Khine. What an incredible character.
Spoiler
You keep expecting him to crack and betray Tali and yet, he never does. Until the absolutely incredible heel turn right towards the end. And then you have two warring feelings. Because there has already been foreshadowing that this might be the ultimate con. But you also have to deeply consider that every other character in the story has ultimately always let Tali down. So which is it? And as a reader, you just can't actually know. And it is put together so incredibly well. Just a really incredibly skilled bit of storytelling.you definitely do lose some of the open world RPG feel by the finale, as plotlines and characters are forced to converge, but there is still the feel of so many things happening off screen that gives real depth to the world. Very interested in going back and reading her other trilogy now.
katewutz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
3.5
So…the trilogy is probably too long. It felt shaggy, like a few plot points could have been cut. There are SO many characters, probably too many (though I did appreciate that there were more women in this last one). There were times when I felt like Tali wasn’t worried about things she should have or would have been—but maybe that’s because people shove things out of their minds in dire situations.
Still, I liked it. I could complain about the violence but that would be to miss one of the points of the book, I think—which is basically that war is hell and turns people to monsters.The scene where Tali and Khine face down Yeshin is really solid and emotional in the best ways, though again we could have cut out Arro’s wife whom Tali doesn’t remember and doesn’t know. Maybe if i hadn’t read it right after The Ikessar Falcon I would have been fresher for it.
Still, I liked it. I could complain about the violence but that would be to miss one of the points of the book, I think—which is basically that war is hell and turns people to monsters.
princenbeaux's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
sydney_arcuri's review against another edition
5.0
This ending is going to be on my mind for a while. I can't tell if I love or hate the way things ended, but either way this book was amazing.
I just wanted to include some content warnings, because I do feel this book contains some dark elements other that just your regular/ expected fantasy violence.
cw: off-page r@pe and implied necrophilia
I just wanted to include some content warnings, because I do feel this book contains some dark elements other that just your regular/ expected fantasy violence.
cw: off-page r@pe and implied necrophilia
theshaggyshepherd's review
3.0
The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng // by K. S. Villoso
The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng is the much-anticipated conclusion to The Chronicles of the Bitch Queen. I wrote a rather long review for the first book but I always feel like the further along in a series you get, the more difficult it is to write detailed reviews without spoilers so this one will probably be just some quick thoughts.
While this is definitely my favorite of the three books, a lot of my criticism still stands. I had a hard time getting a good grip on the characters and their motivations, and some situations just still were much too easy for the queen to get herself out of (by now everyone should know there need to be a lot of guards to hang on to her). While I don't think the disagreement between the royal couple should've caused the issues it did (that could've been handled much more maturely), I was VERY impressed with how the many different strands of this story tied together and made sense by the end. There was also some excellent intrigue and I ended up liking several characters much more by the end. The dragons and magic also continued to fascinate me and I wish there had been even more detail on those. I'm a sucker for learning more about magic systems.
Overall, this series is a solid 3 star read for me. Take this with a grain of salt though as I have not found a single other person that has felt the same as I do so I definitely encourage everyone to try it. I am intrigued enough by the author myself that I do want to continue reading her work and am looking forward to what she will be working on next.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Dragon of Jin-Sayeng is the much-anticipated conclusion to The Chronicles of the Bitch Queen. I wrote a rather long review for the first book but I always feel like the further along in a series you get, the more difficult it is to write detailed reviews without spoilers so this one will probably be just some quick thoughts.
While this is definitely my favorite of the three books, a lot of my criticism still stands. I had a hard time getting a good grip on the characters and their motivations, and some situations just still were much too easy for the queen to get herself out of (by now everyone should know there need to be a lot of guards to hang on to her). While I don't think the disagreement between the royal couple should've caused the issues it did (that could've been handled much more maturely), I was VERY impressed with how the many different strands of this story tied together and made sense by the end. There was also some excellent intrigue and I ended up liking several characters much more by the end. The dragons and magic also continued to fascinate me and I wish there had been even more detail on those. I'm a sucker for learning more about magic systems.
Overall, this series is a solid 3 star read for me. Take this with a grain of salt though as I have not found a single other person that has felt the same as I do so I definitely encourage everyone to try it. I am intrigued enough by the author myself that I do want to continue reading her work and am looking forward to what she will be working on next.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
mcnimz's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
spicedragon's review
5.0
5/5
Words cannot even begin to express how this final book made me mentally unwell. Villoso is truly consistent in her wanting to torture the hell out of her readers and Tali.
The final book in the Bitch Queen Chronicles starts off with Tali beating the false baby daddy allegations, and attempting to reign in her power. But right off the bat we got all the forces in Jin-Sayeng trying to keep Tali under their thumb.
This novel starts off like all others a little bit of silly hijinks, a funeral here, a little bit of murder there… We’re well into the Rayyel redemption?explanation? arc which has Rai clinging to his and Tali’s relationship. It was interesting to read the change from the first book where he’s like “I loved you” to now where it’s obvious he still has feelings for Tali but that train has long left the station. Over the course of the series it’s also become apparent that Rai is very much neurodivergent, which can explain a lot of his decisions and mannerisms but also doesn’t excuse him abandoning the kingdom and his family.
We finally get the daughter-in-law/mother-in-law beef between Tali and Rai’s mom when his mom comes down from her seclusion to sentence Tali to death for her supposed affairs. The whole arc of Thanh’s parentage was so insane, Villoso really said “Tali’s very short hoe phase is the catalyst for all these events.” Despite Tali’s “innocence” being proven Rai’s mom still wants her head on a platter because the Ikessar beef and so on. All Tali wants to do is save Thanh from the rebels in Sougen, where Dai has kidnapped him to betroth him to his own daughter to cement his position and give him power.
But!! They receive an invitation to greet Prince Yuebek in the home of some other Warlord they all begrudgingly set off to meet him because political reason. But of course we get an attack/attempted assassination, and also have Tali and Co. get stuck at her old romantic rival’s home.. Chiha… there Tali comes to the realization that damn maybe she was the other woman the whole time. Tali was coming to a lot of realizations in this book and literally none of them were good for her soul, one realization was that she might have been the one accused of having an illegitimate child but those around her had tons of their own!! I won’t say who though but it’s sauuur funny when the reveal happens.
I think Villoso writes Tali’s colourful relationships with every single character so well, from Lo Bahn to Chiha. Like they’re very much antagonistic relationships but it’s so... complex? With Lo Bahn a past ally but now Yuebek lackey who knows Tali’s little tricks, and Chiha a woman Tali hated so strongly but they somehow end up on the same side? Even Agos’ widow!!! Like Tali is the reason this woman’s husband left her but she still looks out for her, protects TALI of all people, and provides her a place to stay when she’s truly shattered.
Tali learns some harsh truths about her father and every single person around her, how every single decision she ever made was specifically orchestrated by Yeshin to help close the rift in the agan over the Sougen which can only be possible if Tali marries Yuebek. When Tali learns that even her best friend was a pawn in these plans she leaves everything behind, deciding finally that she doesn’t give a shit about anything other than getting Thanh and getting out. She’s been betrayed by everyone at this rate, except for Thanh and Khine… but this whole time she’s slipping out of Khine’s grasp, she has come to a realization that anyone she loves is in danger of being used against her or killed so she abandons him AGAIN!! But does he give up? No!! He’s a cockroach (affectionate).
Speaking of Khine, since his mother's death in the previous book I truly do think him dedicating himself to Tali was partly a form of self-harm. He knows that she's married and she has all these obligations being the queen of a nation, and how they may never get to be together the way they want to. But regardless, he follows her to the ends of the earth, from fighting a dragon for her, to saving her son. But he never makes it Tali's problem, he does it because he wants to and doesn't expect Tali to respond in kind but jeezus dude.... His biggest flaw has to be devotion but that's also his strength....
We also get another meeting between Tali and Thanh and I must say Villoso owes me compensation for the emotional damage her writing has done. The gravity with which she writes Thanh and Tali’s relationship is so mental illness inducing... Despite us learning about their relationship through Tali’s scattered memories the weight of their relationship is never forgotten, the pages dedicated to them are few in between but regardless I think Thanh/Tali’s relationship is THE deepest and most impactful one of the series. The raw emotion that Tali displays whenever Thanh is involved, and when they finally meet after months apart it’s so…. Truly no relationship as deep as the one between a mother and her child.
Following that is Tali’s relationship with Khine, the slowburn of the century!! Pictured below, Villoso giving the hoes a Tali/Khine in a quiet cabin arc before Tali leaves him (again!!!) to get married to [REDACTED].
Everything goes to shit, all the murder and depravity that comes forward when Tali marries [redacted] is insane. We get an unfortunate scene where Yuebek violates one of the maids that Tali sent to get birth control herbs, we thankfully do not have to read that scene but the implications are there and Villoso has Tali focus on the history and the life of the maid before that moment. But also I personally thought that Yuebek's vileness was well known like we didn't need that scene to show how filthy of a human being he is but I digress.
We also get the wildest sacrifice by Chiha, truly an unlikely ally, but it seems like everyone involved would fuck a monster if it meant saving Jin-Sayeng from foreign/mystical invasion. Everything comes to a head in the final third, where Tali is seemingly betrayed by the last man she put her trust in, Khine…. and Yuebek figures out everything… Literally had me sitting there with heart palpitations, on the edge of my seat, about to die. I really don’t want to say more else I’ll end up spoiling it but I implore everyone to read this series, truly a ground-breaking high fantasy that’s so well written. It makes you scream out of frustration but it’s still so good like I will never recover from this. The action scenes are well written, the reveals catch you blind-sided unless you have your third eye open (which I didn't), there's romance and comedy and everything in between!!!
The ending is something everyone's been wanting since the series started and I absolutely love happy-ish endings and this is exactly what it was. Each character got the ending they deserved like I was so content when I closed the book, and that's how I know a book is well written when I don't have beef with how the author ended things for each character
Words cannot even begin to express how this final book made me mentally unwell. Villoso is truly consistent in her wanting to torture the hell out of her readers and Tali.
The final book in the Bitch Queen Chronicles starts off with Tali beating the false baby daddy allegations, and attempting to reign in her power. But right off the bat we got all the forces in Jin-Sayeng trying to keep Tali under their thumb.
This novel starts off like all others a little bit of silly hijinks, a funeral here, a little bit of murder there… We’re well into the Rayyel redemption?explanation? arc which has Rai clinging to his and Tali’s relationship. It was interesting to read the change from the first book where he’s like “I loved you” to now where it’s obvious he still has feelings for Tali but that train has long left the station. Over the course of the series it’s also become apparent that Rai is very much neurodivergent, which can explain a lot of his decisions and mannerisms but also doesn’t excuse him abandoning the kingdom and his family.
We finally get the daughter-in-law/mother-in-law beef between Tali and Rai’s mom when his mom comes down from her seclusion to sentence Tali to death for her supposed affairs. The whole arc of Thanh’s parentage was so insane, Villoso really said “Tali’s very short hoe phase is the catalyst for all these events.” Despite Tali’s “innocence” being proven Rai’s mom still wants her head on a platter because the Ikessar beef and so on. All Tali wants to do is save Thanh from the rebels in Sougen, where Dai has kidnapped him to betroth him to his own daughter to cement his position and give him power.
But!! They receive an invitation to greet Prince Yuebek in the home of some other Warlord they all begrudgingly set off to meet him because political reason. But of course we get an attack/attempted assassination, and also have Tali and Co. get stuck at her old romantic rival’s home.. Chiha… there Tali comes to the realization that damn maybe she was the other woman the whole time. Tali was coming to a lot of realizations in this book and literally none of them were good for her soul, one realization was that she might have been the one accused of having an illegitimate child but those around her had tons of their own!! I won’t say who though but it’s sauuur funny when the reveal happens.
I think Villoso writes Tali’s colourful relationships with every single character so well, from Lo Bahn to Chiha. Like they’re very much antagonistic relationships but it’s so... complex? With Lo Bahn a past ally but now Yuebek lackey who knows Tali’s little tricks, and Chiha a woman Tali hated so strongly but they somehow end up on the same side? Even Agos’ widow!!! Like Tali is the reason this woman’s husband left her but she still looks out for her, protects TALI of all people, and provides her a place to stay when she’s truly shattered.
Tali learns some harsh truths about her father and every single person around her, how every single decision she ever made was specifically orchestrated by Yeshin to help close the rift in the agan over the Sougen which can only be possible if Tali marries Yuebek. When Tali learns that even her best friend was a pawn in these plans she leaves everything behind, deciding finally that she doesn’t give a shit about anything other than getting Thanh and getting out. She’s been betrayed by everyone at this rate, except for Thanh and Khine… but this whole time she’s slipping out of Khine’s grasp, she has come to a realization that anyone she loves is in danger of being used against her or killed so she abandons him AGAIN!! But does he give up? No!! He’s a cockroach (affectionate).
Speaking of Khine, since his mother's death in the previous book I truly do think him dedicating himself to Tali was partly a form of self-harm. He knows that she's married and she has all these obligations being the queen of a nation, and how they may never get to be together the way they want to. But regardless, he follows her to the ends of the earth, from fighting a dragon for her, to saving her son. But he never makes it Tali's problem, he does it because he wants to and doesn't expect Tali to respond in kind but jeezus dude.... His biggest flaw has to be devotion but that's also his strength....
We also get another meeting between Tali and Thanh and I must say Villoso owes me compensation for the emotional damage her writing has done. The gravity with which she writes Thanh and Tali’s relationship is so mental illness inducing... Despite us learning about their relationship through Tali’s scattered memories the weight of their relationship is never forgotten, the pages dedicated to them are few in between but regardless I think Thanh/Tali’s relationship is THE deepest and most impactful one of the series. The raw emotion that Tali displays whenever Thanh is involved, and when they finally meet after months apart it’s so…. Truly no relationship as deep as the one between a mother and her child.
Spoiler
Chiha in fact also is an example of this with her own sonFollowing that is Tali’s relationship with Khine, the slowburn of the century!! Pictured below, Villoso giving the hoes a Tali/Khine in a quiet cabin arc before Tali leaves him (again!!!) to get married to [REDACTED].
Everything goes to shit, all the murder and depravity that comes forward when Tali marries [redacted] is insane. We get an unfortunate scene where Yuebek violates one of the maids that Tali sent to get birth control herbs, we thankfully do not have to read that scene but the implications are there and Villoso has Tali focus on the history and the life of the maid before that moment. But also I personally thought that Yuebek's vileness was well known like we didn't need that scene to show how filthy of a human being he is but I digress.
We also get the wildest sacrifice by Chiha, truly an unlikely ally, but it seems like everyone involved would fuck a monster if it meant saving Jin-Sayeng from foreign/mystical invasion. Everything comes to a head in the final third, where Tali is seemingly betrayed by the last man she put her trust in, Khine…. and Yuebek figures out everything… Literally had me sitting there with heart palpitations, on the edge of my seat, about to die. I really don’t want to say more else I’ll end up spoiling it but I implore everyone to read this series, truly a ground-breaking high fantasy that’s so well written. It makes you scream out of frustration but it’s still so good like I will never recover from this. The action scenes are well written, the reveals catch you blind-sided unless you have your third eye open (which I didn't), there's romance and comedy and everything in between!!!
The ending is something everyone's been wanting since the series started and I absolutely love happy-ish endings and this is exactly what it was. Each character got the ending they deserved like I was so content when I closed the book, and that's how I know a book is well written when I don't have beef with how the author ended things for each character