Reviews

This book, dude. I did enjoy reading this book. The author writes beautifully and describes the cynical survival mind beautifully. I couldn’t understand why, the rating was a low 3, while reading. I thought maybe it would be probably boring, or hard to follow in the writing style but no. However, I’ve feel like it’s because this book isn't for the weak. There is a lot of cynicism, sadness, tense turmoil, inner turmoil, and towing the line between survival and heroism.

There is not a happy ending in this book. It’s scary how good the book is but there isn’t a happy ending.

Content Warnings

ribbenkast's review against another edition

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

2.75

Looking at other reviews, I think this book might be severely misunderstood. Usually, when reading fantasy with oppressive governmental structures lead by similar female main characters, the mc is headstrong, morally just and willing to die for the cause. Ruying is none of the above, nor is she a morally grey unstoppable girl boss you love to root for.
Instead Ruying is a naive 19 year old traumatised by living under a colonial occupation who is mostly just trying to survive and above all else looks out for short term security for her and her family. I want to give Molly X Chang props for writing such a consistent character and sticking to it.

Giving the previous Fantasy frame of reference I mentioned, it is easy to misinterpreted this book. Instead of stone cold manipulation, you'll see a contextually weird romance. Instead of seeing a young girl making bad decisions (which are called out by the narrative at every turn) you'll think that this author's stance is: both sides of the conflict are bad. I feel like a lot of the negative reviews are based on this which I feel this book does not deserve.

The world is extremely interesting, the political intrigue is strong. The magic vs science aspect is done very well!

But oh boy, does this book have pacing issues. You can definitely tell this is a debut. I hope pacing is a skill that Molly X Chang will develop further. The plot kind off happened to Ruying without her having much to do with it. I dont think I agree with Chang's choices of what should be shone on page and what should just be mentioned. There is a weird 6 month time skip in which a lot of character development supposedly happened which I personally would rather be sown than told. The last 100 pages honestly should've been the major bulk of the book and be stretched out way more. The other 240 pages could've been condensed way more as there are no major plot beats or character arcs. The book sets up its sequel at the end, but therefore ends right as Ruying finally comes to the conclusion any rational person (and every side character) made on page one: occupational colonialism is bad. I wish it didn't end there it felt very anticlimactic. All in all, the book felt more like a pilot episode. I'm hopeful for book 2 though.

ashleybreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

inkpaws's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

Chang has potential as a writer. However, the editing team and her friends who read this book before it was published let her down. A stronger editor was needed to tighten up the pacing, reduce the redundancy of repetitive phrases and exposition, as well as, pose several narrative and world building questions that this book severely needed asking. In the forward, Chang talks about Unit 731, the invasion and occupation by Russia and the Japanese, and China's century of humiliation. What do the Romans and the Roman Empire have to do with any of these things? Why use the Roman Empire, whose historical borders didn't reach that far East, but use fictitious names for everything else? I am hung up on this because it makes me question the purpose of the forward and giving the reader this background information only to throw the reader off by introducing the invaders as the Romans.

In the hands of a more capable and nuanced writer, this story might have been something. Regardless if this is part of a series or not, Ruying is not a compelling or interesting character to root for. She is passive, extremely naive, selfish, at times pathetic, and has a defeatist outlook on her people's ability to gain liberation from their occupiers. Her vision is incredibly small picture opposed to her sister and

Baihu

who both see the big picture and clearly understand the reality on the ground. The world building isn't fleshed out enough and because of this it causes some confusion and plot holes throughout. I don't mind time jumps when the characters and world building are solid, but the six month time jump in this book doesn't do it any favours and was a poor writing choice.

As someone whose own people are living under a current genocidal occupation, the question of if the Romans bombed her street, would Ruying help pull her neighbours out from under the rubble or would she only save her sister and grandmother, kept running through my mind. Starting the book, the answer was the latter and after finishing the book, the answer is still the latter. She constantly says throughout the story she only cares about saving her sister and grandmother and giving them some peace and safety. She completely disregards her own peoples' suffering and justifies it because it'll keep the peace for the people she loves most. Not once does she really grasp that this peace she so desperately wants for her family

and believes Antony can give her

will never happen under occupation. The one time Ruying displays an ounce of moral clarity is in the last 20ish pages and only because it affects her in a semi direct way and even then it wavers several pages later.

Her sheltered naivety makes her fall for Antony's honey lies so quickly as he is the only man in her life to say a kind word to her and not think she's a monster, but a god to be revered. He sees this and uses it to manipulate and use her. However, Antony's character is hollow and underdeveloped. More time was needed with them together in order to make their 'attraction' believable. It's not a romance in any sense of the word, nor is there any, rather love bombing and psychological games from Antony.

hea0's review against another edition

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3.0

The story was not great. It started very well with an intriguing plot, world building and magic system. And it did start to pick up towards the end. But I felt that 80% of the book was just the FMC monologuing about the past and justifying her choices and actions to herself. It felt very repetitive. Also I didn't really feel anything for the characters.
Not sure if I'll be continuing this series.

The audio performance is very good. I enjoyed the narrator's voice and style.

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