Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Girls of Fate and Fury by Natasha Ngan

11 reviews

dmrains's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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ladygetslit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I absolutely loved Girls of Paper and Fire when I first read it. While I'm not typically a high fantasy reader, I was able to get into the worldbuilding and connected so much with Lei and Wren's romance. However, the second book, and even more so this third installment, really didn't land as well for me.

I am not as interested in the political intrigue or the wartime action scenes, although that's a personal preference. Mostly, though, I couldn't get into the writing with this one. The first and second book are both in 1st person present tense the whole time, and we're really immersed in Lei's thoughts and feelings. In the third book, Lei's perspective is mixed with Wren's; on the surface, I love the idea of including Wren's perspective, but the execution fell short for me. Wren's chapters are told in 3rd person and past tense, which really threw me for a loop every time the narrative switched. If they had both been 1st person and the same tense, I think I could've enjoyed Wren's perspective more. As it is, the writing made the book feel more disjointed than it needed to be, even though most of it is taking place with the girls separated and living out their own storylines.

And, finally, I wasn't satisfied with the ending. The second book seemed to imply that there was no good solution to the problems in this world, because when individuals get power, they use it terribly, regardless of intention. This series  fell into the trap of well, we need to resolve everything and then spent several chapters walking us through what happens after the resolution so that we know for sure that everything is all fine and dandy. 

That being said, I do think this is a fast-paced, action-packed fantasy series that was easy to get sucked into, and it's still worth reading. As a writer, I'm not even sure how I could've resolved the story any better than Ngan did, and I enjoyed getting to spend more time with these wonderful characters. 

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emmaowens's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-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

3.5


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prettynerdy3's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0


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katrin_loves_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.25


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schnaucl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I was frustrated.
I do get that people can continue to love someone even when that person has done horrible things.  The heart wants what the heart wants, etc.   

But it felt like the assassinations/war crimes commuted by Wren and her father were glossed over and Lei mostly feels bad about what she said to Wren regarding, you know, the war crimes.  She puts her mercy killing of someone who asked to die in the same category as the political assassination of an innocent person and the murder of innocent civilians with a kind of well, everyone's got blood on their hands so it's all the same. But it isn't the same.  At all. 

And Wren may have to confess what she's done to Aoki, but that happens off screen and it's personal, there are no systematic consequences.     All the other families who lost someone because of Wren and her father never learn the truth.   

It's compounded by the fact that Wren's father doesn't survive so no one has to actually grapple with the fact that he also would have been a terrible, power hungry ruler who probably continued to commit atrocities while thinking he was behaving righteously.    Even the fact the fact that he sent his daughter to be repeatedly raped is given a paragraph where Wren basically says she's tried really hard not to think about it over the years.    I also get that having her father live probably would have required another book to deal with his disastrous reign and that would probably be stretching the story too far.

And I also get that Wren was a product of her upbringing which obviously shaped her thinking and personal ethics and morals.  

But the book really does seem to have an attitude that everyone's hands are dirty and the good side won in the end so I guess sacrificing innocent people was the right call?  Aside from the one fight with Lei and Wren there's no real grappling with the consequences of what Wren and her father did.  Wren feels really bad about it at the end.  But she's still part of the ruling council.    What keeps Wren and Lei from living together isn't that one of them committed war crimes it's that Wren has a duty to rule without asking if she deserves to have that power.   Weirdly, that doesn't seem to be a question that's ever asked.

Maybe there was no other way but you can say that and still think the people who committed the war crimes shouldn't hold power after because they may be tempted to reach for those same methods when it is expedient rather than (arguably) necessary.

The second book at least raises questions about even if a person does the ruthless but necessary thing whether they'll be able to live with it after the war is over and I just felt like this book doesn't seriously return to the question and it really needed to.  

I'm not saying Wren needed to be executed or exiled.  But it seems like there should be more personal consequences than she gets to rule and help shape the future of the new country and live happily ever after with her beloved.   It's not that it costs her nothing, she does lose a key ally and the woman she loves is mad at her for a while and certainly people she cares about die but their deaths aren't really a personal consequence unless say there wouldn't have been a war in the first place but the book doesn't really go there, either. 

I also get that if she came out at the end and said let me confess the truth to the country it would undoubtedly tear the new government and country apart.  But there's never even a question about doing it.  It doesn't occur to anyone that it might be necessary except in the case of one particular friend, which again is off screen and there's certainly no suggestion that Aoki might reveal it to anyone else.  

And Lei still never questions how well she knows Wren or her own ability to judge people after the woman she loves admits to war crimes.   Also her own alcoholism is entirely absent in this book so I guess withdrawal wasn't a problem in captivity.

I did like the very end which talked about new traditions. 

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fantasyshelves's review

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5


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kaltenmark24's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5


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starccato's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.5


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abception's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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


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