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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Blood, War
Minor: Vomit
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
“If I want to conquer the world, will you stand by my side?”
-Aogiya Ye-yang
medium-paced
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is a good starting place if you’d like to read books like Iron Widow and Poppy War but if you have already read them you will be disappointed.
This book very much feels like the first half of Poppy War without the magic or the twist that majorly raises the stakes.
I would have loved to see more of the steampunk aspect of this world, however it was hardly touched on aside from some airships and pneumatic tubes.
This book very much feels like the first half of Poppy War without the magic or the twist that majorly raises the stakes.
I would have loved to see more of the steampunk aspect of this world, however it was hardly touched on aside from some airships and pneumatic tubes.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Mulan but make it steampunk (actually silkpunk)… but without too much Mulan or too much steampunk.
I can’t go into detail about my favorite part of this book without spoiling it. I’ll just say… the ending is wonderful. It’s not where you think it will go, but it makes sense. As I was reading, I kept thinking, “There’s not very much of this left! How on earth is it going to get resolved?” I was so excited by how the ending handled things that I had to tell my husband about the book in detail so I could geek out over it. I know a lot of people won't like the ending, but I did.
There was just a lot of showing rather than telling, and I felt that a lot in the characters and some of the plot.
A big part of the point is supposed to be that her actions are grieving her father’s death, but there isn’t that much focus on it overall. She seems generally unbothered by it for most of the story. She also seems mostly unbothered about the stresses of needing to disguise herself as a boy (why didn’t I feel stressed about her potentially getting caught?) or even about the culture shock she’d undoubtedly face as a village girl coming to a big city and the very intimidating guild. She also doesn’t use engineering as much as you’d think for someone who is supposed to be so smart and good at it. I also was a little annoyed that the trials were supposed to be such high stakes but I kept forgetting they existed because Ying barely seemed to care — even though being there should be everything!
It’s also a little frustrating sometimes that it seems like sexism should be a big part of it. She is disguised as a boy to be able to fight for a place in the Engineer’s Guild, but we never really see why women aren’t allowed or an inherent culture of sexism that would make that necessary. There’s even a confusing event later on in the book that made me wonder what the fuss of disguising herself as a boy was all about in the first place. There’s no reason for this level of sexism in the world we’re given.
I wish the cast of characters had been more developed. It felt like it was mostly an expressionless sea of names for a lot of it. None of the characters getting cut were people we knew well, so the trials didn’t seem as big of a deal to go through. Especially with the ending, I wish we’d gotten to know her competitors and the guild masters much better. The love interest was difficult to get to know, and their moments together seemed more based on tropes than uniqueness.
I also have a minor complaint about the title, though. If you promise me dragons… I’m going to expect dragons. A mechanical one with little time on the page is not enough!
Although I think it could have used a little more editing and development, I enjoyed the experience of reading it and look forward to reading the sequel.
I can’t go into detail about my favorite part of this book without spoiling it. I’ll just say… the ending is wonderful. It’s not where you think it will go, but it makes sense. As I was reading, I kept thinking, “There’s not very much of this left! How on earth is it going to get resolved?” I was so excited by how the ending handled things that I had to tell my husband about the book in detail so I could geek out over it. I know a lot of people won't like the ending, but I did.
There was just a lot of showing rather than telling, and I felt that a lot in the characters and some of the plot.
A big part of the point is supposed to be that her actions are grieving her father’s death, but there isn’t that much focus on it overall. She seems generally unbothered by it for most of the story. She also seems mostly unbothered about the stresses of needing to disguise herself as a boy (why didn’t I feel stressed about her potentially getting caught?) or even about the culture shock she’d undoubtedly face as a village girl coming to a big city and the very intimidating guild. She also doesn’t use engineering as much as you’d think for someone who is supposed to be so smart and good at it. I also was a little annoyed that the trials were supposed to be such high stakes but I kept forgetting they existed because Ying barely seemed to care — even though being there should be everything!
It’s also a little frustrating sometimes that it seems like sexism should be a big part of it. She is disguised as a boy to be able to fight for a place in the Engineer’s Guild, but we never really see why women aren’t allowed or an inherent culture of sexism that would make that necessary. There’s even a confusing event later on in the book that made me wonder what the fuss of disguising herself as a boy was all about in the first place. There’s no reason for this level of sexism in the world we’re given.
I wish the cast of characters had been more developed. It felt like it was mostly an expressionless sea of names for a lot of it. None of the characters getting cut were people we knew well, so the trials didn’t seem as big of a deal to go through. Especially with the ending, I wish we’d gotten to know her competitors and the guild masters much better. The love interest was difficult to get to know, and their moments together seemed more based on tropes than uniqueness.
I also have a minor complaint about the title, though. If you promise me dragons… I’m going to expect dragons. A mechanical one with little time on the page is not enough!
Although I think it could have used a little more editing and development, I enjoyed the experience of reading it and look forward to reading the sequel.