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aexileigh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Classism
squidface's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
So, I can't realistically say either way that the book was plot or character driven. It was probably a mix, but both were weak.
The character development was probably there for... I'd say at least one character, at a push two or three.
Personally I didn't mesh / particularly like or root for any of the characters (more below).
Diverse characters?
Character flaws? Oh boy, I can't. I can't even. What this author thinks are character flaws don't actually hinder the characters at all.
So, let's start with the positives. I was stoked to read a mecha book, being a huge mecha fan. I really liked that the book was influenced by Chinese culture, folklore, and history - honestly that aspect of the book earned it a full point from me. Using things like qi and meridians and animals that are sacred/part of Chinese legend, absolutely chef kiss from me on that. If this book goes any way towards getting people more engaged with and interested in Eastern cultures, that's a wonderful thing. I also liked the mech system in general, and the fact that the qi was basically a good way of explaining something of a "magic system" that was inherent to the plot, towards the end. I think perhaps it could have had a little more explanation, but only to round it off a bit. Other than that this was one of the stronger elements of the whole book and felt like the most polished aspect.
Other than that... let's focus on the other puzzle pieces we have here.
I felt the prose in general made this book stand out as a debut novel. I have no idea whether the author is a seasoned writer or not, but their prose is at times clunky and awkward. They're using verbs in a "quirky" way, not necessarily a "creative" way, but for some reason the editor and publishers haven't streamlined much of this at all. The descriptions aren't usually the ones I wanted - the book focuses a lot on battle scenes, I can think that there's at least 4-5 battle scenes during the book. Granted, the majority of the events take place on the front lines of a war, but it seemed to me as I got halfway through that the author used "the invasion alarms sounding" as a get-out clause to avoid many character development scenes or relationship building scenes. I also wasn't a fan of the endless adjectives, and also the tendency for the author to use 10 words where 2 would do, just to seemingly write around a cliche or a standard way of writing something. Didn't work for me.
The MC somehow knows what a "glitch" is (somewhere towards the end of the book she describes the landscape as looking all the same - as if they were running through a glitch). I have no idea how a peasant girl who doesn't have access to a tablet/technology for the first 19 years of her life understands what a glitch is or what one looks like. Unless it's one of those things just everyone kinda knows about - implied scifi knowledge? IDK, it stood out like a sore thumb to me. So while the MC did have a voice of her own, she was also pretty damn well lyrical with her explanations of things, in a way that sometimes took away from the rash and angry nature of the character.
The themes in the book were also clunky, awkward, and glaringly obvious. Nothing subtle here about the feminist overtones. In no way am I saying that inclusion of feminism is a bad thing - but the approach here was amateur and I'm not really sure what sort of feminism we had. The war-mongering, man-hating kind I guess. Our protagonist has absolutely no precedence for the types of feminist thought she has, other than "my mother and grandmother and sister and generations of women before me have had to endure this gruelling, toxic world where we are subservient to men". Ok, fine. It fits with the world and maybe it'll make more sense when the sequel comes out.
Slavery/subservience/breaking free of thy chains/deception/trusting/trauma/alcoholism/ and to a certain extent capitalism are all touched on, but to me they seemed more like the cherry on top of everything (or what people like to call an afterthought) than actual deep themes the author was keen to explore. Sure you can taste the cherry and enjoy it, but without it the dish is more or less the same, and it's added more for aesthetic and appeal than anything with more depth.
The pacing was.... something.
Look, I have no doubt that this book is popular, and certainly has some positives - I know everyone is excited that it has bi representation and also polyam representation. I do sort of wish we could have representation of polyam without the people within that relationship dynamic having to already be outcasts of the world/going against the grain.
I wonder how much this book honestly looks like it's original manuscript, and how much was stripped out, because by all accounts the author does say that they intended for there to be "more domestic scenes" which probably would have helped a lot towards character development. The only character who really shone at all for me was Shimin, because he's obviously a product of his trauma. But I felt the characters were messy and sometimes the justifications for what they were doing were so instantaneous or badly explained that I barely had time to register what was going on. The author didn't really let the protagonist feel much aside from constant anger or pain. Also, giving your protagonist a physical disability is not inherently a good character flaw. She can't walk, yet the solution to this is usually that she's scooped up and carried by a strong man. Zetian isn't that introspective to be honest, and she operates a bit like a one-woman army. Her motivations remain more or less strong and she does stick by her convictions, but by the time the polyam sparks start flying she's forgotten 50 pages ago that she's annoyed at herself for being so pretty and headstrong that all the men around her want her. She's described as being chunky twice, but it's sort of a throwaway comment both times (also how the eff would a peasant girl become softer-figured?) and struck me as the author just wanting to have an "unconventionally attractive" female protagonist, while still making her very beautiful.
MC is a mary sue, and the only other flaw I see in her is that she is willing to sacrifice to achieve her goals. I don't know where that is going to get her when she has nothing left to sacrifice.
But does all of this really matter, when it's blatant commercial fiction? Idk, I guess I just prefer my asian-influenced scifi robot mecha futuristic fiction to be a little more clever and well-written.
P.S. Not sure what initially labelled this as "too dark to be YA" in the eyes of the publishers, or what makes anyone think that it's similar to The Handmaid's Tale (other than women being a subservient class?). There is for sure some imagery later in the book that could be disturbing, but you have teens reading The Road; you tell me which one is more mentally disturbing?
Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Slavery
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Animal death, Biphobia, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
lqvekanej'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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Biphobia, Racism, and Sexual content
ali_k0'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
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Racism, Vomit, and Colonisation
philippmk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
What confused me a little was how often I had seen this book come up in LGBT+ book lists. While three of our main characters are bisexual and I enjoyed the fleeting polyamory, the queerness of these characters really is a very minor part of the book. That is not to say their queerness isn't valid, but you sholdn't expect a groundbreaking queer romance going into this book — this is not that kind of story.
This was also a book I was told to expect a twist in. Though there was one twist early on in the story (unless you read the text in the book jacket), I was glad to see more throughout the book. And yet, one final twist was revealed literally on the second-to-last page, the lateness of which made it feel like an afterthought.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content
Minor: Biphobia and Domestic abuse
prettiestwhistles's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Rape, Terminal illness, and Medical content
tea_overload'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
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, and Police brutality
Minor: Confinement and Rape
onemamareads'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
eddiehits's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Addiction and Sexual assault
Minor: Racism and Sexual content
melaniemoo'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
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Rape