Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Rache im Herzen by Xiran Jay Zhao

955 reviews

jclymer's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.0


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wildflower_magic's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book had me in a chokehold. It is a feminisism ICON. I fell hard for these characters and their mission. The world building is beautifully done and in a way that maintains the flow of the story rather than reading like a text book. I love the magic/chi power/spirit metal system. The main character is a fierce, passionate woman who doesn't just break glass ceilings, she shatters the whole building. I was enthralled with her plans the whole time. The ending is living rent free in my head and I absolutely HAVE to read the second book. 

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leftovergarlicbread's review against another edition

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

4.0

This book was so angry and raw and you could just FEEL the passion that this was written with. I loved the characters so much they were so interesting to read about i LOVED the parallels they drew between Zeitan and Shimin.
I absolutely LOVED that this turned out to be a corruption/go all the way down the path of revenge. It added a rather dark tone to tue book at the end and i ate it UP!! I fucking love when characters shlnap and completely lose it. Also seeing Yizhi shift from timid rich boy to "screw a cabin in the mountains, let's rule the fucking world" was SO WELL DONE. It creeped up so slowly until it finally hit and uou saw it all at once.
I only have rather minor complaints. Mostly in the form of little threads left unanswered. Like, what did Yizhi's tattoos mean? What happened to the Nine Tailed Fox chrysalis? I have some more thoughts but im writing this on my phone at 6 AM, i might come back and add more later.

COMING BACK TO ADD MORE!!! I've also been looking at some other people's reviews of the book and found myself agreeing with some of their points. I saw a lot of people talking about how the writing did feel a little immature and would simply tell instead of show in a lot of situations. I do agree with that. I found that the writing didn't take away from the reading experience for me, but i do definitely feel like a more refined writing style would have absolutely benefited the story.

The critique I saw that i did really enjoy was someone talking about how this is a feminist story. This is a story of how women get systematically oppressed through entirely artificial reasons and the men who create them often go entirely unpunished and even benefit from these actions. Despite this, all of the supporting characters are men. By that I mean all of the characters on Zeitan's side are men. ALl of hte other women in this book are mean, or spiteful, or traitors, and are just not supportive at all. Every other female character plays a somewhat antagonistic role in the story, and all of Zeitan's true allies are men; which feels a little antithetic the main themes of feminism and female empowerment of the book. We see so many women who were so thoroughly beaten down by the system and we never see any of them break free from it or try to. It's only Zeitan who "escapes" and I feel like if we got to see her influence inspire other women to try and change things or at the very least question their role in the world and their position in society that they fully accepted. It gave Zeitan this very strong "not like other girls" presence that I feel like didn't work out quite like the author was hoping.

Overall though I did have a good time reading this, the twist at the end was very interesting, and I will be reading the next book when it comes out!  

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katizeluka's review against another edition

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

0.75

Was really looking forward to this, was very disappointed by it.

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madalinka's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book had me scratching my head. The ending came out of nowhere. Unless there’s a sequel (which I doubt) this book ended up being just okay. 

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piiiiiper's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75


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ayanabelk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-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

Hands down the best fiction book ive read so far

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otakatoe3's review against another edition

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

3.5


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valiantrye's review against another edition

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

4.0


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mandieroz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book starts out a little slow. The main character can be whiney and really annoying to follow when she's clearly ignoring things happening around her. Zeitan wants very much to believe that everyone should just believe what she wants them too, while simultaneously wanting to buck a 200+ year old system. Which is a haunting task in itself, but to try and do so with absolutely no help and no support is ridiculous even for a strong headed, passionate, killing machine (literally). She eventually does start to open her eyes to the society she's stuck in and learns to work around it...only to windup in a new hell towards the end. Overarchingly, I really enjoyed the book I will definitely read the next one because I'm invested in knowing what happens next. Not 5 stars, but it's right there, I'm here for it. 

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