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modernhobbitvibes's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Classism, Suicide, and Sexual assault
bellebookcorner's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this book…
I like some parts of the book, but there are some parts that prevent me to fully enjoy this book.
The world building is fascinating and also vast, it can be quite complicated at first but it was explained slowly as the story progressed.
I also love the writing style which describes and fully captured the beauty of the music, the poetry and the scenic in this story.
The romance is not the main focus, it’s barely there. I wish there’s more interaction between Xue and Jinglang as their romance developed over time.
The pacing of this story is uneven, at the beginning it was quite slow which is understandable with a huge world building and the author wants to explained it easily and slowly. Unfortunately, it makes the ending feels too rushed with the big reveal that has to be explained in the remaining 20% of the story.
Overall, it’s a pretty good standalone with captivating world building and beautiful writing style, some of the twists also caught me by surprise.
I’ll keep an eye out for the next book by this author in the future!
Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tour, Netgalley, author and publisher for giving me an e-ARC of the book and for having me on this book tour. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Confinement
onthesamepage's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I'm having a hard time reviewing this book, because there's not much to latch onto, unfortunately. I think it was well-written and easy to read, and the lore was interesting. I liked the role music played in the story. But I think what I should have cared about the most is the romance between Xue and Jinglang, and unfortunately it left me fairly cold. Part of that is because the emotional developments feel like they mostly happened off-page. We're told that Xue is developing feelings for him, but we don't really dig into that, other than a few moments where they comfort each other, or a handful of kisses in the last quarter of the book. But I just couldn't feel connected to either of them.
The pacing of the story is fairly slow as well, until the last 20% or so, which was a lot of big explanations in a way that took me by surprise. Up to that point, the author had a deft hand when it came to explaining the world, but that last part made me feel bombarded with new information. I saw some of the twists coming, while others surprised me. I think there was potential for some really heartwarming relationships, but it just didn't go deep enough.
The ending is kind of open, which I didn't mind, but there's also a lot that gets mentioned early on but never explained, like why Xue's family was punished, and a few things that smack of plot convenience.
I'm having a hard time reviewing this book, because there's not much to latch onto, unfortunately. I think it was well-written and easy to read, and the lore was interesting. I liked the role music played in the story. But I think what I should have cared about the most is the romance between Xue and Jinglang, and unfortunately it left me fairly cold. Part of that is because the emotional developments feel like they mostly happened off-page. We're told that Xue is developing feelings for him, but we don't really dig into that, other than a few moments where they comfort each other, or a handful of kisses in the last quarter of the book. But I just couldn't feel connected to either of them.
The pacing of the story is fairly slow as well, until the last 20% or so, which was a lot of big explanations in a way that took me by surprise. Up to that point, the author had a deft hand when it came to explaining the world, but that last part made me feel bombarded with new information. I saw some of the twists coming, while others surprised me. I think there was potential for some really heartwarming relationships, but it just didn't go deep enough.
The ending is kind of open, which I didn't mind, but there's also a lot that gets mentioned early on but never explained, like why Xue's family was punished, and a few things that smack of plot convenience.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
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