Reviews with content warning for Animal death - I Fili Rossi della Fortuna

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

I Fili Rossi della Fortuna by Neon Yang

6 reviews

athetos's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

Out of all 4 novellas in the Tensorate series, this one might just be my favorite - and they're all extremely good, so this is high praise. This novella follows Mokoya several years after Black Tides of Heaven finished. She's deeply traumatized by her daughter's death, and pushed away many of the people she loved, putting herself in dangerous situations. This changes when she hunts a giant naga and runs into Rider, whom she ends up falling very quickly for despite her best wishes. Throughout the novella, the cast tries to track down the giant naga, and whomever is directing it, all while trying to decide if Rider is actually working for the enemy, and Mokoya working through her trauma. All of the returning characters are just as enjoyable as they were in the first novella, and Mokoya even moreso, but Rider was the true highlight for me. They're a fascinating character with a mysterious past who is written incredibly well, and I got extremely attached to them, fretting about their fate throughout. I think Mokoya and Rider both have realistic depictions of PTSD, which is always great to see. I won't spoil anything, but I was incredibly satisfied by how the plot resolved! It was everything I wanted.

Content Warnings

jjjreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

Content Warnings

taylorbarks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I have strong mixed feelings about this book. The setting is marvelous and the magic system unique, and the presence of trans characters is played out as if we're just normal people-- imagine that.
I had two complaints that prevent me from saying I enjoy this book. The way the main character behaves towards her husband made her deeply unrelatable and unlikable to me; Thennjay was by far my favorite character, and he goes out of his way to be loving and gentle with Mokoya. Without spoiling, her behavior in return left a bad taste in my mouth. That's fine! Characters can do unlikable things. But I wanted to like the viewpoint MC.
The other, smaller issue was that the climax came and went in a heartbeat. The solution to the story's central conflict suddenly occurs to this character, and then with what felt like no resistance at all from the antagonist, she just... does it. It's dealt with in a page or two. It kind of felt like this book just kicked me off a truck in the last few pages.
There's also just a villain who's transphobic, I assume to help code her as a villain, but it's made clear to us in this world that gender isn't enforced or assigned, so it feels remarkably ham-handed.
All that said: I like this world. I like this concept. I like Thennjay and Rider. I don't like Mokoya, with whom I spent most of my time, and that made it hard to care what happened next.
I will read the other books. I'd recommend this to queer friends to support a queer author, but not on the basis of the plot.

Content Warnings