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yourbookishbff's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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? No
4.5
This is the prequel to Thomas's historical romance, My Beautiful Enemy, and functions as a coming-of-age story for our eventual main characters, Ying Ying and Leighton. This was published prior to My Beautiful Enemy, but can be read either before or after, as I do feel like they each stand alone. I loved spending more time with these characters after falling in love with them in MBE, and appreciated how well-built this story was (with a tight page count and a story spanning multiple continents, no less). This has fascinating wuxia elements that build out our lightly fantastical world, and is high stakes, tense and action packed from start to finish. I highly recommend for those who enjoy historical fiction - we don't have a primary romance in this installment, but it delivers in MBE!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide, Homophobia, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Confinement
Moderate: Infidelity, Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Pregnancy
Graphic on-page suicide of parent in the first 30%.
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