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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
(3/7/2025) simply not for me! I've been sitting on a review for a while and need to get it off my chest so here are a couple of my main qualms:
- the author takes advantage of one of the mcs being a snake to really lean into some of the "encyclopedic infodumping" (see this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6938509863) that, unfortunately, plagues ya books by diasporic authors of color. for instance: after defining "zhi ji" as "soulmate," why follow every subsequent whisper of "zhi ji" with a whisper of "my soulmate"? the characters are speaking in mandarin - so are they saying "my soulmate, my soulmate"? other instances that come to mind:
- the author takes advantage of one of the mcs being a snake to really lean into some of the "encyclopedic infodumping" (see this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6938509863) that, unfortunately, plagues ya books by diasporic authors of color. for instance: after defining "zhi ji" as "soulmate," why follow every subsequent whisper of "zhi ji" with a whisper of "my soulmate"? the characters are speaking in mandarin - so are they saying "my soulmate, my soulmate"? other instances that come to mind:
- a character mentions "long jing tea." the other character, zhen, goes, "long jing tea - does that mean dragon well tea?" cue explanation of where "dragon well tea," which btw is a direct translation of the mandarin that's been spoken and which zhen understands, comes from and how it's made.
- one character mentions "han xue ma," which can be translated to "sweating blood horse," and "explains" that they're so named because they look like they're sweating blood. the other character goes "man ... how did you know that?"
- the author includes an in-text explanation of the word "palanquin," which is fully an english word (with portuguese and other origins). is there a perceived need for this explanation only because palanquins aren't perceived as "western"?
for one, this strains the credibility of the author's worldbuilding (they're either speaking mandarin in part-fantasy ancient china or not); for another, it betrays a lack of trust in readers' ability to, e.g., google the word "palanquin" that, like the first point, takes me out of the world.
- overall, I found the story overly speedy and unsatisfying. even the romance that's meant to carry the story felt shallow: I don't have an ingrained distaste for "insta-love," but I found little to latch onto - an emotional connection, any reason they'd be attracted to or good for one another - in zhen and xian's relationship. the last few chapterstake on a lot of soap opera-like drama, with one turn in one short chapter after another in a similarly short chapter. there are ways to do this well, I'm sure, but no part of the ending felt earned.
- this review discusses the decision to make the legend of the white snake into an m/m romance: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6938509863. with that aside, I'm disappointed by this book's refusal to lean into snakiness, slipperiness, twistiness, monstrosity.what a cliche to have a snake spirit who fears seeming "monstrous" give up his powers to be with a human lover - who has actually imprisoned and chained him for his "monstrosity." and with that, no discussion of how losing that connection to the snake/animal world, which earlier scenes in the book seem to suggest he cares about, affects his life.
the one thing I appreciated about this book was being transported to its setting, however imperfectly.
- overall, I found the story overly speedy and unsatisfying. even the romance that's meant to carry the story felt shallow: I don't have an ingrained distaste for "insta-love," but I found little to latch onto - an emotional connection, any reason they'd be attracted to or good for one another - in zhen and xian's relationship. the last few chapters
- this review discusses the decision to make the legend of the white snake into an m/m romance: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6938509863. with that aside, I'm disappointed by this book's refusal to lean into snakiness, slipperiness, twistiness, monstrosity.
the one thing I appreciated about this book was being transported to its setting, however imperfectly.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
hopeful
fast-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:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
sad
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
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-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
4 stars.
This wasn't something that I would normally pick up; don't get me wrong I love both YA & Fantasy, just am not all that familiar with the legend that it is based on (and generally speaking -- I like to go into books such as this with at least some sort of knowledge). However, I absolutely adored this book - the weaving in of Chinese mythology as well as culture made this book truly speak to my soul. It was a delicious fast paced, witty, and oh so romantic journey and I absolutely adored every single page. The pacing was incredible, and really helped you to become engaged quickly.
The characters were well developed considering the story line, and pacing. I adored Qing as her humor was delicious and I just loved how she kept the storyline rolling. Zhen and Xian had such adorable moments and the tension was an absolute delight! The angst, the tension, the romance was all incredibly well done.
The world-building, though it was not the main focus of the book, felt extremely well written and I was able to imagine myself there - not usually a characteristic I often feel!
The ending - oh that ending! How powerful, and what an emotional ride. It was a whirlwind and it will take some time before I am able to truly express the vast variety of emotions that I felt, but I will say that it ended perfectly and beautifully. Super grateful to Sher Lee and NetGalley for this e-Arc in exchange for my honest review!
This wasn't something that I would normally pick up; don't get me wrong I love both YA & Fantasy, just am not all that familiar with the legend that it is based on (and generally speaking -- I like to go into books such as this with at least some sort of knowledge). However, I absolutely adored this book - the weaving in of Chinese mythology as well as culture made this book truly speak to my soul. It was a delicious fast paced, witty, and oh so romantic journey and I absolutely adored every single page. The pacing was incredible, and really helped you to become engaged quickly.
The characters were well developed considering the story line, and pacing. I adored Qing as her humor was delicious and I just loved how she kept the storyline rolling. Zhen and Xian had such adorable moments and the tension was an absolute delight! The angst, the tension, the romance was all incredibly well done.
The world-building, though it was not the main focus of the book, felt extremely well written and I was able to imagine myself there - not usually a characteristic I often feel!
The ending - oh that ending! How powerful, and what an emotional ride. It was a whirlwind and it will take some time before I am able to truly express the vast variety of emotions that I felt, but I will say that it ended perfectly and beautifully. Super grateful to Sher Lee and NetGalley for this e-Arc in exchange for my honest review!
Gosh what a book, I’m still a bit misty eyed from the last 30 pages. I really enjoyed reading this book to the point where I read it in two sittings. I love reading fantasy books/books with fantasy elements explore multiple points of views, and so luckily we got to read the story from both. Xian and Zhen’s povs which I loved. They were so sweet and loveable, but Zhen especially with his naivety but also desire to know more and his appreciation for life and the world around him. You can’t help but love him. I hadn’t expected the romance to hit off that quickly, but it made considering the length of the book. Xian was definitely an interesting character, and quite realistic in the ways in which he dealt with all the revelations he was faced with. I will say, I didn’t expect ANY of the plot twists we got, and I say it in the sense that, it still made sense for the story and didn’t feel like it was just make the readers shocked. It’s been a while since I haven’t been able to anticipate the direction a book was going in which was very refreshing.
I will say, I didn’t give this 5 stars as I feel I have grown out of the YA genre, and so I rarely rate them anything higher than 5 unless they really impact me. Also, at times the dialogue did feel slightly more modern than I would have like for a book set during this period. However, it wasn’t something that happened too often and so it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of reading the book.
I will say, I didn’t give this 5 stars as I feel I have grown out of the YA genre, and so I rarely rate them anything higher than 5 unless they really impact me. Also, at times the dialogue did feel slightly more modern than I would have like for a book set during this period. However, it wasn’t something that happened too often and so it didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of reading the book.