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strawberry_femme's review against another edition
Brain hurt from reading too many political/heavy world building
megan1002's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Where do I even begin? Okay first of all, portraying the country inspired by China as the oppressor of the country inspired by Japan was definitely a ... choice. The worldbuilding also felt superficial. It felt like what a westerner thinks ancient China would be like. Like a Chinese movie produced, written, directed, and acted in by exclusively white people. Which was frustrating because I believe the author is Chinese. I am also not a fan of how all the women were painted as essentially pickmes in varying degrees. Though for Lihua and Akira, it might just be Xifeng projecting, all of the women in this book will stop at nothing to get a man's approval, attention, and affection. There were women like Sun who mostly wanted the power that certain men's affections would bring, but the bottomline is the central theme of the book is how women struggle for a sliver of a man's attention and respect. Even Lihua who didn't really have feelings for Jun was so willing to cast aside a girl who she wanted to treat as her own daughter because she caught the attention of the emperor. It was so tiring to read, but I recognize that it can all be a representation of how women are expected to act and think in the real world. Also, in this world, everyone's names are drawn from the culture in which their lands were inspired by, like Xifeng is a Chinese name and Shiro is a Japanese name, so why WHY do we have a little girl named Jade, AN ENGLISH WORD. It was so jarring and I just really can't believe she was named Jade of all things. All these things really made a "not bad" story worse. One thing I can commend is, this was written beautifully, though it was mostly just fluff and repetitions and reiterations of things that were already said. Also, I don't think beautiful prose is even remotely enough to elevate a lackluster story at best into something better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexism
reeyabeegale's review against another edition
3.0
It was okay, it started a bit slow paced but definitely picked-up towards the latter of the book.
Review will be up for the PH Blog Tour on Reading Flamingo, by the last week of October.
Review will be up for the PH Blog Tour on Reading Flamingo, by the last week of October.
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
3.0
I love reading in general. It doesn't really matter if it are paperbacks, hardcovers or e-books. But, for this summer I set the unofficial goal to get all my unread Fairyloot books to fit into one square of my to be read bookcase. And the nice part of that goal: With every book I read I can literally SEE the progress! I have about 6 more books to go and then they fit again! This is the first ever Fairyloot book I got years ago. About time that I'd read it.
But quite honestly, I had hoped this book to be much more. I can't say that the book was really bad. I think the writing of the book was quite lovely and there were for sure a few quotes in there that would work very well on goodies and merchandise. I also think that the mythology of the world was quite interesting, although I feel like we didn't get to see that much of it yet. And yet this book didn't grab me and didn't really work for me.
I think that it's mostly because of the characters. Especially our main character is not the easiest character to like and connect with. For most of the story her motivation was kinda weak. She had a destiny she was working towards, but why she wanted it never became clear. On top of that I had the feeling that everything in the book happened to her. It didn't feel like she played an active part in this story. I love an intelligent character planning evil, with a proper reason to do so, but this lady wasn't planning much. Most of the things she did happened by accident, came upon her path. She didn't seek them out. It just happened to her.
And I guess that's also why the story felt a little directionless. It's slightly based on the evil queen from Snow White and I could see the elements of it, but the story felt a little all over the place. We were shown places because they were somehow important for the story, but once more we only got to see them because of things other people did or because of happenings out of our heroine's control. We met people who later just as easily disappeared, mostly because they did something stupid themselves, without playing a big role or having much influence on the story.
I was kinda happy that I finished the book and could move on to something else. So, I guess I'm not gonna read the rest of the series anymore. Which is a pity, because I love a good villain origin story. This one just didn't do it for me.
But quite honestly, I had hoped this book to be much more. I can't say that the book was really bad. I think the writing of the book was quite lovely and there were for sure a few quotes in there that would work very well on goodies and merchandise. I also think that the mythology of the world was quite interesting, although I feel like we didn't get to see that much of it yet. And yet this book didn't grab me and didn't really work for me.
I think that it's mostly because of the characters. Especially our main character is not the easiest character to like and connect with. For most of the story her motivation was kinda weak. She had a destiny she was working towards, but why she wanted it never became clear. On top of that I had the feeling that everything in the book happened to her. It didn't feel like she played an active part in this story. I love an intelligent character planning evil, with a proper reason to do so, but this lady wasn't planning much. Most of the things she did happened by accident, came upon her path. She didn't seek them out. It just happened to her.
And I guess that's also why the story felt a little directionless. It's slightly based on the evil queen from Snow White and I could see the elements of it, but the story felt a little all over the place. We were shown places because they were somehow important for the story, but once more we only got to see them because of things other people did or because of happenings out of our heroine's control. We met people who later just as easily disappeared, mostly because they did something stupid themselves, without playing a big role or having much influence on the story.
I was kinda happy that I finished the book and could move on to something else. So, I guess I'm not gonna read the rest of the series anymore. Which is a pity, because I love a good villain origin story. This one just didn't do it for me.
dexkit10's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Blood, Animal death, and Pregnancy
Minor: Ableism
sdloomer's review against another edition
2.0
A lot of people find it refreshing to read about anti-heroes instead of straight-cut protagonists, I get it. But I'm not sure Xifeng is one such satisfying character. For one, . I understand this plot point is to showcase a spectacular dichotomy between a typical hero and a typical villain, but it makes it a lot harder to be sympathetic to them, villain or not.
In my opinion, Xifeng also never really had to try or work to get the things she wanted. Most of them fell into her lap by chance, luck, or coincidence. Again, I understand life is often like this, but I didn't see a whole lot of effort on her part to really...do anything. She and Wei just happened upon Ambassador Shiro and his guards the night they ran away. It just happened to be the Crown Prince who was on duty that day she and Wei passed by the soldier recruitments. She just happened to wander into the same room the Emperor was in to hide from Lady Sun. For all her bravado, things just happened to Xifeng, who was lucky enough to know what to do with them.
To me, that does not spell a three-dimensional character. Sure, she knows what she wants, but she doesn't actually know how to attain them; she doesn't make any opportunities herself.
As this is an Evil Queen retelling, a la Snow White, I obviously knew where this was heading, but I was still so disappointed by it; maybe I am too firmly in the camp of "good over evil". I honestly hated Xifeng so much, that I can't help but applaud Ms. Dao for making me feel this strongly about one character so negatively.
Spoiler
if you have to resort to cannibalism to get what you want, maybe you want to rethink some choices.In my opinion, Xifeng also never really had to try or work to get the things she wanted. Most of them fell into her lap by chance, luck, or coincidence. Again, I understand life is often like this, but I didn't see a whole lot of effort on her part to really...do anything. She and Wei just happened upon Ambassador Shiro and his guards the night they ran away. It just happened to be the Crown Prince who was on duty that day she and Wei passed by the soldier recruitments. She just happened to wander into the same room the Emperor was in to hide from Lady Sun. For all her bravado, things just happened to Xifeng, who was lucky enough to know what to do with them.
To me, that does not spell a three-dimensional character. Sure, she knows what she wants, but she doesn't actually know how to attain them; she doesn't make any opportunities herself.
As this is an Evil Queen retelling, a la Snow White, I obviously knew where this was heading, but I was still so disappointed by it; maybe I am too firmly in the camp of "good over evil". I honestly hated Xifeng so much, that I can't help but applaud Ms. Dao for making me feel this strongly about one character so negatively.
marieintheraw's review against another edition
4.0
this was a lot more fun than i was expecting given that it was a villain story?
annamickreads's review against another edition
4.0
A super fun adaptation of Snow White! The main character Xifeng is both cunning and driven, and the way the story is told compels the reader to have empathy for a character based on the Evil Queen herself. Once I started, I blew through this book and can't wait to read the sequel.
bluelishi's review against another edition
2.0
I like the premise of this book but I just didn’t like the delivery.