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_gnawknee's review
slow-paced
4.0
A lot of book. Would’ve been better as set of short books with different characters perspectives with the main character’s story being the main story line. Would be amazing as a series. Id suggest reading in chunks.
_rebeccab's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
henrado74's review
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.0
Super duper good book! I love the idea, a gender-flipped retelling of a Chinese classic tale. A really interesting cast of characters, the plot was super engaging (I couldn't put it down). I loved seeing how the characters morphed and changed over the story. I got a little confused and had to reread some parts. And it got a little "big magic battle" towards the end where I knew what was happening was awesome but not really sure what was going on. Overall, love love loved the Liangshan
jefffrane's review against another edition
4.0
Once I got past the huge number of characters, all with Mandarin(?) names Huang's world-building was very intriguing. While she does rely on multiple points-of-view, it was simple to keep them sorted out, which was fortunate because there is a lot going on all the time. The book does run awfully long, and I came out wishing Huang had cut at least 100 pages.
yungmiku's review
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-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
4.0
A really fun re-imagining of Water Margin. The characters are all flawed and mostly terrible people, but you root for them to carve out a place to exist in the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
batesbarb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
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
4.0
ruth_rb's review
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
kkvasudev's review
adventurous
slow-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
3.25
path_through_pages's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Super disappointed that this book ended up as 3 stars.
It's a retelling of the Water Margin, a classical Chinese story that I know nothing about.
I truly enjoyed the first half, the characters were engaging and dynamic, having the main female leads vary in age from late 20s to late 40s was extremely refreshing, the dialogue was great, the world building and magic system introductions honestly pretty perfect. I was so pleasantly surprised!
And then the middle of the book just draaaaaaaggged... so many characters that were barely formed were introduced, content became repetitive, and when the action finally picked back up... I didn't even really care which I'm really bummed out about.
I recieved a special edition copy for free and the only thing making me hang onto it right now is the fact that it's beautiful haha
It's a retelling of the Water Margin, a classical Chinese story that I know nothing about.
I truly enjoyed the first half, the characters were engaging and dynamic, having the main female leads vary in age from late 20s to late 40s was extremely refreshing, the dialogue was great, the world building and magic system introductions honestly pretty perfect. I was so pleasantly surprised!
And then the middle of the book just draaaaaaaggged... so many characters that were barely formed were introduced, content became repetitive, and when the action finally picked back up... I didn't even really care which I'm really bummed out about.
I recieved a special edition copy for free and the only thing making me hang onto it right now is the fact that it's beautiful haha
carouselno34's review
Started fairly strong (first 20% or so of book) but the story gradually felt rushed, did not feel like there was enough character development for the number of characters who seemed to be important and I was unable to feel invested in any of them. I hoped it would get better but struggled to remain interested until finally giving up.