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A review by podanotherjessi
Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee, Fonda Lee
adventurous
fast-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
3.5
Big disclaimer for this review that it's hard to read this and not compare it against what I know Fonda Lee is capable of (namely, Green Bone), which is obviously an unfair comparison. That said, I still think my overall opinion of this book would remain more or less the same without her name attached; I'd just be less disappointed.
This book was fine. It's not bad by any means, and honestly it's even good. But it's not terribly memorable, and there's nothing compelling me to continue the series.
The characters are interesting if relatively surface-level. The book definitely suffers from being told by the least interesting character in the story. Jun is fine, but I'm just not nearly as intrigued by him as I am by literally everyone else we meet. But the story being told has to be told through his eyes, and I can mostly live with that. The plot is good if predictable. Nothing surprised me. But that's sometimes a comfort to readers, and I do think I could still broadly recommend it to fantasy fans and fans of kung-fu movies. The world - namely the magic system and the history - were maybe the most compelling parts of this story, but there was unfortunately very little of those. And honestly, the whole thing could have ended quite a bit earlier, and I would probably have been anticipating a sequel more.
Overall, I think this review comes across more negative than I actually feel. I did like this book, and I had a good time while reading it. I just would have rather been reading Jun's story honestly. And this definitely joins the ranks of books that I will be first in line to see the movie version of.
This book was fine. It's not bad by any means, and honestly it's even good. But it's not terribly memorable, and there's nothing compelling me to continue the series.
The characters are interesting if relatively surface-level. The book definitely suffers from being told by the least interesting character in the story. Jun is fine, but I'm just not nearly as intrigued by him as I am by literally everyone else we meet. But the story being told has to be told through his eyes, and I can mostly live with that. The plot is good if predictable. Nothing surprised me. But that's sometimes a comfort to readers, and I do think I could still broadly recommend it to fantasy fans and fans of kung-fu movies. The world - namely the magic system and the history - were maybe the most compelling parts of this story, but there was unfortunately very little of those. And honestly, the whole thing could have ended quite a bit earlier, and I would probably have been anticipating a sequel more.
Overall, I think this review comes across more negative than I actually feel. I did like this book, and I had a good time while reading it. I just would have rather been reading Jun's story honestly. And this definitely joins the ranks of books that I will be first in line to see the movie version of.