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A review by jenibo
Blossoms and Shadows by Lian Hearn
2.0
I'm trying to work out why this book is boring me - I enjoyed greatly Lian Hearn's Otori quartet, but this novel is not managing to hold my interest. As usual, her characterisation is strong, but as with the previous series, the extensive Japanese names are a challenge, made even more difficult by their various shortenings. This makes it a bit difficult to follow the story at times, and I think the fact that the main character we are following is not directly involved in the battles being described makes it more difficult to engage with what is happening.
Not being intrinsically interested in Japanese history, and it being difficult to truly keep up with who is who in the battles against the foreigners makes it a challenge I might not be up to.
We're only following one character in detail, and even her romances so far are not long lasting, so we don't extend our umbrella of interest to a couple, so we are in the end following the adventures of a lot of people whose fate we are not very involved in. I can see now why it is rated by the Goodreads community so much more lowly than is the Otori series.
Not being intrinsically interested in Japanese history, and it being difficult to truly keep up with who is who in the battles against the foreigners makes it a challenge I might not be up to.
We're only following one character in detail, and even her romances so far are not long lasting, so we don't extend our umbrella of interest to a couple, so we are in the end following the adventures of a lot of people whose fate we are not very involved in. I can see now why it is rated by the Goodreads community so much more lowly than is the Otori series.