eliseletters 's review for:

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
4.0
dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
The publisher did a real disservice in the marketing of this book. Should have been marketed as queer fantasy fiction, not Romantasy. Also would have been a stronger book, imho, had it been a duet or a serial, something that allowed more room for the relationships to breathe and truly come to life. Calvin, for example, was a hook-up declaring that he loved River as much as his dead fiancé after just a single 24 hour period? Were we supposed to believe River had the fox-spirit power still to explain it? Then why wasn’t he chased after by every man, woman, and child his whole life? It was disappointing how fantastic so much of this novel was but then other aspects were a let down. I’d spent a lot of the book thinking it would be a 4.75 read but the final pages made me drop it to a 4, because it just felt like a cop out. I didn’t drop it to less than 4 because this really was a singular read—the authorial voice is unique and special, the concept excellent (even if execution left much to be desired), the writing itself was lovely and poetic, and I was even onboard for the message that obsessive love (lust?) of this kind doesn’t conquer all, but consistently damages and destroys, but it just didn’t paint the full picture the way it could have and should have. Anyway, it’s the kind of book I probably won’t forget, despite my disappointment, and the first one in over a year that prompted me to actually write a review. So…4 stars, but this coulda been a winner without the length restrictions and more appropriate marketing to manage expectations.
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