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A review by ronan5
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
A bummer that I had such a high hopes for this book and it failed to deliver on nearly all of them.
This is not a romance or romantasy, it falls more into a "love story" but to me that's a stretch because I think these characters were more in it for the 'benefits' because I don't think they really cared about each other. The characters felt incredibly toxic and at no point was I really rooting for them.
The writing style also shifted between time periods, mainly regarding conversations, but it felt a little jarring going into each perspective.
The spice scenes felt excessive but also just bland. If I had to read 'meat' or 'my influence' one more time... These just felt poorly written and eventually I just skipped them because it was not adding anything to the book. I am not against spice but I need it to actually be well-written.
I did find the idea of the book really fascinating and was hoping it would have ended differently than it did, but most things just didn't vibe for me. Side characters once again felt more interesting than the main cast and they certainly carried a big part of this.
There is definitely an audience for this book but I just wasn't a part of it and that's okay. If you enjoy the idea of two souls reincarnating throughout time and finding each other and reading some spice, then you'll probably enjoy this.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book!
This is not a romance or romantasy, it falls more into a "love story" but to me that's a stretch because I think these characters were more in it for the 'benefits' because I don't think they really cared about each other. The characters felt incredibly toxic and at no point was I really rooting for them.
The writing style also shifted between time periods, mainly regarding conversations, but it felt a little jarring going into each perspective.
The spice scenes felt excessive but also just bland. If I had to read 'meat' or 'my influence' one more time... These just felt poorly written and eventually I just skipped them because it was not adding anything to the book. I am not against spice but I need it to actually be well-written.
I did find the idea of the book really fascinating and was hoping it would have ended differently than it did, but most things just didn't vibe for me. Side characters once again felt more interesting than the main cast and they certainly carried a big part of this.
There is definitely an audience for this book but I just wasn't a part of it and that's okay. If you enjoy the idea of two souls reincarnating throughout time and finding each other and reading some spice, then you'll probably enjoy this.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC of this book!