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A review by isi__1
The Night Ends With Fire by K.X. Song
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I anticipated, based on the rather mixed reviews I‘ve seen, but I do have a few gripes with this book.
In it‘s nature this book is pretty much what one would expect of a Mulan retelling. My problem lies mostly with the characters and their connections.
The main character Meilin is a bit of a Mary Sue. It feels like she gets into a new situation that would kill anybody else in each chapter, which immediately gets resolved, without much of a detriment to her. It made her actions feel way less impactful because I felt like there weren‘t going to be true consequences. Any traveling she does is also passed over quite quickly, but I feel like those moments of calm before the storm - so to speak - could‘ve served well as moments of contemplation and inner turmoil about her actions.
Furthermore, the romance in this book didn‘t seem really natural and I also didn‘t like the introduction of a love triangle later in the book.
Aside from that, the worldbuilding was quite lackluster.
The prose and especially the dialogue felt a bit juvenile at times, unfortunately.
Nevertheless, I found the book to generally be pretty entertaining and I‘m curious to see how the duology will end.
In it‘s nature this book is pretty much what one would expect of a Mulan retelling. My problem lies mostly with the characters and their connections.
The main character Meilin is a bit of a Mary Sue. It feels like she gets into a new situation that would kill anybody else in each chapter, which immediately gets resolved, without much of a detriment to her. It made her actions feel way less impactful because I felt like there weren‘t going to be true consequences. Any traveling she does is also passed over quite quickly, but I feel like those moments of calm before the storm - so to speak - could‘ve served well as moments of contemplation and inner turmoil about her actions.
Furthermore, the romance in this book didn‘t seem really natural and I also didn‘t like the introduction of a love triangle later in the book.
Aside from that, the worldbuilding was quite lackluster.
The prose and especially the dialogue felt a bit juvenile at times, unfortunately.
Nevertheless, I found the book to generally be pretty entertaining and I‘m curious to see how the duology will end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture