Review by fluffyreadsthings - Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame

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fluffyreadsthings 's review for:

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang

5.0

emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love a tiny book that contains a world that feels whole, in history and culture and all of the little things that breathe life and movement into a place, and boy does this novella acheive that even with the sheer breadth of its story in both space and time. Exploring a country through the eyes of someone stolen from its sister and reeducated by a colonizer empire learning to accept both it and her own origins makes for such a fresh and intruiging story, perfectly fit into what I'm dubbing gentle fantasy with the likes of Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle. All this combined with the dragons and extremely compelling lesbians, and this book easily slipped right into the top of my list of books I'd read in 2024. I cannot wait for it to be released officially.

Between this and Genesis of Misery, Neon Yang is one that I'm going to keep coming back to.

Content Warnings