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A review by leefybeaf
Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang Vol. 1 by priest
3.5
I will start by saying I love Priest! Writing, world, characters–all of it is lovely and well thought out. Sha Po Lang is definitely tough for me, maybe it's just because it's volume one.
I believe Priest devoted a lot of time in the beginning of the story to really trying to make the uncommon (violet gold and literally all the other steampunk stuff–took me 3 chapters after kites were mentioned to realize they were boats) elements make sense. I also think this first volume shows key traits with the main characters.
Despite some strange words, the difference in all the important characters is nice. I can easily describe Chang Geng, Gu Yun, and the other three I don't feel like naming to others.
Priest also does something I don't see often and feature characters that are disabled. I like Gu Yun's struggle to really admit what's wrong with him because he sees it as a weakness and goes to extremes (that get worse with time) just to avoid telling people (like Chang Geng who still isn't 100% sure he's even deaf). I also like that Liao Ran is mute. I just like him in general.
I have a lot of questions for this book and definitely see myself buying the next volume in the future. Will I do it immediately? Probably not.
On the topic of the romance though: Chang Geng lusting after his yifu is not subtle (me too tho #relatable). I saw all of "those lips surely wouldn't be very soft, or very sweet—they would probably even be bitter" ..... why are you thinking about his lips?
I believe Priest devoted a lot of time in the beginning of the story to really trying to make the uncommon (violet gold and literally all the other steampunk stuff–took me 3 chapters after kites were mentioned to realize they were boats) elements make sense. I also think this first volume shows key traits with the main characters.
Despite some strange words, the difference in all the important characters is nice. I can easily describe Chang Geng, Gu Yun, and the other three I don't feel like naming to others.
Priest also does something I don't see often and feature characters that are disabled. I like Gu Yun's struggle to really admit what's wrong with him because he sees it as a weakness and goes to extremes (that get worse with time) just to avoid telling people (like Chang Geng who still isn't 100% sure he's even deaf). I also like that Liao Ran is mute. I just like him in general.
I have a lot of questions for this book and definitely see myself buying the next volume in the future. Will I do it immediately? Probably not.
On the topic of the romance though: Chang Geng lusting after his yifu is not subtle (me too tho #relatable). I saw all of "those lips surely wouldn't be very soft, or very sweet—they would probably even be bitter" ..... why are you thinking about his lips?