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fallingdownrabbitholes 's review for:
Shanghai Immortal
by A.Y. Chao
I was excited to read this book based on its description.
A fantasy novel taking place during the Jazz Age of Shanghai peaked my interest. I enjoy reading fantasy books with historical elements to it. The world-building this novel had a lot of potential but I found it fell flat in a couple areas.
In the first half of the novel, the author created a rich and vivid description of Hell where are main character lives. As the reader is given a tour of this underworld, they are able to discover a unique world.
While I enjoyed the world building in this novel, I felt that the plot was weak and over done. The characters help guide the reader through this book but I found the second half of the novel to drag on. There is a lot of banter between characters and introductions of new settings to distract the reader from the lacking plot.
The novel’s main character Jing is an over the top character. Her behaviours were amusing at first but I found her to be exhausting as I read the book. However, the secondary characters are charming and I enjoyed the scenes when they called Jing out on her behaviours.
Overall, as I contemplate the novel as a whole, I had to rate this book lower. I really wanted to enjoy this book and I may still give this author another chance.
Thank you so much Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc.
A fantasy novel taking place during the Jazz Age of Shanghai peaked my interest. I enjoy reading fantasy books with historical elements to it. The world-building this novel had a lot of potential but I found it fell flat in a couple areas.
In the first half of the novel, the author created a rich and vivid description of Hell where are main character lives. As the reader is given a tour of this underworld, they are able to discover a unique world.
While I enjoyed the world building in this novel, I felt that the plot was weak and over done. The characters help guide the reader through this book but I found the second half of the novel to drag on. There is a lot of banter between characters and introductions of new settings to distract the reader from the lacking plot.
The novel’s main character Jing is an over the top character. Her behaviours were amusing at first but I found her to be exhausting as I read the book. However, the secondary characters are charming and I enjoyed the scenes when they called Jing out on her behaviours.
Overall, as I contemplate the novel as a whole, I had to rate this book lower. I really wanted to enjoy this book and I may still give this author another chance.
Thank you so much Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc.