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A review by ellieanor
The Girl King by Mimi Yu
4.0
This was such a solid book, and I cannot understand the low ratings and mixed reviews for this one! I thought that for a debut it was really really good, and I definitely found myself wondering if this author is actually a debut author after all. There are so many good things about it (and yes maybe there were a few things I didn't love as much), and all in all I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, kickass female characters and awesome magic systems.
The Girl King is an Asian inspired YA fantasy following sisters Lu and Min, who are the princesses of the empire. The two of them are very different: Lu is basically just this angry bean that wants to punch something, and does quite a lot of stuff without thinking, and sometimes she can be quite naive, not because she's unkind, simply because she doesn't realise the consequences for other people, while Min is much quieter, overshadowed by her sister who is bold and can get away with everything, while she is fearful and afraid of getting into trouble. I really liked both of these characters; they felt really dynamic and real, with a good balance of flaws and qualities. I'm not quite in love with them yet, but I think that could definitely happen later in the series. They both also had really good arcs - Lu learns to open her mind and realises what life is really like for the people in the empire, and realises the naiveté of her good intentions. Min has a dark descent into a sort of twisted cruelty in which she thinks she is doing the right thing. Her arc was really convincing - there was no drastic change, and the author charted it perfectly, so it feels very natural for her character. I love dark characters like this, and even though Min sounds weak and fearful, her character is actually very compelling and I think she might be my favourite. We also followed Nokhai, a Gifted Kith from the Ashina clan whose family was killed by the empire. He is such a sweet potato and I loved the fact that he wasn't a 'brooding bad boy' like I was worried he was going to be. All of the characters turned out differently from what I expected, actually.
The world and magic system were really interesting and worked well with the story, but some parts maybe needed a bit more development. We don't really get a sense of what the empire is like, geographically and sort of the hierarchy system, but I do get the sense that this will be explored later in the series. I would have loved to see more of the religion and different types of magic, but again, the sequels may bring this to light. And on a positive note, I did feel like the history was interesting, and the world and plot worked well together - no info dumping here!
The writing and plot was really well done. I was really impressed by the writing style - its nothing flowery or anything, but the turns of phrases are really beautiful and it felt very sophisticated. It makes me want to read more from the author. Also, the way we were given information was flawless - as I said above, there were no info dumps, but you also weren't thrown into the story with no hope of knowing what was going on. The only criticism that I would suggest is that the plot did flag a little in the middle, what with some of the travelling and not much happing. The big battle also didn't feel very climactic, although maybe that was just me.
In all, I really loved this book. I will definitely be continuing with the series and anything else this author decides to write. The concept was also fabulous and I loved the idea of two sister's fighting for the throne. Also, there are feminist themes, but the female strength is subtle and I really liked that too. This was so masterfully brought together, and the threads all come together in the story as if this author has many published books - nothing is blatant, clumsy, or too 'in your face'. The main thing that kept me rating it from five stars is some detachment from the story and the characters that meant that big plot points didn't have enough meaning for me.
The Girl King is an Asian inspired YA fantasy following sisters Lu and Min, who are the princesses of the empire. The two of them are very different: Lu is basically just this angry bean that wants to punch something, and does quite a lot of stuff without thinking, and sometimes she can be quite naive, not because she's unkind, simply because she doesn't realise the consequences for other people, while Min is much quieter, overshadowed by her sister who is bold and can get away with everything, while she is fearful and afraid of getting into trouble. I really liked both of these characters; they felt really dynamic and real, with a good balance of flaws and qualities. I'm not quite in love with them yet, but I think that could definitely happen later in the series. They both also had really good arcs - Lu learns to open her mind and realises what life is really like for the people in the empire, and realises the naiveté of her good intentions. Min has a dark descent into a sort of twisted cruelty in which she thinks she is doing the right thing. Her arc was really convincing - there was no drastic change, and the author charted it perfectly, so it feels very natural for her character. I love dark characters like this, and even though Min sounds weak and fearful, her character is actually very compelling and I think she might be my favourite. We also followed Nokhai, a Gifted Kith from the Ashina clan whose family was killed by the empire. He is such a sweet potato and I loved the fact that he wasn't a 'brooding bad boy' like I was worried he was going to be. All of the characters turned out differently from what I expected, actually.
The world and magic system were really interesting and worked well with the story, but some parts maybe needed a bit more development. We don't really get a sense of what the empire is like, geographically and sort of the hierarchy system, but I do get the sense that this will be explored later in the series. I would have loved to see more of the religion and different types of magic, but again, the sequels may bring this to light. And on a positive note, I did feel like the history was interesting, and the world and plot worked well together - no info dumping here!
The writing and plot was really well done. I was really impressed by the writing style - its nothing flowery or anything, but the turns of phrases are really beautiful and it felt very sophisticated. It makes me want to read more from the author. Also, the way we were given information was flawless - as I said above, there were no info dumps, but you also weren't thrown into the story with no hope of knowing what was going on. The only criticism that I would suggest is that the plot did flag a little in the middle, what with some of the travelling and not much happing. The big battle also didn't feel very climactic, although maybe that was just me.
In all, I really loved this book. I will definitely be continuing with the series and anything else this author decides to write. The concept was also fabulous and I loved the idea of two sister's fighting for the throne. Also, there are feminist themes, but the female strength is subtle and I really liked that too. This was so masterfully brought together, and the threads all come together in the story as if this author has many published books - nothing is blatant, clumsy, or too 'in your face'. The main thing that kept me rating it from five stars is some detachment from the story and the characters that meant that big plot points didn't have enough meaning for me.