A review by adoto
The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I loved the world and lore in this book but I felt like I read a prologue rather than a complete story and had no opportunity to get invested. I wish I liked this enough to seek out the second book. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Death, Gore, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Injury/Injury detail

The book itself is not xenophobic, but there are clear real-world xenophobic parallels that I feel are worth mentioning, especially if you are South Asian or Middle-Eastern (I'm Indian myself). The book's treatment of these characters and these issues is absolutely fine. I had no problems reading it; just putting it out there in case someone might. The blood and gore mentions are very brief, contained within a few sentences, but occur multiple times during the book and are described graphically. Blood/gore invoke physical reactions in me and I was definitely affected by those parts in this book so be warned!