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droar 's review for:
Strike the Zither
by Joan He
Ok, Strike the Zither falls pretty firmly into the 'well written and engaging books that aren't for me' category of reading. It is most certainly a very engaging and twist-y kind of story with areas where I was genuinely shocked at the shifts in the plot. That said I found some of the twists did very strange things to the characterization of the protagonist that I have mixed feelings about. Looking back it feels like the first half of the novel is a bit rushed to bring us to this big event and then things settle into a more steady pace. I almost wish He would have saved the Big twist for the end of the book (which is fairly cliffhanger-y already & also has more twisty turny bits to reveal) where it may have packed a bigger punch (Full disclosure, I've never read The Three Kingdoms so the placement of plot points might very well be ensconced in a larger frame I'm not seeing). For me the slightly rushed feeling of things on the front end and the character shift for the back half of the novel took away from my overall engagement with the book, But! I am not generally a reader of political tension/spy-ish sneaking/probably trust no one kind of books and Strike the Zither does all of those things very well. If that is your wheel house, and/or you enjoy twisty YA with crossover appeal for adults you should very much pick up Strike the Zither at your earliest convivence. I will absolutely be recommending it to the teens at my library as soon as it's available.
Many thanks to NetGalley for access to this ARC!
Many thanks to NetGalley for access to this ARC!