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A review by abookandchai
Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan
3.0
i had low expectations when i started reading and suffice to say it lived up to that.
the pitch is stunning, atla being one of my favourite shows, i was excited to see 'what if katara were the dark avatar & zuko was hunting her down in an empire on the brink of war?’ but the execution is done poorly.
—it starts off really well, i liked the character motivations introduced initially and the easy pacing in the first 1/3 or half of the book
—the writing is fairly simple to follow and the worldbuilding inspired by chinese myth/folklore is imbedded pretty well. the descriptions of the different settings and locations were spot on
—i love the side characters, tang wei, tai shun, leiye, and the relationships they have between themselves and the protagonists.
—then the pacing starts to stumble and i lose interest in both ahn and altan because their thoughts seem to feel repetitive and i couldn't care less. i wouldn't have minded if the book went on a little longer if it meant giving a satisfying climax to the buildup rather than finishing it all off in a couple chapters. is it a standalone? or a series? especially with the ending, i'm confused here.
—the so called romance felt very bland, no tension no angst of supposedly being "enemies" so yeah
—i also didn't feel the urgency of a country being at war with others?? the political intrigue was just dumped and not handled with depth
overall, jade fire gold can be an interesting and enjoyable debut ya fantasy, if you're looking for a simple one but its simply not for me.
thank you harper collins and netgalley for the arc!
the pitch is stunning, atla being one of my favourite shows, i was excited to see 'what if katara were the dark avatar & zuko was hunting her down in an empire on the brink of war?’ but the execution is done poorly.
—it starts off really well, i liked the character motivations introduced initially and the easy pacing in the first 1/3 or half of the book
—the writing is fairly simple to follow and the worldbuilding inspired by chinese myth/folklore is imbedded pretty well. the descriptions of the different settings and locations were spot on
—i love the side characters, tang wei, tai shun, leiye, and the relationships they have between themselves and the protagonists.
—then the pacing starts to stumble and i lose interest in both ahn and altan because their thoughts seem to feel repetitive and i couldn't care less. i wouldn't have minded if the book went on a little longer if it meant giving a satisfying climax to the buildup rather than finishing it all off in a couple chapters. is it a standalone? or a series? especially with the ending, i'm confused here.
—the so called romance felt very bland, no tension no angst of supposedly being "enemies" so yeah
—i also didn't feel the urgency of a country being at war with others?? the political intrigue was just dumped and not handled with depth
overall, jade fire gold can be an interesting and enjoyable debut ya fantasy, if you're looking for a simple one but its simply not for me.
thank you harper collins and netgalley for the arc!