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A review by shanaqui
If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love playing around with point of view, and Em X. Liu makes an interesting choice: the book is narrated in second person, which I feel like a lot of people will bounce right off. I love playing with it myself, and I think it was pretty well done here.
I loved Shine and Wang Ran, their negotiation of their situation, the way they quickly decided to make the best of it. You end up with certain expectations from the opening, from other stories like it, and then there's Wang Ran, and really he's just a kid. The way all that plays out -- and Wang Ran and Shine's relationship with the character addressed by the narrative -- is all really fun.
Things did seem to happen really suddenly, though, and I wasn't so sure about that part. On the one hand, it is a novella, but... I don't know, the bond between Shine, Wang Ran and the main character feels a little undercooked for me. I wanted to believe in it, I just didn't quite. I don't know what more I'd have liked that wouldn't feel like filler, but still, I wasn't quite 100% there in time.
On a side note, I feel like I was oddly better prepared for some of this through becoming such a fan of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System.
I loved Shine and Wang Ran, their negotiation of their situation, the way they quickly decided to make the best of it. You end up with certain expectations from the opening, from other stories like it, and then there's Wang Ran, and really he's just a kid. The way all that plays out -- and Wang Ran and Shine's relationship with the character addressed by the narrative -- is all really fun.
Things did seem to happen really suddenly, though, and I wasn't so sure about that part. On the one hand, it is a novella, but... I don't know, the bond between Shine, Wang Ran and the main character feels a little undercooked for me. I wanted to believe in it, I just didn't quite. I don't know what more I'd have liked that wouldn't feel like filler, but still, I wasn't quite 100% there in time.
On a side note, I feel like I was oddly better prepared for some of this through becoming such a fan of The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System.