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A review by jenniferforjoy
Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao
1.5
Recommended: eh
for a very childish MC, for a bit of exploration, for some lore about Hell and demonic / mythical creatures in their world
Thoughts:
While I thought this would be a new favorite and really blow me away, it did not at all. If anything I was blown away by how unimpressed I was at the end of it. Let's run through the issues, and some of the good in it as well.
The first and main issue is that I did not like the main character (MC) from the start nor at any point during. She's childish, impulsive, careless, selfish... just... pretty annoying really. She reads like a spoiled child who hasn't learned to think of anything besides herself. Also the constant insults and the amount of times "pissfart" was said just, god, it was really like being with a small grumpy child the whole time and I generally don't like children. I was turned off immediately.
That was followed up by a shocking lack of anything happening. Even after finishing it I'm trying to think back on key moments and what they did, but really like... they went on a short vacation and shopped and that was most of the story. It did pick up a bit at the end into some interesting stuff, but it was short-lived and easily resolved. The whole time, those characters had been built up as these Big Bads who were terrifying and had absolute control over everything, and then it felt like it was over with barely a sweat broken, which made it all much less impressive or scary.
Usually a world of magic and demons and cool creatures can fill some of the gaps for this, but that wasn't really a strength here either. They were mentioned for sure, but they didn't feel like they mattered. It felt like everything else in the world was a foil to this annoying childish MC I didn't like. I would love to know more about the others but all they got were some insults from MC and then like a line of some sort of stereotype about their race.
Oh, and romance? Not really. Just, no. There ends up being a relationship and there are some little stepping stones along the way but I didn't really care. It was small things that built up, which is a nice way to write it, but in this kind of nothing story it just felt like more nothing.
So... yeah I wasn't a fan. I can't believe it because this sounds exactly like something I'd love, but it just fell so flat for me in the execution. I thought it would be dark, and exciting, and full of magic and lore and tension, but it was derailed immediately. If you can tolerate the MC then you may have a better time with it, but it's still pretty slow until the last quarter of the book when things start happening. I see this is a series so maybe later books will pick up, but you'll have to really decide to commit to potentially get a payoff.
for a very childish MC, for a bit of exploration, for some lore about Hell and demonic / mythical creatures in their world
Thoughts:
While I thought this would be a new favorite and really blow me away, it did not at all. If anything I was blown away by how unimpressed I was at the end of it. Let's run through the issues, and some of the good in it as well.
The first and main issue is that I did not like the main character (MC) from the start nor at any point during. She's childish, impulsive, careless, selfish... just... pretty annoying really. She reads like a spoiled child who hasn't learned to think of anything besides herself. Also the constant insults and the amount of times "pissfart" was said just, god, it was really like being with a small grumpy child the whole time and I generally don't like children. I was turned off immediately.
That was followed up by a shocking lack of anything happening. Even after finishing it I'm trying to think back on key moments and what they did, but really like... they went on a short vacation and shopped and that was most of the story. It did pick up a bit at the end into some interesting stuff, but it was short-lived and easily resolved. The whole time, those characters had been built up as these Big Bads who were terrifying and had absolute control over everything, and then it felt like it was over with barely a sweat broken, which made it all much less impressive or scary.
Usually a world of magic and demons and cool creatures can fill some of the gaps for this, but that wasn't really a strength here either. They were mentioned for sure, but they didn't feel like they mattered. It felt like everything else in the world was a foil to this annoying childish MC I didn't like. I would love to know more about the others but all they got were some insults from MC and then like a line of some sort of stereotype about their race.
Oh, and romance? Not really. Just, no. There ends up being a relationship and there are some little stepping stones along the way but I didn't really care. It was small things that built up, which is a nice way to write it, but in this kind of nothing story it just felt like more nothing.
So... yeah I wasn't a fan. I can't believe it because this sounds exactly like something I'd love, but it just fell so flat for me in the execution. I thought it would be dark, and exciting, and full of magic and lore and tension, but it was derailed immediately. If you can tolerate the MC then you may have a better time with it, but it's still pretty slow until the last quarter of the book when things start happening. I see this is a series so maybe later books will pick up, but you'll have to really decide to commit to potentially get a payoff.