A review by julis
Strike the Zither by Joan He

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I do not remember why this wound up on my to-read list. I was underimpressed. The biggest problem through the whole book is I needed slightly more context and explanations for just about everything. I don’t know if this is He’s fault (general pacing problem, slow it down and let everything breathe a bit!) or editor’s fault (YA has to be under X,000 words) but jesus christ.

It’s not an inability of mine to read into implications either, it’s that He outright does not even imply what’s going on with the government: She gives a couple of broad statements and then cruises onwards. Nor do I know why I should give a damn about anyone in this book, Xin Ren included. Which is a bit of a problem, because her loyalty to Xin Ren is Zephyr’s primary motivator and it is completely inexplicable.

The SECOND problem is that if you are going to go “hah! the gods are real!” midway through, there has to be some setup on the way there. You cannot just pull that out of your ass 50% in. And I’m not talking “oh but Zephyr would’ve dismissed things because she’s a skeptic” I’m saying there is ZERO mention of magic or gods before that point. The most we get are a couple conversations about stars and the Empress. That’s it. Then the plot hinges on the reality of the gods and I’m going. What. Come back here and give me just like 2-3 rumors, Zephyr dismissing them as peasant superstitions and it would’ve been FINE I would’ve been COOL but NO–