A review by kristinhunziker
Thorn of the Night Blossoms: A Legends of Tivara Story by J.C. Kang

1.0

 
⚠️ Spoilers below ⚠️

Character development: 4/10

The big, difficult choice that Jie makes at the end of Act II is to remain loyal to the Black Lotus Clan instead of to Lilian. When the story reveals that all the events in Acts I and II were actually Lilian's plan of escape, Jie decides she needs to catch Lilian and turn her in rather than let her go.

This decision falls extremely flat.

This short story did not develop Jie's relationship with the Black Lotus Clan at all, which means I don't understand and don't care about her loyalty.* There are a couple sentences (literally two) telling us the Clan took her in when she was an orphan and the master of the Clan is her adopted father. This is a perfectly good reason to be loyal to the Clan, but the story needed to spend more time showing and developing Jie's relationship. Two sentences are objectively not enough to establish character. In contrast, there are many, many descriptions of Jie's romantic and sexual love for Lilian. This is great storytelling, and I really believed the depth of their connection. The author does a great job establishing the strength of that relationship. Because the story spends so much more time developing the relationship between Jie and Lilian, however, Jie's eventual decision to choose the Clan over Lilian is very unsatisfying and frustrating. Based on the character development up to that point, it would have been much more satisfying for Jie to support Lilian than to antagonize her. The theme of "choosing clan over love" could be interesting, but this story only sets up the love, not the clan, which is why the eventual choice falls so flat.

*This is the only book in this series I have read. It's possible that other stories in this series develop Jie's backstory with the Clan more, and therefore other readers may not have this problem.

Plot: 5/10

I genuinely did not see Lilian's betrayal coming! The author did a good job setting up and executing the twist.

World-building: 3/10

I really hate the automatic crossbow, the "Repeater," which plays a prominent role in the story.......... repeatedly. Everyone knows automatic crossbows are not a thing and also a classic awful fantasy trope. Every time a character mentioned the "Repeater," I groaned audibly, rolled my eyes, and liked the story a little less.

I really disliked the Black Lotus Clan and felt like I didn't understand the org's incentives/motivations. From the jump, the story establishes that Lilian hates sex work and desperately wants out. She feels trapped, like she needs to take extreme measures to get away. Thus, from the very first moment, I have many questions about why the Black Lotus Clan exploits its sexy ninjas, why it trafficked Lilian against her will. Does the organization not care about consent? If it doesn't, what incentives motivate it to exploit its women? Why doesn't Lilian feel comfortable going to the Clan to tell it her feelings? The story implies that the Clan is exploitative and evil. I don't understand the Clan's motivations, and it seems like a group of not very cool people. This is yet another reason why Jie's decision to remain loyal to the Clan instead of to support Lilian is extremely unsatisfying. I don't like or understand the Clan, and therefore I don't like Jie. Mission not accomplished.

You know what seems like an extremely bad idea? Training a woman to be an elite assassin ninja from a very young age, and then trafficking her into sex work against her will. The best possible outcome here is a Kill Bill-style vengeance quest. Does the Clan and not see this coming? If not, that is yet another reason why Jie's choice to prioritize an incompetent organization over the love of her life makes no f****** sense.

I'm also wondering if the world-building is a rip-off of Kushiel's Legacy? Both books have prominent houses of prostitution named after flowers and spies who pose as courtesans therein. But Kushiel's Legacy came out 19 years earlier, and is also better in every way. These books seem strikingly similar, but it could be coincidence.

Representation and diversity: 5/10

This is a story about two queer, Asian women. I really appreciated the author's choice to center their stories. We need more non-white authors and non-white characters in high fantasy! We need more feudal East Asia stories! Even though I didn't like this story, I'm glad the author wrote it.

My low score for representation reflects my complaints above about how the Black Lotus Clan exploits and trafficks its ladies. I'm not interested in a story about an organization that trafficks women but the story frames that org as good. Deeply troubling.

Theme and literary devices: 5/10

I will give this story some credit: the theme of choosing clan over love is very clear. I've already stated, however, that it doesn't make sense and isn't satisfying for Jie to choose clan over love, which undermines the theme and weakens the story.

Even though the world need more fantasy stories set in East Asia, this story's take on elite ninja geishas didn't apply anything original to the trope, so it felt cliché.