A review by wardenred
The Brightest Shadow by Sarah Lin

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I hope this ends well, but I don't think it will.

I think this book can be a real treat for readers who are into worldbuilding-heavy, idea-driven fantasy where the characters are mainly used as vehicles to explore the key concepts. The setting here is rich, complex, and quite thoroughly explored. There are a lot of wuxia elements, with plenty of scenes hinging on practicing martial arts and mastering sein, the life force. There’s a clash between two cultures who each have grievous misconceptions about each other, and a lot of discussion about how we tend to dehumanize those who aren’t like us, whether because we see them as weaker or more dangerous, and if we can breach those big gaps. And then there’s the central concept that was the main draw of the book for me: the very cool twist on the Chosen One trope, making those chosen heroes of legend the biggest danger the world has to contend with.

I have personally enjoyed exploring these concepts, but I also felt curiously detached from them throughout. Despite the vast cast of characters who are by no means uninteresting and a plot that’s reasonably twisty, albeit very slow-moving until the final act, I can compare the experience of reading this novel to that of reading an RPG setting book. Like, yay, a cool world! With plenty of interesting challenges and things happening! Now I kind of want to brainstorm what sort of fictional humans may live in it and have personal dramas that aren’t just there to explore the central concepts. Because the characters that are there feel like they exist just for that, and while it’s absolutely a valid approach, it’s not one that resonates with me or pulls me into the story. There were a bunch of more character-focused moments that I did like, such as, for example, Tani’s interactions with Jaer, but overall, I think this just wasn’t really a book for me, in terms of its approach to storytelling. I’m still glad I read it, because I did like the worldbuilding and it gave me a lot of food for thought.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings