pages_with_panda's Reviews (165)

Six Crimson Cranes

Elizabeth Lim

4.5

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

The Unseelie Prince

Kathryn Ann Kingsley

1.5

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

Written In The Stars

Alexandria Bellefleur

3.5

funny inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Allie and Bea

Catherine Ryan Hyde

4.0

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Zeroes

Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti

4.0

adventurous emotional lighthearted

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Hunt

Frost Kay

1.5

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

These Violent Delights

Chloe Gong

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

"This city is filthy and deep in the thrall of unending sin, so saturated with the kiss of decadence that the sky threatens to buckle and crush all those living vivaciously beneath it in punishment."

This is the story of Romeo and Juliet killing a monster in 1920s gangster-run Shaghai. Gong does an amazing job of describing the city as alive, and as its own character with its own desires.

The story is slow-paced and Gong takes her time to describe the setting but I loved it - it's poetic, just as a Shakespeare retelling should be. The relationship between the characters is revealed slowly, through the POVs of each characters which I liked. It was a bit confusing to follow some of the politics or the characters but if you stick through it it starts to make sense.

The characters are a diverse mix as well. For being a historical fantasy, we have LGBTQIA+ rep. that I loved.

I loved the forced alliance between Roma and Juliette as well and the slow-burn between their relationship, but this is not a romance. They're relationship is not the main point of the story. There's a mystery going on within the city that they're trying to solve.

The ending was a huge cliff-hanger and I can't wait to start reading the 2nd one!

Content Warnings