kelseyr713's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.0
Excellent, creative fantasy romance. I felt a little distanced from the main character (I feel like we never really get to know her beyond the surface level, despite being in her head for the whole book) but I still liked her. Very much looking forward to the sequel, and I appreciate that the first book still ended in a satisfying way and not on a cliffhanger!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, War, Murder, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Death of parent
The sexual assault is attempted, not completed, and alluded to vaguely.jj_tj's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Bullying, War, Blood, Grief, and Kidnapping
kriti's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Violence, and War
mushureads44's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Classism, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
ohkayeig's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death of parent
shannnne's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Torture, Death, Death of parent, and War
melethwi's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Overall review (spoiler free:)
Before I get into the review, I do want to say that I think this is a great fantasy book, especially considering the author says in her acknowledgments section that she had very little writing experience. I did enjoy this book, though at some points I felt lost and like I was dragging myself to keep reading.
I admit that I picked up this book because of the beautiful cover and title. The book did not disappoint, and the author showed her mastery of imagery in her beautifully elegant writing throughout the story (she has a really good vocabulary of great words, but has the tendency to repeat them to a point that is very noticeable..... I'm looking at you, "magnanimous.") This book was enchanting in its premise, and really dazzled me with the prose. I also really loved Xingyin as a leading lady. She was strong, smart, and reliable as a narrator.
Unfortunately, where this book lost stars with me was with the "romance." I did not feel particularly attached to any party, and most of the romantic development occurred "off-screen," so to speak. It felt like we were missing a whole book between a few of the chapters. For that reason, this book really failed to capture my attention for the first half because I was just trying to keep up. This could be explained by 99% of the characters being immortal and not really having a good sense of time, but the main relationship just felt really forced and then left me feeling really unsatisfied with the ending. I get that the author is setting up for a second book, but I was really hoping that after 500 pages of a book with "romantic" on the back cover, we would have a little more. :,(
Overall, I wouldn't let that deter you from reading this book. If you're a big fan of lush writing, of Chinese mythology, and VERY strong female leads, this book would be for you! Just... dampen your expectations for the romance, maybe?
More spoilery stuff:
For me, this book started off really fast. I barely had any time to get to know the characters before we were fully delving into the meat of the plot. We then met the main love interest, and their relationship took off really fast.
I got really interested again when came along, but unfortunately, he had even less chemistry and word count dedicated to relationship building with Xingyin than the other guy. His character felt very flat and unconvincing, and then
Before I get into the review, I do want to say that I think this is a great fantasy book, especially considering the author says in her acknowledgments section that she had very little writing experience. I did enjoy this book, though at some points I felt lost and like I was dragging myself to keep reading.
I admit that I picked up this book because of the beautiful cover and title. The book did not disappoint, and the author showed her mastery of imagery in her beautifully elegant writing throughout the story (she has a really good vocabulary of great words, but has the tendency to repeat them to a point that is very noticeable..... I'm looking at you, "magnanimous.") This book was enchanting in its premise, and really dazzled me with the prose. I also really loved Xingyin as a leading lady. She was strong, smart, and reliable as a narrator.
Unfortunately, where this book lost stars with me was with the "romance." I did not feel particularly attached to any party, and most of the romantic development occurred "off-screen," so to speak. It felt like we were missing a whole book between a few of the chapters. For that reason, this book really failed to capture my attention for the first half because I was just trying to keep up. This could be explained by 99% of the characters being immortal and not really having a good sense of time, but the main relationship just felt really forced and then left me feeling really unsatisfied with the ending. I get that the author is setting up for a second book, but I was really hoping that after 500 pages of a book with "romantic" on the back cover, we would have a little more. :,(
Overall, I wouldn't let that deter you from reading this book. If you're a big fan of lush writing, of Chinese mythology, and VERY strong female leads, this book would be for you! Just... dampen your expectations for the romance, maybe?
More spoilery stuff:
For me, this book started off really fast. I barely had any time to get to know the characters before we were fully delving into the meat of the plot. We then met the main love interest, and their relationship took off really fast.
Spoiler
After a two-year time skip,</> our main guy and girl had basically established their entire relationship off-screen. I feel like I didn't know the main guy at all, and didn't find the budding romance very convincing at all, as we went from barely knowing each other to being head over heels in just a few pages.I got really interested again when
Spoiler
Wenzhi, the second love interestSpoiler
he was suddenly in love with Xingyin and asking her to marry him and have his kids or something??? I was also incredibly disappointed when he turned out to be ~evil~ because I felt that Xingyin would have a better story with him. His arc felt really forced and completely out of nowhere, almost like a late addition.Spoiler
I also felt like the reunion with Xingyin and her mother was a little bit anticlimactic... Though I am very happy they got reunited!!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Kidnapping, Vomit, and Death of parent
gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, War, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Confinement
Minor: Xenophobia
luverbyrd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Sexism
woolgatherer's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
4.0
This book got a little tiring as it progressed, partially because of the love triangle that I found a bit boring and predictable, but it was also because I found the protagonist, Xingyin, somewhat exhausting to deal with due to her incredible naïveté. There was something left to be desired in her character development (as well as others, to be honest), and I felt that Tan could have gone more into worldbuilding than she did. (Though, perhaps this is addressed further in the second book of this duology.)
And yet, I found myself making my way through this book rather quickly because I enjoyed how wonderfully Tan described the world this book takes place in, drawing out all the senses. In addition, I really enjoyed how it is grounded in the xianxia genre. It’s one I’m not entirely familiar with, but it’s so refreshing when so much of fantasy is Eurocentric.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping and Confinement