Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

6 reviews

joygarcialim's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I think the book has potential. That’s the disappointing part.

The characters fell very flat, the author spent most of the book info dumping that she didn’t pay much attention to the characters’ development. The romance didn’t even seem like a romance, it was more like how a kid might take two dolls and make them kiss but the backstory isn’t much except for the kid wanting to do it. The lack of emotions, chemistry or affections for the characters falling in love was very jarring.

Overall, it was very dry to read and at points I couldn’t distinguish when the author was being metaphorical or actually describing events in the plot. I’ll say that’s not necessarily the author’s fault, but there were definitely metaphors and descriptions that were just awful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Alcohol

malisac16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Torture, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

bookishwondergoth's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

What a wonderfully pleasant surprise. I must confess I only picked up a copy of this book because it came in my February Illumicrate and I took part in their Discord readalong. Ordinarily it’s not something I would have picked up as I tend to avoid YA like the plague these days.

Fast-paced with a truly beautiful, gorgeously described world, Amélie Wen Zhao has crafted an enchanting and thrilling tale inspired by Chinese history and legends. Main characters Lan and Zen are a lot of fun, highly endearing, and I was utterly gripped from start to finish.

Will definitely be reading the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Colonisation

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

One of the characters has a cleft palette, and is referred to with a slur that isn't really challenged, even though other people's prejudiced attitudes to the character's appearance are.

bittennailbooks's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

A breakneck, high stakes tale about the true cost of power.

Fast-paced, lyrical, heart pounding, Zhao delivers on one of the most anticipated YA fantasies of the year.  I was lucky enough to get an early release of this beautiful hardcover and it shot up my TBR very quickly.

Thumbs up: The Qi magic system is outstanding and does not leave a reader behind when explaining how it works and it's limitations. The characters were delightfully flawed, more diverse than I was expecting, and felt fully formed. A fascinating take on colonization and the power struggles and intergenerational impacts of having history wiped because of it. The story had me completely hooked and was so full of rage and adventure, I finished it very quickly. This is my first read by Zhao but I will definitely be coming back for more.

Thumbs down: If I am being picky, the pacing could have used a little tweaking. It was a full lung-burning sprint for the first half of the book and came to a sudden halt halfway in.

Was it a nail biter? My hands are gone. This may be one of my favorite reads of this year and I cannot wait for the second installment. You'll catch me camped out launch day at the doors for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and War

Threats of sexual violence

leedolee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

A great read! I found myself unable to put this book down as I wanted to keep on reading and find out what came next. The entire plot line, the characters, the lore, and the world were all entertaining, well fleshed-out, and exciting! I’m definitely going to be counting down the days until the next book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Medical content, and Cultural appropriation