Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

23 reviews

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

allisonsmith120's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Grief, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

crochetcatking's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The first half of the book is pretty slow. Everything and yet nothing seems to happen. Amelie does a great job setting up the world in this time. The second half of the book is amazing. The last 8 chapters or so make the whole thing worth reading. It gets so exciting right at the end that you easily forgive how fast some of the other plot came and went. Can't wait to read the 2nd book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Violence, Blood, and War

Minor: Genocide and Torture

honuzbubbles's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

intoxicatedflower's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Torture and War

heather_harrison's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I was reasonably excited for this book - Chinese mythology, magic, demons, and the promise of a strong female protagonist. 

The book felt like a watered down pivot from the popularity of R.F. Kuang's Poppy War. So many people have enjoyed this, but I just found it really meh. 

I was not a fan of AWZ's description of a character with a cleft lip (I don't care if it may be representative of the time it's based, this is fantasy first and foremost and it was just unnecessary). 

I didn't find Lan to be endearing at all. 30% of the time I found her tolerable, but the majority I found her to be rude and annoying. Zen's character largely served as an info-dump for Lan, and us the readers.

Their relationship was definitely not 'enemies to lovers' and felt super rushed. Not to mention the mirroring of both characters making deals with demons was pretty heavy handed.

All of the other characters within the story line felt paper-thin, and as a result it felt pretty hollow whenever anything 'important happened'.

We see Lan lose her 'best friend' at the tea-house, what was supposed to be her found family in the magic school, and her literal long-lost father. But because there was very little emotional build up, the outcome just kind of feels hollow and immaterial.

 

2.75 stars (rounded up to 3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Physical abuse

totsfions's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.25

Me reading any romance novel: that ending was too rushed.
Me reading any fantasy novel: that ending was too drawn out. 
Any way, aside from the ending taking an eternity, this book was wonderful. I loved the magic systems and the deep attention to Chinese lore and myth that went in to developing this world. It also handles the complexity of power with a nuance not often seen in YA. This book reckons not only with the injustices of colonialism, but also the power structures that existed beforehand. It allows it's characters to process their grief, but also to find just retribution; to imagine not only what their lives would have been but also what they will be next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture

taroroot's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

i loved the Chinese mythology involved in the story. i'm looking forward to seeing how Lan & Zen's paths cross and diverge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Death of parent

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