Reviews

Ebony Gate by Julia Vee, Ken Bebelle

amyapple's review against another edition

1.0

This was a really hard slog for me.

I started it (as an ARC) and it felt kinda cool and it fizzled by chapter 3. Then the whole thing felt so long winded that I kept putting it down and picking it back up and then my library finally had it on audio book and I finished it that way.

I couldn’t connect and bat for Emiko and she was just annoying to read. There was a whole lot of telling and telling but not showing. The information dumps were HUGE and I’m sure it could have been done better.

All the characters were flat and one dimensional so they were really just a bunch of names with inconsistencies on how they talk.

Maybe I just don’t get it, but it was like the MC was sometimes Japanese, sometimes Chinese… speaking Cantonese phrases and then Mandarin .. and then some Japanese words splashed here and there… like what?! I just didn’t like it I’m afraid. Perhaps if I didn’t have a background in speaking those languages, I would have seen a novelty …

staceyrz's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

mushquellow's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

4.75

reddybeast's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

disabledbookdragon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

3.25

kazokava's review

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

ceng1018's review

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective 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

4.75

Wow loved this story. An interesting mix of Asian mysticism and rules bounding family identity. Can't wait for next story.

lnshannon's review

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

ryanslibrary's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

whattamess's review

2.0

DNF



Slow start. I hear it gets better, but I guess I'll never know.