meresy's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.0
traceymlee's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
tense
fast-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
4.75
joryjohn's review against another edition
3.0
Got about 80 percent through before dropping. The beginning of this book I love, but as it continues the story meanders and more unnecessary POVs dilute what was great at the start.
----SPOLIERS-----
As a reader, I enjoy relationships with caveats and or complications. Jians relationship with his masters and Taishi in the beginning hit my preference perfectly. I hate Jian and sympathize with him as his enter world is torn from him. Taishi is clearly a powerful marital artist yet is not the best teacher, nor does she want to be one (especially to Jian). The development of their relationship, from despising each other, to mother and son was fireworks! The subversions of prophecy as well sparked my imagination leading to brainstorming the possible directions the book could take. Sadly, past the revelation of the Khans death my excitement for the future continuedly dwindled. The two biggest factors to my interest waning was the added POVS and stagnation of plot.
Sali's POV and the assassins' girls specifically did little to progress the story. Sali's POV in the beginning is important but as it continues I am left wondering. The edgy assassin POV has no purpose for the chapters I read them in plus I hated her generic stereotypical archetype.
----SPOLIERS-----
As a reader, I enjoy relationships with caveats and or complications. Jians relationship with his masters and Taishi in the beginning hit my preference perfectly. I hate Jian and sympathize with him as his enter world is torn from him. Taishi is clearly a powerful marital artist yet is not the best teacher, nor does she want to be one (especially to Jian). The development of their relationship, from despising each other, to mother and son was fireworks! The subversions of prophecy as well sparked my imagination leading to brainstorming the possible directions the book could take. Sadly, past the revelation of the Khans death my excitement for the future continuedly dwindled. The two biggest factors to my interest waning was the added POVS and stagnation of plot.
Sali's POV and the assassins' girls specifically did little to progress the story. Sali's POV in the beginning is important but as it continues I am left wondering. The edgy assassin POV has no purpose for the chapters I read them in plus I hated her generic stereotypical archetype.
cozyinthenook's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.75
karareadshobby's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
4.0
mckenzie_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ktloureads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-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
4.25
This was a lot of fun and would have been been rated higher had one of the POV characters not been cartoonishly villainous. Definitely will pick up boot two and I am excited to see where the story goes from here. Taishi is one of my favorite characters I've read about this year. I also appreciate Chu's willingness to make the characters a bit unlikeable at times and because it made them feel more real.
amymprice's review against another edition
3.0
This took me FOREVER to get into, because there were so many subplots that had to converge and I really wanted wasn’t clicking with any of the characters. But as soon as Chu introduced Qisami, I was locked in and gave everybody else a second chance. Definitely a heavy world building book that may not be for everyone, but I’m interested where the plot goes in book 2.
bayni017's review against another edition
4.0
I had first heard about this book from youtube and it sounded interesting, but the way it was described was a book about a retired war arts teacher who takes on a new apprentice, but it was so much more than that. This is a book about a strange planet with three moons, while it is asian inspired, it has a sci-fi/fantasy feel. There are two larger kingdoms that are at war with each other. each has built a religion around their hero and protector who are reincarnated over and over. One is a teenager who has been pampered his entire life, the story begins with Taishi the war master sent to evaluate Jian who is the Hero of Prophecy and finds a spoiled young man who is not ready for any kind of battle. Meanwhile the immortal Khan gets killed by a bunch of nobody soldiers on patrol of the Grass sea. The story also follows Salminde, she is returning to the temple to die so that the Khan can be reborn, apparently she holds a piece of his soul. This book was entertaining and I really enjoyed it, excited to read the next book.