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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexism, War, and Violence
Moderate: Classism, Genocide, Grief, Body horror, Colonisation, Gore, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Child death, Slavery, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, and Animal death
bashsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Xenophobia, Ableism, Violence, War, Homophobia, Transphobia, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Classism, Death, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Child death, Alcohol, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Excrement and Vomit
teriodvarkova88's review against another edition
- 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
there is a little bit of romance tho
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zhu and ma have my heart<33
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Torture, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Grief, and War
juniperbranches's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was so much fun. A little bit of a slow pace, but the sheer tenacity that Zhu displays again and again drew me in. There is some great queer representation, and in the characters of Zhu and a eunuch general the author does an amazing job of displaying different types of non binary genders. Loved this so much! 4.5/5
Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Child death, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
hmatt's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.25
I persevered because Natalie Naudus, and of course the hype. And also it takes a lot for me to DNF a book, so I just pushed through.
Some things I wasn't into:
- As I alluded to before, I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters
- This might also be a genre (/part one in a series) thing, but there are so many events that happen one after another that I didn't feel were super necessary to building the story. This and the multiple time jumps made the story seem both rushed and too long.
- So many of the pivotal moments are glossed over? Like I didn't even realize that a lot of them had happened until after?
- The above also fed into my lack of conviction over the characters relationships with each other. There were really only one or two relationships that felt fleshed-out and genuine to me, and these were the rare ones where we spent a lot of time with both characters together. The main character and their love interest was completely blank for me, I didn't feel any of the build up and had no investment in their relationship.
All this said, it's a "fine" story for me. I did like the writing style, despite my thoughts on how the story comes together. The steamy scene that has received a ton of social media attention is incredibly random in the context of the book but like, lives up to the hype and I could have done with more of that honestly? Well done. I really appreciated the book in audio form for its accurate pronunciations of words/names I would read wrong in my head, and I'd love to read more historical fiction focusing on this area of the world.
Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Death, Child death, Sexual content, Misogyny, Medical content, Blood, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, War, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, and Grief
Minor: Infidelity
jjjreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Slavery, Ableism, Child death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Excrement, Fatphobia, Murder, Outing, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Homophobia, and Misogyny
Moderate: Alcohol, Deadnaming, and Physical abuse
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Child death, War, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
thedisabledreader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Misogyny, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Murder, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Sexism, and War
Minor: Dysphoria
sonaea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, and Sexism
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Child death
Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Slavery, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal death, Genocide, and Grief
handful_of_frogs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Cannibalism, Classism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content