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memoriast's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, Slavery, Excrement, and Vomit
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: Ableism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity
yvonne_cl's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, and Sexual content
ashurah'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Dysphoria
Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, and Fire/Fire injury
zombiezami'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
storykath'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book felt longer than its 400 pages, which was both a strength and weakness. There's so much that happens - towards the end, I found myself looking back at the beginning with incredulity about how much the situation and characters had changed. I had truly been taken on a journey with the protagonists. On the other hand, I also found that some parts of this book dragged. When the plot became saturated with politics or an ongoing battle, I found it hard to stay invested, but it was always worth it to power through. Parker-Chan guides us through all the intrigues and betrayals fairly well; there's generally enough context to keep up with the revolving cast of characters and their various motivations, but at times there were intentions that were implied and not totally clear.
The changes in perspectives were engaging, and I enjoyed seeing each protagonist from the others' perspectives. Zhu Chongba in particular comes across very differently depending on whether we see her from her own perspective or someone else's. The characters were all enjoyably complex and morally nuanced, and while I can't relate to the overarching themes of fate, greatness, and vengeance, I could clearly see how those factors drove the characters in their every decision and action.
I'm curious to see what comes next in this series, and I hope that we can continue to explore these characters and see their continued redemptions and/or corruptions.
Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Alcohol
justamy'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Slavery, Death of parent, and Classism
annaledbetter'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
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Death of parent
luuxx'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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Vomit
aardwyrm'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
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail