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ezriamongthestars'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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Ableism and Homophobia
pandact'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: Sexual violence, Torture, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Xenophobia, and Murder
cyberhavok'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
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, and Blood
ratchetang's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Alcohol
Moderate: Confinement, Genocide, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Grief, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
leafhead's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and War
spiderthread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Racism, Xenophobia, and Classism
audelidou's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
This book was a ride. I really loved the worldbuilding! The concept is quite interesting: the actualization of older Chinese culture, or rather futurization of it, works well. The alien menace and the constant fighting with it, which led to the Chrysalises and pilot system, is quite innovative and different, which kept me hooked. The polyamorous situation is amazing! So 10/10 worldbuilding and action.
What did not work is, well, everything else. First, the pacing is kind of odd. Certain parts of the story felt rushed and not developed enough. Things are happening in the background, in the sense that the reader doesn’t get to really read about it, but these actions have a huge impact on the story and the character ‘’development’’. For example, Zetian and Shimin train together which deepens their bond. Except we never get to truly read about it, so their newfound proximity feels a bit odd. We catch glimpses of it, sure, but we don’t see the development of their relationship. It’s just ‘’I hate you’’, we train, ‘’I like you.’’
Which brings me to my second point: the rushed pacing makes the characters’ development fall flat. Or rather, it feels kind of inexistent. For example, we are to believe Zetian evolves as a character, has a change in feelings toward Shimin, while nothing really happens to make her change? Sure, there are some events that can have an influence on her, but they feel rushed and glossed over, so it’s difficult to see how they truly affect her. Also, her inner monologue never changes. She stays the same girl from start to finish in her inner thoughts, which is fine. You don’t need a character to change, especially not one who is so sure of their beliefs and mission. But, at the same time, she changes in her feelings toward Shimin (and arguably Yizhi, as she becomes more sure of their feelings toward one another), and it feels impossible for her to live all that she has lived without being ever so slightly changed, at least; for her to never have evolved, for her rage to not have grown. Yet, she is pissed at the beginning and wants to kill everyone, and she’s still the same at the end. Her anger stays the same throughout the whole book, which makes her a one note character and it just falls flat for me. So the lack of evolution mixed with the rushed changes of her feelings make for a weird mix that just doesn't quite work.
Which brings me to my third point: the feminine rage/feminist discourse in this book is not well-written. Zetian lives in a world which is inherently unfair toward women (we know how it feels, girl!) and they keep being sacrificed for the sake of men and humanity. That is a great conflict! She gets to be pissed about it and it’s amazing to see her want to change the system! Except, she must remind us basically every page how unfair the system is, how much women suffer, how she hates society, etc. Understandable. A lot of women feel this way too, including me. But there are so many better ways to bring this conflict and these emotions to light. It would have been so interesting to have a character full of rage, learning how to deal with this emotion as it grows and grows in her, struggling to understand where it comes from, being finally able to understand it and put words on the injustice she’s feeling. Using that new-found knowledge and ever-growing anger to topple the system that keeps her hands tied. Instead, she’s aware of it all from page one and keeps talking about it. None-stop. To the point of hurting her discourse, in my opinion. I feel like having her come to terms with her anger, getting to understand it and master it would have been so good! So gripping! But, instead, she keeps repeating herself, which makes her very annoying and flat. And I’m really sad about this!
Anyway, the plot twist at the end was good. I will read the second book in the hopes that Zetian feels more fleshed out (as well as the other characters – Shimin and Yizhi are quite boring), that the overall discourse is explained in more subtle and interesting ways, and that the pacing rectifies itself. The author had a great idea and was sitting on gold! But the editing and publishing team should have taken more time to work on the text to bring it to the level it could have been. And I really do hope they will put in that work for book 2.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Xenophobia and Sexual harassment
pengintoppa's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Trafficking, and Colonisation
recurring mention/description of the long-term crippling effects of footbinding. the racism/xenophobia is directed at non-han chinese ethnic groups. sexism/misogyny is a lot of the driving force of most of the plot.cfitz13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Minor: Rape and Alcohol
dandelionsteph's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
Minor: Body shaming and Pregnancy