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starlings's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
gogglor'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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Child death, Abandonment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Outing, and Alcohol
kriti's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Homophobia, Slavery, and Torture
Minor: Body shaming and Pandemic/Epidemic
vaguely_pink'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
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexism, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Dysphoria
Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Slavery, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic
viktorsboy's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, and War
Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
heather_harrison's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
“Desire is the cause of all suffering. All Zhu had ever desired was to live. Now she felt the pure strength of that desire inside her, as inseparable as her breath or qi, and knew she would suffer from it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the awful magnitude of the suffering that would be required to achieve greatness in the chaotic, violent world outside.”
It's Mulan vibes but with more violence, war and treachery, with an element of fantasy. BUT... also a really interesting exploration of destiny, gender identity and gender fluidity. How refreshing to have complex gender-queer relationships in historical fantasy! The prose is great and even the (spicy) scenes are beautifully written.
I did go into this relatively blind, and didn't know that it reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Parker-Chan takes great effort to build the world, and it does feel deeply rooted in history with many examples of grim reality.
We meet a young girl, a peasant of the famine-stricken Central Plains of China, who was fated for nothing (literally). She adopts her brother's identity after he tragically dies, as he was fated for greatness. She decides to take his name, identity and in turn, his greatness, to survive for herself.
Our main character definitely leans more towards to the anti-hero, and will do anything to survive.
There is a lot of confusion with the pronouns for Zhu's character - as they seem to switch between she/her and he/him depending on the situation. For clarity, I'm going to refer to Zhu as they/them. They are resilient and cunning and you can't help but be enamored. I absolutely adored the part one of this novel - as it centred around Zhu’s survival
As the narrative progresses, Zhu and Ouyang’s fate become entwined.
The pacing was a bit uneven, and I did find it a bit of a slog until I reached the final part of the story, that I did feel like a 'missed' parts of this because some seemingly important things are just skimmed over. To make matters worse, a lot of the important parts of the story take place 'off page' so we don't even get to see them.
I do feel that Parker-Chan does a very good job at not portraying either the Mongols or the Red Turbans as inherently good or bad. There are no morally superior war heroes in this tale, only survival. I am looking forward to the second book being released this year, and closing off the duology.
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Violence, Dysphoria, and War
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
TW: extreme hunger/starvation, Graphic depiction of a person burning to deathverysillygoose's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Sexual content, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Animal death
gracewiley'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
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, Outing, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic