talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, Abandonment, Murder, and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Hate crime
Minor: Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, and Trafficking
athornton's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- 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? Yes
3.75
jessica_flower's review against another edition
3.0
CW: murder, violence, domestic violence (in the past), xenophobia, toxic/manipulative friendship (in the past), strained familial relationships, morally grey MCs, self-destructive behaviour, themes of grief, toxic shame and guilt
In a world blended with Western and Eastern folklore, two middle-aged women go on a journey to defeat some destructive fire birds that are terrorizing the region they live in, and along the way, they reveal their past lives, mistakes and bad decisions to each other. In doing so, they realise only by confronting their trauma and taking steps to rebuilding relationships that were broken can they overcome their pasts.
When I first heard about this, I thought that this pair of older sapphics were in a relationship together, or on their way to becoming one. Instead I was pleasantly bemused to discover that, though they are both sapphic, they are just friends. And I'm fine with that. WLW can and definitely should be friends with each other; we don't get enough of that the same way we don't get enough stories of older lesbians and sapphics in media.
Part of me wishes we'd gotten Hou Yi's perspective in the book, not only Rosa's. That would probably make this an actual novel and not a novella, but I personally wouldn't mind. And, given that it's partially based off Chinese mythology, I wish that we'd gotten more Chinese words in the story itself. Some little things that I wish could've been explored more: I wish we got more development of Mei and Rosa's relationship; why/how did they come to love each other? Where exactly did Xiao Hong come from? How did Hou Yi and Chang E meet and adopt Feng Meng?
Anyway, the ending made me cry.
In a world blended with Western and Eastern folklore, two middle-aged women go on a journey to defeat some destructive fire birds that are terrorizing the region they live in, and along the way, they reveal their past lives, mistakes and bad decisions to each other. In doing so, they realise only by confronting their trauma and taking steps to rebuilding relationships that were broken can they overcome their pasts.
When I first heard about this, I thought that this pair of older sapphics were in a relationship together, or on their way to becoming one. Instead I was pleasantly bemused to discover that, though they are both sapphic, they are just friends. And I'm fine with that. WLW can and definitely should be friends with each other; we don't get enough of that the same way we don't get enough stories of older lesbians and sapphics in media.
Part of me wishes we'd gotten Hou Yi's perspective in the book, not only Rosa's. That would probably make this an actual novel and not a novella, but I personally wouldn't mind. And, given that it's partially based off Chinese mythology, I wish that we'd gotten more Chinese words in the story itself. Some little things that I wish could've been explored more: I wish we got more development of Mei and Rosa's relationship; why/how did they come to love each other? Where exactly did Xiao Hong come from? How did Hou Yi and Chang E meet and adopt Feng Meng?
Anyway, the ending made me cry.
idkijustneedtobuyabookshelf's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
beforethefever's review
tbh it’s not the best idea to read the 3rd book in a series first. i should probs read the first two as well now.
rheagoveas's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
labocat's review against another edition
3.0
3.5, and rounding down because I'm just not sure how I feel about it wrapping up. That said, I love sapphic retellings of well-loved stories, and this delivered on every count of that. We get more about Rosa's past than Hou Yi's, but as Hou Yi's seems to follow the myth fairly closely up to the point of Chang E taking the immortality potion, that's fine. There's a lot of interesting weaving together of western fairy tales, even though they're spread across in-world cultures, but I do wish we'd gotten to spend more time in the present of the novella than the past.
ielerol's review against another edition
5.0
I remembered just a little bit into this that there are two other stories in the same setting, they're both short and available free online ("Hunting Monsters" and "Fighting Demons") so I went ahead and read them and came back to this. I don't think they're necessary to enjoy the novella, and you could potentially argue that Fighting Demons spoils some of this one, but they're good too and I was glad to have the additional context.
Fairytale retelling doesn't seem right to describe this story, there are lot of fairytales (both European and Chinese) in the background, but the events of those stories all happened long ago. This story is about consequences and aftermaths, what happens when the story you thought you were in wasn't the story that was really happening. It's also about how hard it is to change, even when you know you've been wrong.
I don't think I've read many stories about how mothers have hurt their children from the perspective of the mothers, maybe because nobody writes stories centering aging mothers of adult children. I loved it.
Fairytale retelling doesn't seem right to describe this story, there are lot of fairytales (both European and Chinese) in the background, but the events of those stories all happened long ago. This story is about consequences and aftermaths, what happens when the story you thought you were in wasn't the story that was really happening. It's also about how hard it is to change, even when you know you've been wrong.
I don't think I've read many stories about how mothers have hurt their children from the perspective of the mothers, maybe because nobody writes stories centering aging mothers of adult children. I loved it.
emsprobablyreading's review
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- 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
2.0