Scan barcode
the_books_music_life's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I was very wary and had low expectations going into this book and honestly, I don’t really know why. It could have been because of how big the book is, the words and names I knew I was going to mispronounce, or because it is a retelling I’m not at all familiar with. Whatever my reasons were for being weary this book OBLITERATED them.
I ADORE this book so very much. The writing was lyrical and descriptive, the characters are so well developed and their flaws and the struggles they faced helped the characters grow in a way that was slow but felt real. The magic system was honestly amazing. Not once was I confused about the magic system, everything is explained in a way that makes it easy for the reader to grasp. This book and its magic system is probably one of my favorite magic systems.
Don’t even get me started on the world building. I want to visit this world, I want to eat the food that is mentioned and I want to meet a dragon!
I loved watching Shiori grow from a pampered princess to the woman she is at the end of the story. The things she faced and went through changed her, but changed her for the better. They didn’t deter her and she never complained, she took lessons from everything she was faced with and it made her stronger.
The relationship between Shiori and her brothers was incredibly sweet and felt real. I know as the youngest I have my ‘favorite sister’ just like Shiori had a favorite brother. I think it’s something every sibling does/haves.
Elizabeth Lim has a way with writing that just grabs you and sucks you into the world and the story.
I was SHOCKED at the big twist. I can’t say too much about it because of spoilers but you know what villain twist I mean if you’ve read it.
I love me some morally grey characters.
The romance wasn’t so front and center, all in your face. It was a nice slow build that made me fall in love with Shiroi and Takan.
I would definitely recommend going the audiobook route if you’re worried about mispronouncing things.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Bullying, Death, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Animal death and Body horror
fatherprozac's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I think I was so entranced by the gorgeous cover art that I set my expectations too high. The writing in this book has a huge problem with telling rather than showing, which robbed all the key moments of their tension and emotional impact. Shiori never really develops as a character, either. We are told that she is stronger, smarter, tougher but that is never shown to be true. In fact, she constantly sees a bad choice, recognizes it as a bad choice, and chooses it anyway literally just because and then acts surprised that it turned out poorly. Rinse and repeat for the entire book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
taryn_g's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Chronic illness, Grief, and War
Minor: Vomit and Death of parent
chrisljm's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
amazing
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Self harm, Vomit, Grief, Murder, and War
Minor: Sexual harassment
rensreading's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
when people said it gave them studio ghibli vibes, they really weren’t kidding! still, i had my doubts so it kind of caught me off guard how right these people were about it.
it took me a hot sec to figure out which area of asia this story was drawing inspiration from though. i think i may have just been confused by the studio ghibli comments but idk. the elements of chinese folklore became more clear only once someone pointed them out to me so im probably just slow. the red string of fate was a dead giveaway for sure though.
the plot was okay. it took a little too long to start in my opinion and certain details were brought up in the very end to try and link them as an explanation for why the beginning was so long but it still felt clunky. it seemed like lim had a plan™️ for her ending but didn’t execute it smoothly enough to make sense. there was just a lot of rushing at the end, which i get because its the end but the change of pace was weird and kind of unnecessary too. slow and steady wins the race after all.
i didn’t really care for our mc or how she seemed to enrapture two boys. the romance was just meh to me. it felt like it was missing something but i honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. probably just plain old chemistry. either way, i thought there would be more emphasis on her brothers since they’re the whole reason she’s trying to break the curse anyway but, sadly, we get to learn very little about them. instead we get a good chunk of the book about someone else’s sibling instead :)) how fun :)))
all in all, this was an okay read. there definitely were some overdone cliches and hiccups in the plot but it wasn’t enough to make me dislike this book either.i didn’t care for the random power-ups or how quickly the stepmother was forgiven though. all of that should have been expanded on for sure.
because of all of the above, i give this 4 stars
it took me a hot sec to figure out which area of asia this story was drawing inspiration from though. i think i may have just been confused by the studio ghibli comments but idk. the elements of chinese folklore became more clear only once someone pointed them out to me so im probably just slow. the red string of fate was a dead giveaway for sure though.
the plot was okay. it took a little too long to start in my opinion and certain details were brought up in the very end to try and link them as an explanation for why the beginning was so long but it still felt clunky. it seemed like lim had a plan™️ for her ending but didn’t execute it smoothly enough to make sense. there was just a lot of rushing at the end, which i get because its the end but the change of pace was weird and kind of unnecessary too. slow and steady wins the race after all.
i didn’t really care for our mc or how she seemed to enrapture two boys. the romance was just meh to me. it felt like it was missing something but i honestly couldn’t tell you what it was. probably just plain old chemistry. either way, i thought there would be more emphasis on her brothers since they’re the whole reason she’s trying to break the curse anyway but, sadly, we get to learn very little about them. instead we get a good chunk of the book about someone else’s sibling instead :)) how fun :)))
all in all, this was an okay read. there definitely were some overdone cliches and hiccups in the plot but it wasn’t enough to make me dislike this book either.
because of all of the above, i give this 4 stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: War
lmaloney's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
An adventure.
.
It was so fun! I really enjoyed the pace and the twist at every turn !
Liked: magic, cultural landscape, the map, hidden indentity trope, stacrossed lovers, humour, revelations!
Disliked: pace, why was Shiori seemingly competing with every girl she met besides her sister in law and a paperbird, very boy centric, very cishet…
4 stars xxxx
.
It was so fun! I really enjoyed the pace and the twist at every turn !
Liked: magic, cultural landscape, the map, hidden indentity trope, stacrossed lovers, humour, revelations!
Disliked: pace, why was Shiori seemingly competing with every girl she met besides her sister in law and a paperbird, very boy centric, very cishet…
4 stars xxxx
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Slavery, Blood, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
handful_of_frogs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Death, Torture, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
deluna's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
yvaeht_theavy's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I'm obsessed with this book! Lim said she started writing this as a Sailor Moon fanfic, so I knew I had to read it. I felt like I kept predicting what was going to happen but then BAM plot twist. It started pretty slow, then the pace picked up, then slowed, then picked up again. I loved that there was also mythology tied into the story. I have to label this as my favorite adventure/fantasy book by far. Haven't read Lim's first duology, so I will be catching up on those while I wait for The Dragon's Promise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror and Blood
erin_362's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Oh this was so good! I wasn’t sure about it to begin with but I’m actually kind of in love with it now :) I loved reading all the Asian folklore in it and the little stories that got told throughout were super cool. I really loved Shiori as well- she’s a really good character/ narrator. I wish we’d gotten more from the brothers and the dragon but I liked it regardless, plus the end was actually something I didn’t expect which is always great (I do not like predictable endings). Overall a really good book and I’m excited for the sequel :)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood
Minor: Body horror