Reviews with content warning for Death - Song of Silver, Flame Like Night

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao

48 reviews

abby_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

I had a really good time reading this book. While I thought the pacing was inconsistent, it does make sense now that I've reached the end. The worldbuilding with the lore and the history is amazing. The characters were good, though I adore the side characters most, and their relationships were solid. I am excited to read the sequel.

Content Warnings

fabichirinos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-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? No

3.75

I really liked the book, it was exciting and fun. I grew fond of the cast of characters and the ending was disheartening, seeing

all the culture of the Hin disappear before their very eyes and the shi'fu' last stand

left me looking forward for the next book. I realized the story mirrors the Century of Humiliation in China, mixed with some of the current struggle of Chinese ethnic clans, like the Uyghur. Even though, Zen's clan reminds me of Manchuria. This tinge of realism really caught me in the story. However, I think

the "betrayal" of Zen was very mild, and I don't get why Lan is so angry at him, like, ok he lied. But she also wished to get t othe Demon Gods before the Elantians, an do what ??? talk with them so they dispersed into the qí. I get it was for th plot so they separate, but it could have been done better

I also liked how the author handled the themes of colonialism, war, abuse, very tactful and saying enough to get their point across. An overall good book!

3.75/5⭐

Content Warnings

mystic_storyweaver32's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Started off at a medium pace but then was a little too fast toward the ending that some moments that were meant to be emotional were anticlimactic and felt rushed especially the final battle and what happens after. I would have like to see different reactions and emotions from the other characters other than Lan and Zen.

Content Warnings

malisac16's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

allisonsmith120's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark slow-paced

4.5

Content Warnings

hellodebbies's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

PERFECTION

This was an incredible read, I enjoyed it so much. The characters were great and had backstory that was revelent to the plot. The whole demon god thing was well explained and developed. I was afraid that it will be hard to understand (especially with the whole clan history) but once you're in, it's very easy to understand. The chronology chapter is very important so do not skip it otherwise you'll have a hard time to understand.
The romance was so great (zen and lan have my heart), I enjoyed the friendship created between the characters but also the father/son relationship between the grandmaster and zen and it evolved.
A lot of people said that it was slow paced but I don't think, it kept on edge to not sleep for two nights. It's not fast paced but definitely not slow paced.

Content Warnings

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous 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? Yes

3.5

I got super into it in the beginning, got slightly bored midway, then it picked up the rest of the way. But generally, it is a magical story based on Chinese folklore, and the main couple is worth getting invested in. Despite my slightly low rating, I will be giving the sequel a chance.

Content Warnings

crochetcatking's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The first half of the book is pretty slow. Everything and yet nothing seems to happen. Amelie does a great job setting up the world in this time. The second half of the book is amazing. The last 8 chapters or so make the whole thing worth reading. It gets so exciting right at the end that you easily forgive how fast some of the other plot came and went. Can't wait to read the 2nd book!

Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

Go to review page

Initially I was intrigued by the beginning of the book, it was relatively fast-paced and the world was interesting. However by 25% in the pacing really slowed down and got very info dumpy. It really lost me in distinguishing itself from other Chinese mythology based books I've read, which is a shame because I think there was a lot of potential for this to be something unique.

Really it was reading so much like a YA version of The Poppy War that it was a bit jarring to me the amount of similarities. That's fine if you're looking for a YA TPW, but personally I am not.

Content Warnings

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews about this book which had me feeling even more excited to read this one. Sadly, I couldn’t say the same about this book.

The plot idea is really good, the first time I read the blurb I was intrigued and it caught my interest for the first few chapters.

But somewhere in the middle, the pacing took a slow turn and I started to lose interest in following this story.

I finally got interested again in the last 30%, where the puzzle pieces start to come together and the secrets are revealed.

I had difficulties with understanding the magic system and the world building.

I appreciate the history of the world at the beginning of the story but somehow it doesn’t make it easier for me to follow the plot. At times, I would get confused and also feel bored with the repeated information provided throughout the story.

As for the characters, it’s hard for me to connect with them and I can’t even feel the spark of romance between the main characters. When they’re trying to speak out their feelings, they’ll got cut off with something else happening.

Overall, this book has a lot of amazing elements but the slow pacing and the info dumping makes it really hard for me to fully enjoy it.

I was really closed to stop reading it altogether but the last few chapters and the epilogue change my mind. I’m curious to see what’s gonna happen in the next book.

While this one didn't really work for me, you can still give this one a try if you love reading about detailed world building and a fantasy story without much romance.

Content Warnings

More...