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A review by charvi_not_just_fiction
Strike the Zither by Joan He
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
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 blame Joan for writing mindblowing books that always leave me out of commission for a couple of days... review coming at some point
* * *
"Honor is defending what you can't bear to lose. It's fighting for a family that can't help you."
Strike the Zither is a fascinating retelling of The Three Kingdoms that delves deep into politics, relationships and war. You don't need to read the original, (I certainly didn't and don't intend to) you'll still get a wonderful experience.
I absolutely adore Zephyr! She is such a different protagonist. Arrogant, confident, proud and sure of her abilities to manipulate others and the circumstances to get what she wants, which in this case is seeing Ren's victory. You'd think I'd get annoyed by her after some point but I was just in awe of her. When I say I was ready to worship her, I truly mean it.
Zephyr is dedicated to her lordess Ren who she sees as a sister and friend and will go to any lengths for her, even when Ren might not agree. It was so interesting to see the dynamics between Ren, Zephyr, Cloud and Lotus. I think Lotus was one of my favourites, her loud, boisterous and straightforward warrior personality is infectious and hard not to like. While Cloud might be less friendly, over the course of the story we see that she truly has her swornsisters' interests at heart and you can't help but like her for that. And then there's Ren, who wants to lead the others with compassion, honour and love. Literally, she's such a nice character sometimes I'm yelling at her to get the tiniest bit more ruthless because how else is one supposed to reach their goals in this cruel world?
Nobody does strategies and politics better than Joan He. As Ren's strategist, Zephyr plots to help her get a hold of the Southerlands and invade Miasma by staging a betrayal and pretending to join Miasma's side. Which is where she meets Crow, the only strategist who can really rival her. It was fascinating to see the mind games being played between the two and generally by Zephyr as she ruthlessly cuts everything and everyone who stands in her way, plotting and double-crossing throughout the narrative when needed.
I'm holding back so much because like any typical book by Joan He, this one is filled with plot twists that will make you gasp and chuck the book to the other corner of the room. All I'll say is you simply won't be able to stop reading from Act 2 onwards.
The writing is beautiful and lyrical, I love the poetry bridging the gaps between the acts and the descriptions of the zither and its music. Also, I totally see the hype behind Crow. He's such a gentleman and you can clearly tell he's gone for Zephyr which is why the slow-burn can really be excruciating sometimes.
So I don't know if this review was helpful in any way to make you decide to pick this book up but all I can say is this won't leave you disappointed.
I love this book with all my heart and now that I finally have my review up I'm gonna go read the sequel :D
* * *
"Honor is defending what you can't bear to lose. It's fighting for a family that can't help you."
Strike the Zither is a fascinating retelling of The Three Kingdoms that delves deep into politics, relationships and war. You don't need to read the original, (I certainly didn't and don't intend to) you'll still get a wonderful experience.
I absolutely adore Zephyr! She is such a different protagonist. Arrogant, confident, proud and sure of her abilities to manipulate others and the circumstances to get what she wants, which in this case is seeing Ren's victory. You'd think I'd get annoyed by her after some point but I was just in awe of her. When I say I was ready to worship her, I truly mean it.
Zephyr is dedicated to her lordess Ren who she sees as a sister and friend and will go to any lengths for her, even when Ren might not agree. It was so interesting to see the dynamics between Ren, Zephyr, Cloud and Lotus. I think Lotus was one of my favourites, her loud, boisterous and straightforward warrior personality is infectious and hard not to like. While Cloud might be less friendly, over the course of the story we see that she truly has her swornsisters' interests at heart and you can't help but like her for that. And then there's Ren, who wants to lead the others with compassion, honour and love. Literally, she's such a nice character sometimes I'm yelling at her to get the tiniest bit more ruthless because how else is one supposed to reach their goals in this cruel world?
Nobody does strategies and politics better than Joan He. As Ren's strategist, Zephyr plots to help her get a hold of the Southerlands and invade Miasma by staging a betrayal and pretending to join Miasma's side. Which is where she meets Crow, the only strategist who can really rival her. It was fascinating to see the mind games being played between the two and generally by Zephyr as she ruthlessly cuts everything and everyone who stands in her way, plotting and double-crossing throughout the narrative when needed.
I'm holding back so much because like any typical book by Joan He, this one is filled with plot twists that will make you gasp and chuck the book to the other corner of the room. All I'll say is you simply won't be able to stop reading from Act 2 onwards.
The writing is beautiful and lyrical, I love the poetry bridging the gaps between the acts and the descriptions of the zither and its music. Also, I totally see the hype behind Crow. He's such a gentleman and you can clearly tell he's gone for Zephyr which is why the slow-burn can really be excruciating sometimes.
So I don't know if this review was helpful in any way to make you decide to pick this book up but all I can say is this won't leave you disappointed.
I love this book with all my heart and now that I finally have my review up I'm gonna go read the sequel :D