rebeccazh's reviews
2320 reviews

Mar 2021: reread in preparation of [b:The Theft of Sunlight|17317376|The Theft of Sunlight (Dauntless Path, #2)|Intisar Khanani|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1592799670l/17317376._SY75_.jpg|23985987]. i really liked this unique retelling of the goose girl fairytale and the themes of silence, strength and courage, and the dangers of being a woman in a patriarchal/misogynistic world. i'm always so sad when falada dies in these retellings

EDIT 8/12/20: Okay, I am rewriting my entire review for this book because priest updated a whole new version of this during May 2020 which I binged in the past few days, and this version is SO much better.

Plot:
This novel starts with a prologue about Sheng Lingyuan's decision to jump into Chi Yuan (Fiery Lake?) 3000 years ago to die. In the modern time, Xuan Ji (protagonist #1) starts his new job at a secret governmental organization that deals with fantastical/magical issues. Right as he starts his job, there's a crisis - someone used blood sacrifice to awaken the demon who was sealed away in Chi Yuan. The awakened demon is Sheng Lingyuan, the other main character. Xuan Ji and he try to test each other, each with their own agenda. For the rest of the book, sinister, blood magic/blood sacrifice stuff happens as it's slowly revealed why Lingyuan was awakened, what actually happened 3000 years ago, and the past of both of the main characters.

Sheng Lingyuan is the infamous Emperor 3000 years ago who brought hard-won peace to the human race, but he was ruthless and crazed by all modern accounts (all this is made up). 3000 years ago, the world wasn't just full of humans, but other races too, like demons, etc. Many of the races were at war with each other and the human race was losing quite badly and it looked like they would be wiped out. Sheng Lingyuan was then born. When he ascended the throne, he became the Emperor who killed the demon king, stopped the war, brought peace and prosperity. He then sealed Chi Yuan, which is the source of all magic, causing the other races to die out, and the never-ending wars and power struggles between the different races to stop.

New additions in this revised version:
I personally feel that this revised version is SO much better.

- a lot of loose plot threads tied up
- many scenes were shifted around, some appearing earlier, some having been axed, some pushed back
- Lingyuan and Xuan Ji's relationship was heavily edited
- side characters had more scenes, more fleshed out stories
- more fleshed out flashbacks to 3000 years ago, new plot scenes inserted (e.g. the mermaid palace that existed in between time - super cool)

My thoughts:
- this revised version has way less 'tell' and much more 'show'. Previously, I found all the scenes set in the past really boring. It was lots of telling - this, this and this happened to Lingyuan... this and that happened to Xuan Ji... Don't get me wrong, it was all heartbreaking stuff, but the two characters' reactions aren't really captured, and priest hadn't done enough set-up to make me invested/care about the flashbacks

- relationship development, pace, dynamic and characterization. In the original, Lingyuan was woobified. Xuan Ji was awesome as a person, but he almost seemed like a side character because Lingyuan far outclassed him in terms of power, intelligence, ability to make things happen. A lot of their previous scenes were also really melodramatic. A lot of things about the two characters that didn't really make sense in the original have now been adjusted to flow better.

E.g., in the original, the narration would often say that Lingyuan was a monster, ruthless and cold, but I didn't really think so? He was ruthless at times, but it was always kinda understandable, I never really felt uncomfortable. Meanwhile, in this revised version, he did a lot of things that showed how ruthless and heartless he can be. So that epithet about Lingyuan being crazed and extreme made much more sense.

I actually really love how Lingyuan is in effect, an anti-hero, and priest wrote such a compelling and well-written story of how he went from a kind, soft, idealistic young prince into a ruthless, merciless and almost crazed Emperor. As usual, I love her insight into her characters' psyche; she portrays them in such careful detail.

- theme commenting on the imperial China's Fengjian way of life vs. modern Chinese society's much more egalitarian way of life. I complained in my old review that I felt like the original didn't really have a tight 'theme' or message; the book almost seemed aimless, which I felt was uncharacteristic of priest, but this new book seemed much tighter, like priest knew what she wanted to talk about. Also, I feel like she might have a smaller message about time, but it didn't go anywhere

What the 2.0 version lost:
- I saw on Weibo that most ppl, like me, seemed to like this better because the plot was much more complex, sprawling, and had more consistent logic. 2.0 is a dark, time-travelling, humorous and fantastical mystery/political intrigue type of novel.

- The relationship suffered a bit though. It's way angstier, like OMG, I felt like dying the entire time while reading about Lingyuan and Xuan Ji. They also had a lot of misunderstandings and way less scenes devoted to their relationship, I feel. The word-count used up for the revised plot seemed to have been straight-up taken from the ship. Really a pity because this is one of her most compelling pairings.

Priest said in her author's note at the end that she still disliked parts of this revised edition and she wanted to overhaul the entire book, but decided to strike a balance between keeping parts of the original, and revising it. There are still parts that I feel are abrupt, or don't make total sense, but oh well. The previous version left me feeling kinda disappointed after reading it, but this version is really much more satisfying. Now I feel like rereading Mo Du...

TLDR: read the May 2020 version if you want the book to make more sense, want a more complex and coherent plot. Read the 2019 version if you want more ship scenes

Don't really know what to make of this, but damn, that was a pretty strange book. This is a xuanhuan type of novel, similar to the Netflix dramas, Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms and Ashes of Love. This is good if you like xuanhuan. I pretty much skimmed this from start to the end coz I'm not a fan.

The pacing was uneven. It was quite draggy in the first two-thirds, and then there were suddenly lots of revelations and plot-twists in the last third. I really liked the idea of the copper bell leading the two main leads through the eight Buddhist sufferings though.

I also had some issues with the main couple. The pattern of dubcon and possessive behavior was pushing against my comfort zone.

The author is great at building mystery though (although it takes really long to get to the pay-off). I mainly skimmed-read the book just to see if my guesses about the plot were correct.

As with 2ha, I wanted to like this but like 2ha, I had similar issues with it. I really liked the first half, but the second half left me frustrated.

So this novel is pretty similar to 2ha structurally: angst and relationship development in the first half, plot and mystery-unraveling in the second. I really liked the personalities of the two main leads, and the angst was really good. Mo Xi's years of devotion and loyalty, constantly putting his heart out there despite being betrayed and hurt was just so sad. And there's just something so personal and sweet about finding a home in one another. The fluff and lighthearted parts were also so cute! I loved wolfboy!Gu Mang's escapades in Mo Xi's house

That ending broke my heart

3.5 stars. if only the first half of this book had been written like the second half!

other reviews have also mentioned the issues with this book: the first half is VERY slow and pretty much nothing happens for the entire first 50%. the second half is a bunch of plot twists and action that goes by in a blur.

i really appreciate that this horror is based off themes of postcolonialism, eugenics, race and patriarchy. the author's kindle notes for this book are really fascinating, bumping the overall rating to a 4 for that

after reading both this and [b:Gods of Jade and Shadow|36510722|Gods of Jade and Shadow|Silvia Moreno-Garcia|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1543268579l/36510722._SY75_.jpg|58230232], i've noticed some things about this author's style: the style is heavily descriptive, which works sometimes (atmospheric and beautiful) and sometimes doesn't (nothing much happens). it also makes the characters quite 'muted'.

still will try her other books - i love how creative these books are and it's refreshing that they're set in mexico and the protagonists are latinx

a 3.5 star read from me. this book is loosely inspired by Pride & Prejudice, although it doesn't follow P&P strictly. it's a very fun take on the idea of two flawed, prideful and prejudiced individuals falling in love with each other and the two main characters are Muslims in Canada's local South Asian community. i did have some issues with the book though, as pointed out in Lady H's review.

i loved reading about the lives of the community that Ayesha and Khalid are in, and i like that the author wrote two very flawed characters but made them sympathetic. however, i did feel that the book was a bit too long, and the bulk of the story hinges on a miscommunication that could have been very easily avoided if two characters spoke to each other. and also, although Ayesha was a main character, the book seemed to prioritize Khalid more than Ayesha, so i feel like the title doesn't quite tie it in there.

An unlimited flow webnovel, which basically means that the story revolves around characters being in a space away from reality, solving puzzles, or advancing in games (similar to The Earth is Online). I was in the mood for this type of story after binging Squid Game some time back and feeling nostalgic for The Earth is Online but not wanting to reread if.

This is a fairly short novel, with two main characters. The protagonist is Ji Yushi, who is very intellectual, introverted and solitary. He is driven to solve a mystery in his past that was a huge influence on his personality, his beliefs and way of life. The second character is Song Qinglan, who is confident, assertive and commanding.

The book is split into a number of arcs, all of which revolve around time travel. Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi get to know each other and their relationship develops as they solve the time-related mysteries in each arc.

Sooo... This is a 3.5 star. It started out really strong. I love stories with mysteries and puzzles, and the novel's exploration of time travel and time itself is incredibly fun. Time is not linear, but past, present, and future exist at the same time; the past causes what we see of the present now, but the future caused/causes what happened in the past. Time is circular. It reminded me very much of the really amazing Netflix show, Dark, except without the incest lol. Incredibly fun to see how the entire timeline unfold, how various events in the past/present/future weave back and forth to influence each other.

However, the relationship between the two had very low emotional stakes. It was fun at first when they were getting to know each other, but the second half really felt lackluster to me. I suspect that it is because the writing style, which I found a bit plain and amateurish at times. Also, the way the two characters are written feels a little bit like wish fulfillment. Ji Yushi is a mix of woobiefied and Gary Stu lol.

And also, the ending was kind of disappointing? After dropping the bomb about how what happened with his father was planned waaay back in the even further back past, and also caused by events in the future, the novel then wraps this up in about 10 chapters. There's no further significance or development, and this plot line that drives Ji Yushi throughout the entire novel just gets put away like that. You never find out more about the Tianqiong system that kidnapped them, what happened/is happening/will happen with his father. I felt really dissatisfied when I finished it.

I paused my binge reading of Chinese web novels to read this extremely harrowing tale of abuse and coercion. I wish the blurb and title had focused less on the 'survivalist' family and higher learning education, and more on familial abuse, power and coercion.

This is a tale that is heartbreakingly familiar - a very isolated family, father as patriarch controlling the entire family, wife and children as victims, perpetrators or co-conspirators of abuse in turns, and the unequal power dynamics and lack of escape in such families.

The things that Tara, the mother and the other children go through are absolutely harrowing and heartbreaking to read. I appreciated the nuanced portrayals of her family - she tries to portray both her parents as people instead of abusers - and I feel like she really managed to capture their complexity. I do wish we could have understood more of her father's history because it is still a mystery to me why he fixated on the government as the enemy, of all things.

I think she did a fantastic job describing the effects of the abuse on her - the desire to please her parents despite how they abuse her, the constant self-doubt, the distrust of others, the inability to accept help from others or from authorities... Heartbreaking how she kept going back to them, wanting their approval. There was also a lot to be said about the effects of Mormonism shaping the father's beliefs (glorifying suffering, gender roles), and the misogyny that enables or worsens the abuse towards her.

Shawn really disturbed me, especially knowing that he has two kids?! And a wife dependent on him. And the fact that half of the adult children depend on the parents financially.

Criticisms of the book often question the way details do not line up, but the many footnotes that show how differently each family member remembers the events seem to speak to the effect of gaslighting and abuse. And also trauma and the fact that the author was a child mean that memories are likely going to be very distorted. I also find it very ironic that a victim of gaslighting is being questioned for her memories.

But anyway, the strength of this book lies in the unflinching portrayal of abuse in the family. I was so RELIEVED when the author finally got into therapy.

This was so good! I really enjoyed it. I read the first half with a lot of long breaks in between so I don't remember much of what I thought of that part, but the second half is spectacular. It's a really fun fantasy and mystery. I really hope the author will write another installment in this world because it is fascinating. Eg, I'm so curious why al-Jahiz disappeared.