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narcissia's review
5.0
what the fucking fuck
I just can't even process some of this shit right now.
It's all crazy madness. Some of it is cool madness. And some of it is I-don't-know-how-to-take-this madness. There are surprises. Good ones. Bad ones. No punches held. The stuff that goes down in Kinslayer has me simultaneously needing the next book and wanting to take this whole year or whatever between books to try to figure out what the hell I think about the stuff I just read.
Some of these characters, man. Michi is beyond amazing and the culmination of her story arc in this installment is just so hardcore freaking badass that I don't know if I can handle it. We get a new character, Hana, who is just so likable and also with the surprises. All these little fuckers wanted to surprise me. KIN. His story had the most WTFery. I don't think the reader gets the whole story with him in this book. At least, we better not have. Because reasons. I am having the most difficulty processing his Stuff than anyone else's. Yukiko and Buruu are awesome but I don't know if I got enough Buruu snark in this one since he and Yukiko share the spotlight with more of the other characters and Yukiko is having some issues with the Kenning. But Yukiko's situation in this probably rivals Kin's for making me concernicus. I admit to some tad irritation on my part by Yukiko's story in this one. It's due to a peeve of mine. It's a maybe weird peeve, so don't go getting all worried about it. It's not a vampire or a love triangle or a penchant for assholes who want to kill/eat her. I just can't talk about it specifically because spoilers. It's probably a good thing Michi and Hana are so WTF badass and Kin is so WTF (and maybe kinda a little bit badass?). But I'm hoping for things. Stuff. To be resolved in a way that makes me cheer for it even if it isn't necessarily happy. We do get some hints of Buruu past, though, and that is pretty awesome. Because Buruu.
But you may not want to read this if you don't want to read about people betraying the fuck out of people, or about bloody guts and burning guts and loose guts and more guts and lady balls and murder and betraying (yeah, more of it) and explosions and murder and attempted murder and blood and torture and black vomit and betrayal (YES, MORE OF IT). There are no cuddly bunnies. If there were, their intestines would probably be hanging out at some point. Proceed if you like gore, but be careful because one of these fuckers will probably betray you.
4 point fucking 5
I don't usually curse this much in my reviews, but shit.
I just can't even process some of this shit right now.
It's all crazy madness. Some of it is cool madness. And some of it is I-don't-know-how-to-take-this madness. There are surprises. Good ones. Bad ones. No punches held. The stuff that goes down in Kinslayer has me simultaneously needing the next book and wanting to take this whole year or whatever between books to try to figure out what the hell I think about the stuff I just read.
Some of these characters, man. Michi is beyond amazing and the culmination of her story arc in this installment is just so hardcore freaking badass that I don't know if I can handle it. We get a new character, Hana, who is just so likable and also with the surprises. All these little fuckers wanted to surprise me. KIN. His story had the most WTFery. I don't think the reader gets the whole story with him in this book. At least, we better not have. Because reasons. I am having the most difficulty processing his Stuff than anyone else's. Yukiko and Buruu are awesome but I don't know if I got enough Buruu snark in this one since he and Yukiko share the spotlight with more of the other characters and Yukiko is having some issues with the Kenning. But Yukiko's situation in this probably rivals Kin's for making me concernicus. I admit to some tad irritation on my part by Yukiko's story in this one. It's due to a peeve of mine. It's a maybe weird peeve, so don't go getting all worried about it. It's not a vampire or a love triangle or a penchant for assholes who want to kill/eat her. I just can't talk about it specifically because spoilers. It's probably a good thing Michi and Hana are so WTF badass and Kin is so WTF (and maybe kinda a little bit badass?). But I'm hoping for things. Stuff. To be resolved in a way that makes me cheer for it even if it isn't necessarily happy. We do get some hints of Buruu past, though, and that is pretty awesome. Because Buruu.
But you may not want to read this if you don't want to read about people betraying the fuck out of people, or about bloody guts and burning guts and loose guts and more guts and lady balls and murder and betraying (yeah, more of it) and explosions and murder and attempted murder and blood and torture and black vomit and betrayal (YES, MORE OF IT). There are no cuddly bunnies. If there were, their intestines would probably be hanging out at some point. Proceed if you like gore, but be careful because one of these fuckers will probably betray you.
4 point fucking 5
I don't usually curse this much in my reviews, but shit.
kgoode33's review
I am not connecting to this book at all. I may pick it up another day but right now there are better things to read.
joanna1905's review against another edition
4.0
A fantastic sequel to the first book! I've definitely ended up enjoying this series far more than I anticipated!
There were some very well-executed plot twists that really surprised me and kept me intrigued throughout the book!
Given how this book concluded I'm definitely interested to see how this story will wrap up in the final book!
There were some very well-executed plot twists that really surprised me and kept me intrigued throughout the book!
Given how this book concluded I'm definitely interested to see how this story will wrap up in the final book!
filipnietyksza's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
3.25
crimsoncor's review
3.0
It gets good at the end, but most of this book is a real slog. It isn't helped by the author's insistence on using 25 words where 5 might suffice. Sure, it is "atmospheric". or just wordy.
loulou009's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
willowwraithpress's review
3.0
Kinslayer by Jay Kristoff, The Lotus War Book Two
Brief Summary:
Picking up from the epic showdown with the Shogun, Yukiko, along with her mind-melded thunder tiger buddy Buruu, is now seen as the poster child for open rebellion within the Shima Imperium. But Yukiko is still fuming about the death of some loved ones and her power of being able to enter the minds of animals is growing so bad that she falls to liquor to numb the onslaught. Told that there might be some ancient knowledge far to the north, she sets off to learn to control this power. Meanwhile, the rebellion is planning to infiltrate the heart of the empire as some characters thought killed in the first book have resurfaced, and a new link to the throne arises. But Yukiko's actions have spurred other would-be insurgents into action. More twists and turns abound between warring factions and the ever-present Lotus Guild.
What works & What doesn't work:
Normally I separate these two sections, but it was an odd thing while reading this book, many things that I really really liked, I also disliked for some reason or another, of which I'll explain below.
Kinslayer becomes an ensemble book. I love ensemble books! Give me GoT, WoT, or any other epic fantasies where there are multiple Points of View characters and different arcs all going on at the same time. I love that this book became an ensemble cast, I really did, however, starting Book One as a limited POV cast and expanding greatly here has really diminished Yukiko as a character in my eyes. Stormdancer was in essence, all about Yukiko and Buruu's connection. Yes, her father was a major POV, yes, Kin and Michi were POVs, but they were minor POVs. IT was ALL about Yukiko's arc. And in this story, she is nearly pushed aside to grow the rest of the cast.
Yukiko's storyline was great, she was angry, she was depressed, she had other things that I won't spoil happening to her, but Godsdamn, her scenes were very short. I mean, her going north was a really damn good arc, but it was sporadic and limped to the finish. And then, she didn't show up for 100 pages until the very end of the story!!!! Not exactly my favorite way for the main character...
I will say, making Kin and his arc a much bigger thread was a genus idea by Mr. Kristoff. I loved Kin's character in the first book and he grew so dramatically in this book. The things he does and the actions he ultimately took were just epic and I didn't see coming. I really loved it! I especially liked how he dealt with the inward hatred of him being a Guildsman amongst rebels. There was this real feeling of distrust, a fox in the chicken coop kind of feeling. It really made for some interesting character dynamics.
But to the detriment of the story, two siblings were introduced and given soooooooo much screen time. I liked the final outcome of their arc, but Izanagi's balls I didn't care for the vast majority of what they did. I liked Hana to an extent, but I could have completely done without Yoshi's character POVs and thread. Hana had a purpose to the story, she rose to the forefront of the rebellion infiltrating the Imperium. But Yoshi's story with the yakuza didn't add anything to the overall plot other than to set up some gruesome scenes toward the end.
And then there was Michi. Man she really is a cool femme fatale character, but her temptation of love was not my favorite. Again, her climax to her story was really damn sweet and a bit unexpected, but the drive there was meh. At least there was some great emotional moments at the end for her.
The less said about Hiro, the better...
I really did like the introduction of the "round-eye" gaijin in Yukiko's arc. It was interesting to see another people out there that was only alluded to. And, again, this part of the story was really fun and full of twists and turns for Yukiko and Buruu, very character defining. I mean, we got more thunder tigers!!!
The climax was amazing. It was such a slow build to the attack on the heart city of the Imperium, and when we finally got to witness it, it was a thing to behold. While I love epic battle scenes in books, I like the more intimate (or back-stabb-y???) moments against the battle backdrop. For example, Michi's conclusion takes place during this epic invasion, but her scenes are concise and have huuuuuuuuge emotional impact to her character as a whole. To me, that is perfection on paper when an author can hit an emotional response to all the destruction going on around these characters.
But I temper the entire thing because of the introduction of so many one-off POVs that it sometimes felt erratic (I mean war is erratic, but this was a bit much).
On the whole, I really like the set-up and execution of the story, but things got muddied for me in the process.
Rating:
3 out of 5
Brief Summary:
Picking up from the epic showdown with the Shogun, Yukiko, along with her mind-melded thunder tiger buddy Buruu, is now seen as the poster child for open rebellion within the Shima Imperium. But Yukiko is still fuming about the death of some loved ones and her power of being able to enter the minds of animals is growing so bad that she falls to liquor to numb the onslaught. Told that there might be some ancient knowledge far to the north, she sets off to learn to control this power. Meanwhile, the rebellion is planning to infiltrate the heart of the empire as some characters thought killed in the first book have resurfaced, and a new link to the throne arises. But Yukiko's actions have spurred other would-be insurgents into action. More twists and turns abound between warring factions and the ever-present Lotus Guild.
What works & What doesn't work:
Normally I separate these two sections, but it was an odd thing while reading this book, many things that I really really liked, I also disliked for some reason or another, of which I'll explain below.
Kinslayer becomes an ensemble book. I love ensemble books! Give me GoT, WoT, or any other epic fantasies where there are multiple Points of View characters and different arcs all going on at the same time. I love that this book became an ensemble cast, I really did, however, starting Book One as a limited POV cast and expanding greatly here has really diminished Yukiko as a character in my eyes. Stormdancer was in essence, all about Yukiko and Buruu's connection. Yes, her father was a major POV, yes, Kin and Michi were POVs, but they were minor POVs. IT was ALL about Yukiko's arc. And in this story, she is nearly pushed aside to grow the rest of the cast.
Yukiko's storyline was great, she was angry, she was depressed, she had other things that I won't spoil happening to her, but Godsdamn, her scenes were very short. I mean, her going north was a really damn good arc, but it was sporadic and limped to the finish. And then, she didn't show up for 100 pages until the very end of the story!!!! Not exactly my favorite way for the main character...
I will say, making Kin and his arc a much bigger thread was a genus idea by Mr. Kristoff. I loved Kin's character in the first book and he grew so dramatically in this book. The things he does and the actions he ultimately took were just epic and I didn't see coming. I really loved it! I especially liked how he dealt with the inward hatred of him being a Guildsman amongst rebels. There was this real feeling of distrust, a fox in the chicken coop kind of feeling. It really made for some interesting character dynamics.
But to the detriment of the story, two siblings were introduced and given soooooooo much screen time. I liked the final outcome of their arc, but Izanagi's balls I didn't care for the vast majority of what they did. I liked Hana to an extent, but I could have completely done without Yoshi's character POVs and thread. Hana had a purpose to the story, she rose to the forefront of the rebellion infiltrating the Imperium. But Yoshi's story with the yakuza didn't add anything to the overall plot other than to set up some gruesome scenes toward the end.
And then there was Michi. Man she really is a cool femme fatale character, but her temptation of love was not my favorite. Again, her climax to her story was really damn sweet and a bit unexpected, but the drive there was meh. At least there was some great emotional moments at the end for her.
The less said about Hiro, the better...
I really did like the introduction of the "round-eye" gaijin in Yukiko's arc. It was interesting to see another people out there that was only alluded to. And, again, this part of the story was really fun and full of twists and turns for Yukiko and Buruu, very character defining. I mean, we got more thunder tigers!!!
The climax was amazing. It was such a slow build to the attack on the heart city of the Imperium, and when we finally got to witness it, it was a thing to behold. While I love epic battle scenes in books, I like the more intimate (or back-stabb-y???) moments against the battle backdrop. For example, Michi's conclusion takes place during this epic invasion, but her scenes are concise and have huuuuuuuuge emotional impact to her character as a whole. To me, that is perfection on paper when an author can hit an emotional response to all the destruction going on around these characters.
But I temper the entire thing because of the introduction of so many one-off POVs that it sometimes felt erratic (I mean war is erratic, but this was a bit much).
On the whole, I really like the set-up and execution of the story, but things got muddied for me in the process.
Rating:
3 out of 5
dromwald's review against another edition
4.0
The plot to this series could hardly be defined as light-hearted but if anything this second book in the series was even more grim than the first. However, the grim story and backdrop is delivered expertly and never felt gratuitous to me. The author has continued to develop the key characters and there are few that could be described as black and white. Most have depth and I found myself wanting to know more about them throughout.
The Japanese inspired steam-punk world has really grown on me and I'm intrigued to find out how the story will evolve in the final book in the series.
The Japanese inspired steam-punk world has really grown on me and I'm intrigued to find out how the story will evolve in the final book in the series.