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amre23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Bullying, Gore, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, War, Violence, Grief, Sexism, and Classism
Minor: Terminal illness, Alcohol, and Body horror
ariel790's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book is about a girl named Tea. Tea experiences loss and then has a re-birth that is comparable of Daenerys Targaryen's of Game of Thrones. Done by trial by fire with everyone questioning her motives. Tea is similar to the beauty and cleverness Daenerys has, but I think is so much stronger. I thoroughly enjoyed this tail of her beginnings, with a glimpse of the terror she may wrought in the future.
Rin Chupeco kept an easy pace with enough detail to imagine Tea's world with ease. Although, not a unique technique, I did enjoy Tea's humble beginning told as if in the past while jumping back to the present at the end of each chapter. This gave a sense of mystery to be solved in how Tea ended up exiled. While this wasn't revealed, enough to keep Tea interesting is. Looking forward to book 2.
Rin Chupeco kept an easy pace with enough detail to imagine Tea's world with ease. Although, not a unique technique, I did enjoy Tea's humble beginning told as if in the past while jumping back to the present at the end of each chapter. This gave a sense of mystery to be solved in how Tea ended up exiled. While this wasn't revealed, enough to keep Tea interesting is. Looking forward to book 2.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: War and Bullying
Minor: Animal death, Terminal illness, and Violence
sarah984's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is a fantasy novel about a girl with dark magical abilities being inducted into (and then cast out of) order of geisha-like entertainers and magic users. Parts of the story are set in the present and the other parts are Tea describing her history to a disgraced bard.
The story is slow but rich and detailed, and I thought the world was fascinating, especially the stuff about heartsglass. The main character Tea isn't necessarily likable but she is sympathetic and interesting. However most of the other characters are pretty flat - including, unfortunately, the love interest, which makes some parts of the plot feel a little silly - and some of them are pretty broad ethnic stereotypes (the "Russian" guy is mostly just kind of goofy but the way the characters implied to be Muslim are handled is genuinely offensive in places).
The story is slow but rich and detailed, and I thought the world was fascinating, especially the stuff about heartsglass. The main character Tea isn't necessarily likable but she is sympathetic and interesting. However most of the other characters are pretty flat - including, unfortunately, the love interest, which makes some parts of the plot feel a little silly - and some of them are pretty broad ethnic stereotypes (the "Russian" guy is mostly just kind of goofy but the way the characters implied to be Muslim are handled is genuinely offensive in places).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Islamophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Violence
cheye13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This was a lovely story, but I'd call it more of a prequel than a first book. The writing and the immersion in the world is beautiful. This fantasy narrative had the worldbuilding carry most of the story, but it works well. The concept of the world and its magic and political systems are all so interesting.
I do think this story is a little misrepresented; I picked this up because of the necromancy/undead tagline, yet that's almost an inconsequential detail of the story – it doesn't matter so much that bone witches raise the dead, but that they carry vast global responsibility when there are so few of them.
The beginning is very slow, and I liked the vignettes of the future to vary pace and keep me reading, but ultimately it left me wondering which was the real story – is the second book going to pick up with the bone witch, the bard, and the familiars, or are we going back to Tea's asha training and filling in the gaps? Or are we sticking with the dual timeline/frame narrative? Overall it felt like a really long first chapter or Prologue– nothing much happened story-wise, and while it was still interesting to read, it leaves the rest of the story up in the air.
I do think this story is a little misrepresented; I picked this up because of the necromancy/undead tagline, yet that's almost an inconsequential detail of the story – it doesn't matter so much that bone witches raise the dead, but that they carry vast global responsibility when there are so few of them.
The beginning is very slow, and I liked the vignettes of the future to vary pace and keep me reading, but ultimately it left me wondering which was the real story – is the second book going to pick up with the bone witch, the bard, and the familiars, or are we going back to Tea's asha training and filling in the gaps? Or are we sticking with the dual timeline/frame narrative? Overall it felt like a really long first chapter or Prologue– nothing much happened story-wise, and while it was still interesting to read, it leaves the rest of the story up in the air.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Violence
Minor: Terminal illness
In fantasy-genre fashion, there are discussions of war, war injuries & casualties, and implied child soldiers.
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