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superborbOriginally this was meant to just go into a monthly round up, but it was a bit too long ^^;
Anyway, this book was ULTRA hyped, as a queer Chinese-inspired historical fantasy! The premise: the second daughter of the Zhu family goes from less than nothing--a child during a multi-year famine with a fate of nothingness--to found the Ming Dynasty.
Unfortunately, I didn't like it overall.
Let me start with what I did love: General Ouyang, the eunuch general of the Mongol forces, in service to the empire and Prince who executed his family to the ninth degree, who still feels desperate admiration and love for Esen, the shining perfect Mongol warrior son of said Prince. Good tormented feelings, A+, STELLAR ending scenes, will be looking up fic of him stat.
But despite moments of shining glory like that, and some other good interactions and scenes, the majority of the book was just-- lackluster. My main impression was that the world (and maybe half of the characterizations?) felt pasted on. Characters would have an interesting thought, but then it wouldn't feel integral to their worldview. The world never felt lived in or had depth.
Part of this came in the form of moments where I had to stop and forcibly reconcile with the rest of the world. For example, "it was like seeing that the road ahead had collapsed down the side of the mountain, but not being able to stop" -- from a peasant who has never known anything but famine and seen the army only at a distance? What could she possibly have been on that could have that inevitability? When the love interest gets described with phoenix eyes at one point and willow leaf eyes in another; these are distinct and different eye shapes? The methane as having scent -- perhaps there are other gases being released in that area, but the description of it uses a coal mine, where it is famously odorless. I could go on, just lots of small details that required a "did I misread" stopping.
The other half of the uncomfortableness was how much of the early narrative made me feel like I was being told something that didn't need saying. It was very in your face, let me describe everything so you don't misunderstand level description. This handholding and lack of mystery is generally something that doesn't appeal to me, though perhaps appeals to others.
HOWEVER, saying all this, I do think a lot of these issues may be debut novel problems? There was the skeleton of interesting characters for sure, and confidence in not telling too much comes with experience. Also, if you're interested in queer Chinese-inspired historical fantasy, your choices are somewhat thin on the ground (in English anyway).
Anyway, this book was ULTRA hyped, as a queer Chinese-inspired historical fantasy! The premise: the second daughter of the Zhu family goes from less than nothing--a child during a multi-year famine with a fate of nothingness--to found the Ming Dynasty.
Unfortunately, I didn't like it overall.
Let me start with what I did love: General Ouyang, the eunuch general of the Mongol forces, in service to the empire and Prince who executed his family to the ninth degree, who still feels desperate admiration and love for Esen, the shining perfect Mongol warrior son of said Prince. Good tormented feelings, A+, STELLAR ending scenes, will be looking up fic of him stat.
But despite moments of shining glory like that, and some other good interactions and scenes, the majority of the book was just-- lackluster. My main impression was that the world (and maybe half of the characterizations?) felt pasted on. Characters would have an interesting thought, but then it wouldn't feel integral to their worldview. The world never felt lived in or had depth.
Part of this came in the form of moments where I had to stop and forcibly reconcile with the rest of the world. For example, "it was like seeing that the road ahead had collapsed down the side of the mountain, but not being able to stop" -- from a peasant who has never known anything but famine and seen the army only at a distance? What could she possibly have been on that could have that inevitability? When the love interest gets described with phoenix eyes at one point and willow leaf eyes in another; these are distinct and different eye shapes? The methane as having scent -- perhaps there are other gases being released in that area, but the description of it uses a coal mine, where it is famously odorless. I could go on, just lots of small details that required a "did I misread" stopping.
The other half of the uncomfortableness was how much of the early narrative made me feel like I was being told something that didn't need saying. It was very in your face, let me describe everything so you don't misunderstand level description. This handholding and lack of mystery is generally something that doesn't appeal to me, though perhaps appeals to others.
HOWEVER, saying all this, I do think a lot of these issues may be debut novel problems? There was the skeleton of interesting characters for sure, and confidence in not telling too much comes with experience. Also, if you're interested in queer Chinese-inspired historical fantasy, your choices are somewhat thin on the ground (in English anyway).
