The Art of Reading

My Thoughts:

2.5 ⭐
A little disclaimer: this isn’t Disney’s Mulan. I love that movie and even though it probably wasn’t the most accurate, it had a charm about it that made it a lot of fun while also being empowering. This book sadly missed the mark for me on both those points. It is historical fiction through and through, none of the fantastical here, just talk of battles, politics and horse-riding. LOTS of horse-riding. The author chose to keep the dialogue very formal and while this was likely to keep it more with the times, it felt very stiff and as a lot of the plot and character development relies on dialogue, I felt detached to a lot of the story. This is a war book but surprisingly little of the book covers the actual battle scenes or espionage. We hear a lot about their strategies and the journeys to and from the action, but there were multiple occasions where entire scenes detailing exciting parts would be skipped over and instead recapped in a conversation between the characters afterwards.

I read a lot historical fiction and I’m usually very understanding when it comes to complicated history but I was really lost here. Maybe my brain was extra tired or maybe it’s because my Chinese history is incredibly lacking, but I had absolutely no idea what was happening. I was already feeling not very invested in this book but then with all of the different political factions and affiliations I couldn’t keep track of who was on which side and as a result had an extremely difficult time following the finer elements of the plot. The reveal of Mulan being a woman was probably the most disappointing part of this book. It’s such a climactic scene in the original but here they are literally just sitting around a table and everything is smoothed over in a handful of sentences, end scene. Ugh. The cover is pretty epic though haha!

If you enjoy a well researched, polished historical fiction and maybe aren’t a fan of Disney’s Mulan, this book is for you. Sadly it just wasn’t the book for me! Happy Reading 🙂

My Thoughts:

Wow. This book is breathtaking! From the world, to the characters, to the magic, everything was so rich in detail and the creativity blew me away. I’ve never read a book remotely like this before and that was such a gift, especially for the fantasy genre. In the age of tik-tok fantasy, this book was exactly what I was looking for and really stands out from the slew of ‘romantasy’ being published right now. I was intimidated by this book for the longest time but I’m so glad I finally decided to tackle it. There is a lot going on and I wouldn’t say I confidently knew what was going on 100% of the time, but that was just part of the fun! It was a wild ride and I loved every second of it.

I loved how diverse the cast of characters were and how the author was able to flesh out the world enough for us to be able to see unique aspects of all the different cultures. Tarisai’s character was so compelling and watching her fight for her own path even though she was literally being controlled to go a different way, was beautiful. She made mistakes but because she’d opened herself up to love and friendship, she wasn’t alone and had people to help her up when she got knocked down. I don’t know if it was something the author had planned, but I also loved how many Gospel parallels there were throughout the story, especially in Tarisai’s redemption arc.

This book not only saved me from a reading slump, but also gave me a new favorite so it’s safe to say I am thoroughly impressed and I can’t wait to complete this duology! If you need a new fantasy obsession that stands out from the rest, I would highly recommend Raybearer to you. Happy Reading 🙂

My Thoughts:

Having read Thorn 2+ years ago, it took my brain awhile to adjust into this world again. Though this is a spin-off story following a different set of characters, there is still plenty of overlap with our heroines from Thorn so it took a lot trying to remember what had happened, but the author did a good job of dropping Easter eggs throughout the story which served to jog my memory! It brought me back to my experience reading the first book and how comforting I found it. Don’t get me wrong the subject matter is NOT very comforting, and can be quite dark at times, but I love how I can read anything the author writes without having to worry about there being incessant swearing or sexual content, and I find that this makes her books a very safe place to escape into.

This book does focus on Rae and Rae alone, so if you’re hoping to see more action from our previous heroines you will be disappointed. At the start I was sad by how little time we spend outside of Rae’s agenda, because I was really interested to see Alyrra step into her new position. We do get a few good interactions with her, but they were definitely second to whatever Rae happened to be tangled up in at the time! After spending so long invested in her character though, she did grow on me and I loved her determination and selflessness. The politics in this one were politicking and I was a bit lost by the sheer amount of information I was supposed to absorb, but it was worth it in the end. I guessed the twist at the end before it arrived, but it didn’t stop me from being on the edge of my seat for the last 100 pages! I also don’t know why I’d convinced myself that this one would wrap up nicely but that cliff-hanger came out of nowhere 😭

I am so looking forward to seeing how everything is tied up in the final installment! Happy Reading 🙂

My Thoughts:

I’m KICKING myself for not reading These Violent Delights before this 😭 Whereas Foul Lady Fortune can definitely be read as a standalone, this book is basically tying together the whole Secret Shanghai universe that Chloe Gone created. As a result, I’m sure that a lot of the finer details of this book were lost on me as lots of old characters from These Violent Delights were reintroduced and events referenced that went completely over my head because I didn’t have all the background info. It made me feel like someone had taken a chunk from my memories like Orion and I was in the dark about everyone’s inside jokes lol.

Speaking of Orion, the amnesia trope is not a favorite of mine. It just feels so cheap, like you can’t think of a way to better grow the relationship so you just strip it back, except the plot keeps moving forward, unfortunately leaving the romance behind. A big reason I loved the first book so much was because of their hilarious banter and watching them both let down their guards to each other. But after their relationship was established in book one I wanted to see more and watch their romance develop which is definitely not a main draw for this book. Instead I’d say we get more of a ‘scope’ view of all the different couples from Foul Lady Fortune and basically run around chasing a crazy amount of lose threads. It was chaotic, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t so much fun!

I feel like I’ve lived through so much with these characters already and I actually found myself getting emotional towards the end because I just love being immersed in their world. I am so excited to go back and read These Violent Delights now and I think it will make me appreciate this book even more. Orion x Rosalind are still my fave book couple and I’m so sad that this is where their story ends. I highly recommend this duology, especially if you are already a fan of Chloe Gong, and if you are questioning whether or not to commit to this universe, this is me telling you to go for it! Happy Reading 🙂