Reflection | Review

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.

This is a great example why I love books. You get that extra insight being into their head. It really feels ripped straight from the movie and put on to page. I loved the little nods, like Shang smirking as he rubbed his chin when Mulan kicked him, and Yao's purple, bruised eye.
I just really like the beginning and how it set you up to feel like you were still following along the Disney Animation.

I feel like it hit the major points and did it well. Her reveal was done well and THANKFULLY, Shang "disowning" is also played well and not dragged out. I like how even after she reveals herself she doesn't have full confidence and security yet, she still has growing to do.

I think it's exactly what we'd want out of an "addition" to the Disney movie! There's not much more to go into. :)

All of life is a dream walking, all of death is a going home.

Peace and Turmoil | Review

I was hoping I was going to love this novel! I was terribly surprised I'm completely indifferent to it, verging on disliking it.

The early parts of this novel are...difficult to explain. I would commend the writing, its not bad and I think flows very well. The characters are defined well and I can easily picture them apart from one another. But I honestly barely care whats going on. I'm just slightly above feeling bored. I don't know what a term for that is, but it's still good enough to get through it at a reasonable pace but it feels like I'm just watching a well narrated political documentary or something. So it's not so much a fault of the book as more so this plot just isn't my thing.
Most critical reviews deem the writing really bad, I really can't speak on that as I'm not very versed in writing myself, but I would recommend she find a great editor for the sequel if that many people point it out.
It was pretty odd to see actually that MOST of the glowing positive reviews are beta readers. It's why I want to write a more critical review and hope to become a beta reader for her sequel because I really want Elliot to succeed and write some great characters.
That's going to be the theme I'm tackling in my review and discussion, she says this is a character driven novel, which is a huge problem for me because I don't too much care for most of the characters.
In a character-driven story, the plot is used to develop the character. Many readers love character-driven stories because the author tends to put a premium on developing realistic, flawed, and human characters. Readers can see themselves or someone they love in these characters and, as a result, connect emotionally. I didn't feel like these characters developed at all. They were the same at the beginning as they were at the end, the only thing that changed was where they were at in the world and where the plot took them. I feel like this should have been a sequel as we missed ALOT of the characters growth and plot before the novel started.
For instance:
There was a war that should help us understand the leaders. (Gerard, Pierre)
There was a revolution of a nation from slavery.
Theres a relationship between Gwen and Roland that is DEFINITELY their main plot even though the romance isnt supposed to be, but I disagree.
Dorian is the adopted son/ambassador to his nation.
Dietrich is a prince assassin/ fiend hunter.
Abaddon is a brilliant potion maker/ alchemist.
Xodia was sheltered and alone on her island.
Theres a bunch of elites and soldiers with intense backstories.
ALL OF THIS IS NOT IN THE BOOK. This is all told to us and has already happened. Im sorry, Im sure it would have been frustrating to do but I would have put a full stop on this novel and told Elliot DO NOT make this your first book!
Honestly, ALL of this stuff is far more interesting than whats in this novel, and would Peace and Turmoil would have been a fine second novel if I had known and lived through all this back story.

I will go into full explanation and critique of characters toward the end in spoiler discussion. I wanted to get to some of the smaller non character related complaints.
-The magic system/ powers is unique in how its written. Seeing colors and pulling on it to control elements. But besides that its uninteresting and unimaginative. The explanation and power-creep or build up of the powers in non existent. The way they get exhausted, how often and by how much doesn't seem consistent or attended to. It also feels odd how just ANYONE can use any of the elements, no one seems to have a focus or affinity. X'odia is supposed to be really powerful, I think Gwen is too, or shes just unable to control her temper which fluctuates her powers? Furthermore, the fighting with the power is not interesting or unique either, its just throwing a ice spear here, pull up roots there, none of the way they use the powers is written to make me excited for it. This wouldn't necessarily be bad if its not the focus, but since the rest of the book doesnt hold up well this is just disappointing.
-The creatures or "fiends" were praised by some people in the books. Again, kind of uninteresting and just felt like typical monsters and nothing to even really bring up. Besides some of the creatures, they were supposed to have some affinity to the Auroras but it wasnt really elaborated on. We dont know where they come from, why theyre different from other animals? (I would go on to say why they can be controlled and such but its not important here and probably will be in the next book)
-Time and communication seemed off. They seemed to be able to move and communicate too quickly for their distance. I have no idea how long any time took. And there were some HUGE time/ scene skip grievances that just had people showing up. Mostly seen with Dietrich, which I will discuss in his spoilers.
-I liked the little excerpts at the beginning of each chapter. I would have found a better way to format them, because they aren't pretty. But it soon dawns very quickly that each one is a "foreshadow" of the coming chapter. Which is interesting if its add something to the world like its magic, but then it straight up gives away whats going to happen next.
One is about how suicide works in the world, so you know in this chapter someones going to commit suicide. One is about a guys letter to his wife and as soon as he gets home they're going to run away and take care of their baby shes pregnant with. Can you guess what going to happen to this man....?
It kind of takes any surprise or emotional impact away in a book that already struggles to set up emotional and impactful moments with this full too-full cast.
I almost think a very easy solution would be to put these at the END of the chapter so you think, (oh wow, that guys must have really struggled with his suicide or. damn, thats sad that guy wont care for his new born baby etc..)
-Brooks isnt known for liking romance. So I was confused and dissapointed when a heavy amount of her characters not only have romantic partners/ plots, but focuses on it alot.
-I'm not sure if there is a general standard on how to format and when to use italics, but I grew to dislike them. She italicizes  her magic words. Aurora, called and even non magic touched. I mainly dont like this because when I read Italics I put emphases on the words, and read them differently. Im pretty sure she just does it to show shes talking about her magic, but not like we should be emphasizing them. Secondly I dont know why she has to italicize called weapons, which are just normal weapons not conjured my magic. (Im feel like making sure all the right "touched" words were italicized would have been really annoying lol)
-Finally, the world. I already discussed how alot of the history of the world is just talked about and we know nothing about it. But the world just isn't interesting, could have been fixed if we lived through more of these events. I liked how we get an image of the map so we know where people are before each chapter. But I REALLY hope she gets a new map for the sequel. The places we focus on are RIGHT in the center of the book so it hardly helps. It also doesnt clearly define the borders in a book that has a bunch of the nations fighting each other, so it seems important. I also couldnt tell where alot of the cities were so it made the whole distance thing alot harder. I was so confused by the places that I thought Riverdee WAS the capital of Xenith, and was really confused why Xodia seemed to not be in the capital when an event happened, and Mesidias elites went PAST Xenth to go to Riverdee for some reason. I dont know, it just was kind of a mess. Needs an updated map and better explanation of the world.

Ok, wow, that was lot and Im technically only have finished. Again since the book is supposed to be character driven, lets discuss these characters. This is complete spoilers for the entirety of their arcs.

Mesidia - Probably one of my favorites, and their people got completely screwed over lol It's really the central conflict of the book.
I really hated this whole plot because it just seemed annoying. Their back story is there are two families who believe they should have the throne. Only one of the do, the Leighless. The Victorians are the others, but they are on semi-peaceful terms with them I guess? I mean their heir Natalia goes with them. But at the same time there are "rebels" or something for the Victorians? I dont know, hardly matters soon as the plot gets going. So the book starts and they send some diplomats to Xenith to negotiate in "Peace" talks. During that time everyone gets attacked by fiends. Mesidia is attacked by fiends controlled by Victorian Duchess, so they capture and imprison her. She gives some exposition on the bad guys, or atleast her background. (Youll notice I wont talk alot about the bad guys, they were far and few between and kind of confusing, plus its character driven, the characters on their own should be able to hold up the book.) Anyway, so after this for some reason NOONE in Xenith and the peace talks believe that the Duchess can control them? (I guess they're just like, "Well you hated her, so you used this as a reason to take her?" Or something....as if they werent busy defending themselves?) Also Roland saw the Duchess kill her husband...for some reason, I dont remember if there was one, or if it was a good one. So yeah, since she was captured the Victorian rebels now want to have a civil war? The countries around Mesidia dont want a civil war because it will effect their money...k, I guess thats fine. But then think that the Victorians should lead, so they make a treaty and are basically forcing the Leighless to surrender and release control to the Victorians. I have no idea why...its kind of ridiculous they just dont believe that the Duchess did what they said with absolutely NO communication and shouldnt have any authority to tell them what to do. THEN our great "King of Peace" agrees against the Leighless...like what? (Ill get to him later.) So the Leighless go on the run and adopted son Dorian and Elizabeth go back to Mesidia to make the Leighless surrender. But the Leighless are dead and the Duchess is alive...and then they blame Gwen because they think Dietrich did it...and thats the last we hear of them. I actually didnt realize how much I hated this until I had to explain it lol.

Pierre- I can pretty much just rope him in with Gerard. He's the leader and best friends with Gerard. I dont like him, we pretty much just see him cruel to his son early on. Then cruel to Xodia. Then we get a good moment with him feeling really conflicted on how he cant let the Duchess take over because shes even more cruel than him and chooses to sacrifice himself to kill the Duchess. But then he and everyone but the Duchess are murdered by the shapeshifter dressed as Dietrich. (Which may I point out is COMPLETELY irrelevant. I assume the Duchess is on the same side of the shapeshifter or atleast hiring him, so making him look like Dietrich in the novel is ONLY a red herring to the reader because the Duchess could literally had said anything and I guess theyll believe her...unlike when they didnt the Leighless lol)
The AlMurtaghs- None of them are really of note except Elizabeth. Who I liked at first. She just the sweet nice person. But then irrationally thinks that Gwen set all of them up or something...she even thinks its odd that Gwen would convince Roland to give the dagger to Dietrich instead of Dorian. Unless she straight up doesnt believe Gwen when she says Dietrich helped save Xenith it makes sense to reward him, and why would Dorian want the dagger anyway? This happened before we knew the Leighless would lose power or that Elizabeth would be the betrothed so we still had no idea why Dorian should have it. It was just an annoying last minute change of heart and jump of logic to fuel drama. Alot of her character was how she felt toward Dorian.
Dorian- Again we really needed his backstory to see how he worked as their son. He seemed to hardly matter, didnt seem like their son, and I think its shitty he turned on his family. Thats all I got to say. Alot of his character was how he was with Natalia, and now hes betrothed to Elizabeth...and apparently seems to actually like her which wasnt set up on his end and leaves me confused.
Natalia - I hated her, I literally didnt know what to make of her. She flipped flopped alot, I thought it interesting how Gerard made her a ward of Xenith so she wouldnt be pulled into the Mesidia civil war. But then she honored Gerard by framing his daughter for his death so yeah...shes a pretty shitty person and Gerard is still proven to make TERRIBLE choices.
Roland- He was actually my favorite. Which is funny because hes not even technically a main character. (He didnt even get official character art by Brooks, how sad.) None of his actions actively annoyed me, I was always on his side. I think it was completely RIDICULOUS that Brooks did not write the scene he gave away the dagger. I literally cant fathom why she didn't put that in. I barely already could care less about these magical objects and she didnt even write how it was when Roland gave it away. I feel like the action initially started with Roland, and I thought it odd. Its weird because it took a while to get to the action, but once we got to it I feel like it wasn't set up enough. I think she focused on the wrong build up. Of course his general story was how he cant be with Gwen because he has the dagger and now he can get rid of it. Im also confused as to why he went all the way to Riverdee (which is past Xenith) and didnt stop to see Gwen?  I feel like this plot was only set up to create drama and spark the central plot. I want to reiterate here we dont know these two as a couple, we hardly care, we REALLY need see them before the book.

Xenith-
Overall fairly uninteresting. We barely know anything about it except I guess its an almost Utopia area ruled by the "King Of Peace" Except RIGHT at the very end Gerard reveals some more info about the War of Fire and It makes me even more troubled as to how this kingdom got to be so great...
Alot of time is focused here, but not alot happens I feel. Its the center of the controversy over Mesidia as the rulers of the 5 kingdoms around Mesidia get together and determine that another kingdom should surrender to their usurpers...lets just get into it.
Gerard- I really hated him, I didnt see any of the "King of Peace" that he should be known for, he seemed like a bad king and a worst father. I mean...with the way it was written at one point he literally punched his daughter in the face and knocked her out. If ANYONE needed a backstory before this book it was this guy. I didn't believe anything about him.
I dont understand why he agreed with the treaty of 5 to go against the Leighless, and basically side with the Vicotorians to go to WAR against the Leighless WITHOUT PEACE TALKS? I dont care what these people wanted, its not up to them to NOT believe a kingdom and determine who rules it. THEN not only that but he just lets the Prianthians or whoever, decide WHAT to do with XENITHS PRINCESS! Holy crap was I so frustrated by the injustices done to Gwen and Mesidia that Gerard just allowed! He made so many many mistakes. I dont think him and his son Adan talked at all the entire book, so I hope we werent supposed to, you know...feel anything for them.
I did find it interesting that it was set up how he would die of natural causes and his dumbass was so secretive about it that only the Leighless and Natalias knight knew about it. So when he died Natalia framed Gwen because if not she would look like the culprit, its laughable how stupid his mistakes are. (It frustrates me but its not necessarily bad writing, just his set up to make him believable as a great ruler is) But thats why it doesnt make sense that OTHER people just determined what to do with Gwen when she was Weeks (in this case DAYS) from being the ruler after Gerard died. What an Idiot. Easily the most frustrating and worst character in the book.
Guinevere- I didnt care for her at first. Much like Dietrich I feel like she was too edgy and hot headed to start off with. I think the injustices to her made me like her, nothing she herself did. Shes I suppose a confident/ competent fighter. I actually like how we got glimpses of the leader she could be. (But the battle of fiends scene was kind of a mess) I really liked when she finally told Natalia to simmer the f*** down because she wouldn't shut up. She showed intellect and political maneuvering with some strategy, better than her dad, who HONESTLY was her biggest enemy in this book... Shes the main one Im interested to follow in book two and why Im very keen to be a beta reader, I really want to help Brooks bring this character to light and make her great. (I like how they eventually brought back the blond hair herbs from the beginning. I was wondering if that was relevant)

Sadie-
This whole place and its people just make me sigh....nothing overall really happens here, just the characters, so lets get to them.
Dietrich- Of the "main cast" of young people he's by far my least favorite. Not only do I not like his character, but he had the WORST flow and pacing. In the beginning it was just difficult to follow.
He is basically two people, a fiend hunter under another name and an Assassin Prince who kills the rebels/ usurpers. AGAIN, we NEEDED to see this before his story picked up. It hardly seems relevant besides the fact that I guess the shapeshifter uses it against him because he "assassinates" people I dont know...He had alot to do in part one and I didnt like most of it.
He goes BY HIMSELF across the land? Gets attacked. Has sex, gets some information while internally monologueing how annoyed he is, has more sex. Then gets attacked by a dragon and keeps throwing up in some guys hut....Deitrichs chapters were the longest and I desperately wanted them to be over. (also small gripe, his scene splitter/ time jumps are separated by a fancy pick ax? Why? Bc hes traveling through a mountain? Should've been his crossbow or something)
As I mentioned above, his pacing is almost offensive. He spends way too much time at the Dragon Hut, then once the Dragon agrees to help him, the next time we see him hes just POOF in Xenith. He helps kill a Behemoth in the Attack of Fiends. Which is actually pretty cool but I would have liked to know more about it. Apparently it was just chilling in a lake in the Xenith capital, sounds creepy but interesting. Wish it was set up better, like ancient stories or legends about it.
As luck would have it Gwen agrees with Dietrichs idea about the dagger and POOF hes in Mesidia where we get a VERY lame and anti-climatic scene where he gets the dagger Offscreen and POOF hes back in the mountains. Although now for some reason so much time has passed that the insurgent/ rebels/ whatever they are have completely taken over and VERY unceremoniously and gruesomely killed the dragon guy and the young dragon we spent all that time watching be nursed back to health. Anyway, then his brother shows up and stabs him with the Dagger of Eve for some reason (Ill get to that in Abbadons part) and thats the last we hear of him...OR IS IT? (Apparently hes alive.)
I completely believe Brooks when she says she wrote this before reading Sanderson, and that she hasnt read Eragon, but this basically felt like Kaladin met Saphira and they ran off together. Alot of people liked Seera, the Dragon, she was fine, but kind of forgot about her by the end because she didnt show up for the last 40% of the book.
Harold- Hes not a major character but I thought Id point out another bad leader. Again, we couldve gained alot if we saw him when he liberated his people from slavery...then his wife dies and decides not only to KILL HIMSELF, but make his son do it. So you know...who cares about your children, or your country, your wife is dead, so yeah...great guy.
Abbadon- wow....this guy. At first unassuming, but interesting. Im a sucker for medical type people, and his alchemy seemed cool. I thought the idea that HE was the one making his mother sick in order to get his brother to go get the dagger of eve so his country would be...powerful? was interesting. But the setup and reveal was insanely lack luster. It also reveals him and his dad are pretty cruel people killing whoever. But then a page later he chooses not to kill this random woman...Im not sure why. I barely knew him as a non murderer, then barely knew him as a murderer before all this happened so...whatever I guess. But then the next we get of him he just murders his brother with the dagger and thats it...hes the king of his country...yay? (I'm wondering if she never originally wrote Abaddons point of view but BetaReaders didnt understand or thought he needed to be in it more to make the ending pay off so she went in and revised it.)
I can only assume he's scared of death, so terrified he went to these lengths to protect himself? There is ALOT of back and forth between him and Dorian in letters and I honestly cant tell if any of it was important. I assume that the Dagger works by taking the life essence of someone else and thats how you call on it to be immortal...? If this is true though, I dont know why it had to be his brother? I also dont know how Dietrich would have survived it...unless Abbadon killed him for some...other reason, and maybe THATS how the dagger works, you stab the person you want to be immortal? Or Dietrich called on the dagger while he was being stabbed and came back after he thought dead? Or MAYBE Dietrich called on it before hand so he already had the power when he died? I dont know. I think its bad writing to set up two cliff hangars/ questions at once. Why did Abbadon kill his brother, and why did Dietrich not die? It's more annoying than interesting.

So thats it! That is my unfortunately long and critical review of a booktuber I highly respect and enjoy. Since Ive followed her for almost two years she has been a big fan of Sanderson, so the fact that this was written before that seems like a red flag for me. It means she may have written this before she had alot of experience with great storytelling. I really wish she would have chosen to revise the book, save it and write one before it, or even split it up and focus on only some of the characters-

OK IM LEAVING THIS IN BECAUSE I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT XODIA! Im leaving it like this because thats how forgettable she was that I didnt remember her until I started talking about focusing on NECESSARY characters lol:
Xodia-
We needed to see her backstory on why she was so alone or isolated or whatever. She for some reason was chosen to go across the sea because of a vision she saw that some reason has to do with her people being destroyed. So they sent a girl who WONT use her powers against humans (and even feels bad against fiends) JUST because she has visions and can heal. I say bad call. Her doomsday vision, as most have said, is completely irrelevant. And shes just imprisoned the whole book and falls for one of the knights. I dont care for this and I feel like shouldnt have even been in this book. She should have just been mentioned by Roland and the Mesidians and maybe taken care of in the sequel.

ANYWAY, back to my closing statement. As I was saying, Brooks should have left some characters out and focused on others leaving Xodia and some other little stories for the future or not included them at all. I dont really care for these characters and there was no growth. Im really sad but I think Brooks has alot of experience since she wrote this and her sequel so I have high hops for her!

StormDancer | Review

"Dying is Easy. Anyone can throw themselves onto the pyre and rest a happy martyr. Enduring the suffering that comes with sacrifices is the real test."

Well this was....intense. I'll give a brief non spoiler overview of my feelings.

First off, what I feel is a big negative to alot of other reviews is the "inspiration". I cant say much since Im not Japanese so most likely my ignorance of being from the West doesn't help. I can understand that the language part wasn't done well. For instance alot of people are saying some of the ways he uses terms is incorrect. I can understand that frustration. But I didnt really see much of an issue besides that. I personally still liked how it felt unique and not of Western inspiration.

Now to my opinion. The world is TERRIBLE, and I mean that in a good(?) way. Kristoff did such a great job describing the absolutely disgusting world, it will make you want to flee it. But then it make the time spent not in the terrible place really refreshing, and makes you understand the fight the world is going for.

Some of the characters as well, were written so well that how absolutely fckn awful they were makes you root for their death like no other.

I think characterization is done pretty well. Most of the characters don't seem two dimensional, they're layered.

The action is intense and graphic.

I like the way he writes a lot of his similes and metaphors. It brings a real artistry to the style. Some lines make just think, 'Wow...that was nicely done." I will make one complaint where I feel like he used "kiss" too much.

I will say the beginning drags on WAY too long, I think until about page 100 does it finally get going some where. But then also the last 100 pages seems to drag as well as we wait for the building climax. What I'm trying to say is, the pacing isn't great.

My other negative is the romance. It's so thrown in and uninteresting and you wont care. It honestly could have not been in at all and kept everyone friends and it would have felt the same, actually better because we wouldn't be frustrated by how nauseating it all is.

I feel like it's biggest fault is ALOT of missed opportunity and mismanagement of his characters plots.

So yeah, in terms of non spoilers, that's it. It really wasn't that bad, I ended up liking it more than I thought I did.

Read on for spoilers and specifics because some of the plot choices are REALLY interesting:

Lets get the negative out of the way with Kin and Hiro. Seriously did anyone think the love between Hiro and Yukiki would work out. It was kind of awkward to have her wet dreaming about Hiro until they're reunited.

Speaking of Hiro, I have grown SO tired of the Bushido Code, or the "samurai" code. Maybe its because I haven't seen any good representation of it, but Im so over this "loyal to a fault" or blindly being loyal to someone that's awful. This character was just dumb and a red herring basically. I did like how Yukiko wasn't TOO torn up about it in the end and just tells him off. It was a little late, but better late than never.

Speaking of Kin, why did he have to fall in love with Yukiko? (Especially since there are 3 books I think this could have waited.) Can you imagine how beautiful it would have been to have this poor kid, learn to love the world and have this amazing character introduce us to this. He should be falling in love with him self and the world before he starts focusing on Yukiko. GOD,its annoying how close this came to a decent character plot. But NO, throw it away because he's focused on the girl.

Just to wrap up this part of the rant, i feel like these characters and the love was just a way to pad/ cause unnecessary drama and issues in story. I find all of this worst than bad cultural representation.

Lets move on to the double edged sword that was Aishas character and plot. AGAIN, another waste. I think her character was SO interesting. You know how rare it is to find a character that wants to do the good thing because its obvious how bad the world is and they want to change it? The way they described it was nice too, people going with the glow swimming down the stream together, because you want to fit in and be with everyone else. But if you look up you cant deny that you see the cliff you're about to go over, and everyone needs to turn and go against the flow. That shit was deep.

But FIRST he kind of diminishes it by making it obvious her brother is into her. Which ruins the whole, "my life is perfect, but I don't want to see the world suffer" because now she IS personally suffering by the Shoguns hand.

Ugh he had to bring incest into it. So much for the Princess to want to do the right thing for the sake of the right thing. Nope, her brother is pining after her. Hooray. Why is it that Incest seems cliched now? Maybe not incest exactly, but the fact that the strong powerful woman is being sexaully harassed so she wants revenge. smh

And FINALLY, they unceremoniously kill her OFFSCREEN. He just shows up with his face fucked up and we assume shes dead (or worst, raped and then killed) I almost thought I missed a page or something because Kristoff switches POV SO much that I assumed theres no way he just killed her off screen...Yeah, this was another character with potential and hugely disappointing.

Ok, finally, some of the good stuff.

Hideos death was satisfying. I actually kind of liked him through most of the book, he seemed to underhandedly sass the Shogun. I actually thought HE was going to turn against him. But he kind of turns out to just be a lazy, greedy, horrible person like his nephew...so...guess he dies to rats instead.

The dad was probably the biggest surprise. I didnt expect to like the dad so much. I was actually fairly surprised and interested when he kept referring to 'sacrificing for something greater" that greater being his daughter. He seems to be such a sad an unfortunate character. His yokai reveal at the end was cool. 

It was also kind of sad that he died pretty horribly getting shot in the throat. I feel like they could of had this "mind meld" conversation some other way besides that...but oh well lol. Its a pretty gruesome book so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Black Widow: Forever Red | Review

"Love is for Children"

I am...conflicted. It's going to be hard to review this without spoilers. So non-spoilers is going to be short.
The writing style is done pretty well, definitely hit more on the young side of YA than I thought it would. Black Widow isn't super prominent as it more sets up a secondary character: Red Widow. I disliked alot of the earlier plot points. But by the end I did like the idea the author was going for. It ended genuinely pretty well. I dont hate the book, but I still didnt completely enjoy the ride. I'm more interested in the sequel.

Heres the spoiler section so I can talk more about what I liked and what I didnt like.

-The romance was something I really didnt expect from a Black Widow book. Its interesting because the quote, "Love is for Children" was taken LITERALLY in this book since it was the kids that fell in love with each other. I really wish this wasnt the case. I didnt like how Alex mostly followed along because he was infatuated with Ava. I thought the ending was compelling, having Alex die and Ava devote most of her cause in memorium for her fallen love. I cant help but feel they should have carried this over to the sequel. I dont know if Stohl knew she was writing a sequel or not but I think if she found a better way to integrate Alex into the story and didnt start the romance until closer to the end, then continue it into book 2, kill him then, and THEN have Ava become Red Widow, would have been better received.
-The whole...mini Widow thing? I think it would have been less annoying to get so little of Natasha if we didnt have a LITERAL clone of her. Like Ava is just Widow....it was kind of annoying. Interesting, but again, when youre expecting Widow and get discount Widow...not fun. Furthermore, Ava in general was fine, less annoying than Alex. I actually really liked how she kept getting annoyed by Alex's hero complex. But then she just suddenly switches to "I dont want to be alone anymore. Ill let him in." Her personality is further annoying for how much she blamed Natasha. I really liked how Natasha kept snapping back like, bitch I survived it, you can too. Im glad Nat didnt have some emotional revelation that she did something wrong in the end. Unlike with Alex, I like how Ava had a compelling and interesting reason to be interested in Alex. It was cool when you find out she sees Alex because Widow is watching him.
- Speaking of which, lets talk about Alexei. Alex being a Romanoff was...ok I suppose. I didnt mind it, but the set up was difficult to swallow. Especially since I ALREADY didnt like Alex, and the fact that the first thing he did when he found out was throw a tantrum on Nat in the middle of dangerous territory was so fckn annoying. I was really done with the kids by this point. The ending wasn't completely lost on me with his death. But it could have been better with a less annoying set up

I'm mostly interested in the second book because I assume it will be more actual spy plot with Red Widow being a bad ass on her own without a neural link to Natasha and cool powers. Widow not having to babysit would be nice too.

The Tiger's Daughter | Review

“Children remember who showed them kindness when the world tried to make them cruel.”

I was pleasantly surprised by the end of this book.
I initially wouldn't say it was bad. I feel like you get a VERY in depth look at who the two main characters are. It's essentially the love story of two bad ass warrior Princess'.
The story is told from mostly the perspective of one of the love interests (Shefali) as she writes a letter to her partner, Shizuka.
You really understand their relationship as it progressed and everything it went through. I wouldn't say it seemed to develop how a contemporary would build a relationship. But it had a very interesting mystical element to it. It seemed to have alot to do with fate and unseen forces that encouraged their relationship. But the way the fight for it, with courage and ferocity made it an amazing tale.
It did bring about that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" vibe if you know what that is. These forlorn tales of dramatic love amidst fighting and war.
The book doesn't focus too much on the actual conflict or issue, which is what started to lose me halfway through the book.
But the trials and tribulations they go through kept me pressing on and I loved the Shizuka and Shefali. I grew to be so invested and interested in their relationship that toward the end when the author does an...interesting choice to set up something epic but at the same time resolve it, I found my self saying, "I REALLY hope this isnt resolved and there is a sequel."(I didnt know at the time that there was indeed a sequel.)
It's definitely hard to recommend. But I'd say if you're interested in Romance (slightly unrealistic) and a vague sense of Chinese inspiration then I'd say go for it. I know I'm really excited to see what happens with these two warriors.

Shadow of the Fox | Review

Shadow of the Fox was a fun ride. It read like an episodic anime, really brought me back to watching episodes of Inuyasha when I was growing up. Each chapter acted as a small side story with a new place, new problem to solve, and a new companion to pick up.

First of our two main characters is Tatsumi, the sad-boi who was brought in a ninja clan to be a soulless weapon of his people and kill demons, all the while trying not to be possessed by the very demon sword that he uses to kill said enemies. He's pretty straight forward, competent in what he does, slowly struggles to deal with his growing emotional attachment with his rag tag group of companions that are forced upon him.

The second of our two main characters is Yumeko. A wiley half-kitsune girl who is entrusted in protecting and delivering our plot device, the Dragon Scroll. Over all nothing about her particularly is bad but I had some issues with how she's being used and the inconsistency of her character.
First being that we get a lot of her personality at the beginning and how her powers work, she likes taking the easy way out using her powers, she mischievous and playful. Unfortunately, this doesn't really follow the rest of the story. Shes portrayed later as a kind, save everyone she can, naive girl who gives good advice. Which isn't bad, but again doesn't suit the character that's introduced to us. She plays no jokes and her mischievousness is all but forgotten. The the author tries to use the excuse that she cant use her power because then her companions will know. But it would have been interested to see HOW she would use her powers without them knowing. On the flip side to that though, it IS interesting seeing how she's still a useful part of their group without using her powers.
Another thing I don't think I'm a fan of, which didn't play a part in this book, but might in the future installments, is I guess she's a prophesied chosen one? Which I think is just unnecessary. I would have liked it more as, she's the only one left alive, shes the only one that can successfully deliver the scroll.
Which leads into my next issue with the plot. There wasn't really a reason she HAD to be a Kitsune. Her race and abilities didn't suit the journey. The bad guy knew who she was and where they were all along. It's not like Yumeko was hiding the scroll and deceiving ANYONE except her companions who were I guess tricked into helping her?
Lastly! They had this running gag with one of the companions who kept using sarcasm, but Yumeko was too "naive" to understand so it was always lost on her. This just seemed kind of dumb. I really feel like it would have made more sense for her to KNOW but chose not to reveal it and be playing a joke by pretending she was naive.

I also didn't like that they were creating a romance between the two main characters. I can't remember exactly their age, I know they're both young but I was under the impression that Yumeko was too young to even really be falling in love or anything. It's sort of Tatsumi's issue he's dealing with, this girl he's falling for. But I think it should have just been that the way Yumeko handled others, with kindness that was never given to him, he's starting to want to live another way. So she could influence his change without being the soul reason for it.

I think Chapter 14 was one of my favorites. Really any chapter where you see the drastic difference between Tatsumi and Yumeko. I liked how her first instinct is kindness and logic,  like our favorite proverb-boy Iroh from A:TLAB.  I love the line where the Ronin says, careful the wild dog will bite you, and Yumeko says It will protect you if you throw it a crumb instead of a stone.

HOWEVER, this brings up a problem with how the author formatted her novel. There is no build up and pay off. Like this scene with the Ronin, and an earlier one with a Wind Witch, she sets something up and it is immediately revealed by the end of the chapter or the very next one.

I know it sounds like I have a lot of complaints but it was still an enjoyable read and I still recommend and rating it fairly high.