"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.
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