Okay, I had my sights on this book right after it was published. It's from Richelle Mead! How much do you need?
Plus it seemed to be inspired by ChinesOkay, I had my sights on this book right after it was published. It's from Richelle Mead! How much do you need?
Plus it seemed to be inspired by Chinese mythology or set in China. This was a hard sell for me.
And the characters were supposed to be deaf and using sign language. This book seemed to be checking all the boxes for me! Love, Love!
However, before I got the book, the not-so-happy reviews started to roll in. The rating started to drop. And I was confused to why.
It took me years to finally start reading this book, and now, several days after finishing, I'm not sure what to say.
First, I cannot believe that this was written by Richelle Mead. It just doesn't seem to on the same level as the rest of her books. I kept thinking that maybe this was the first book she ever wrote but was published later. Or maybe it was the fact that this has only some odd 260 pages, shorter than most of her books which are mostly series. Maybe she needs more space?
I liked the sign language aspect; I loved that when Fei started to hear, she did not understand spoken language. I was fascinated by her learning the different sounds. That was definitely the best part.
I don't know what went wrong. Maybe the proportions of the book were wrong. (view spoiler)[ so much time was spend in the village, describing their daily life and then Fei finding out she can hear. Then the climb down and the stay in the city seemed very rushed. I wanted more! It seemed to suddenly pile and then we got to spend pages on Fei's strange dreams. (hide spoiler)]
A problem I had was that I did not care for a single character in this book. And I mean that. I did not care about them, their lives or their relationships. I could not stand the relationship between Fei and her sister. The protective older sister doing everything for her younger sister was over-done in the YA, and I cannot stomach it anymore.
I do not get society. Artists + elders, miners and suppliers. And apparently, some cleaners or maids who work for the artists and elders. I don't really understand the suppliers. I did not get the huge importance of the artists, but if they are the future elders, I can live with that. But I still feel like there was something missing.
I don't even know if I want to mention the romance in this book because it seemed very forced. I did not feel it. Same with Fei being promised to someone else which had next to zero influence on the story. I do not get why it was even added on such a limited space?
I was very much intrigued by what was happening under the mountain or (view spoiler)[the other villages that shared their fate! (hide spoiler)] That was definitely my favourite part of the book.
The ending... Well, (view spoiler)[this is how I imagine Deus ex machina. Suddenly pixius appear and save everything. I know that they were mention during the book, but since there was no other fantasy element, I sort of did not expect anything fantasy to happen. And suddenly they save the situation. I don't know, but I feel cheated. When I got excited that the metals were to blame for them losing their senses because it was a very simple and plausible explanation, nothing crazy: no curse or anything which would demand a virgin to be sacrificed. But then a bunch of magical creatures save the situation and more than that, they start healing chosen people and restoring their senses. (hide spoiler)]
If you told me a week ago that I would be very much disappointed by Richelle Mead's book, I would laugh at you. But here I'm, disappointed by this one....more
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