/lit/ - Literature

>>17827469
First the good parts:

>Solid, enjoyable world-building, with the competing philosophies of shamanism, the push towards modernization and conformity, and the historical ebb and flow of power and subjugation being the standouts. I found myself oddly intrigued by the history of martial arts.

>The military portions, while exceedingly brutal (do NOT mistake this for YA and give it to your child -- hell, even if you're an adult be prepared for graphic violence, including sexual), were a lot of fun. There's a mix of practical warfare, including chemical weapons and incendiary devices, with magical stuff that was honestly pretty engaging.

>A common problem when you bring gods and magic into fantasy is "Why is there any conflict if the characters are this powerful?". That is not present here. The consequences of trying this are shown, and they are BANANAS. It's great.

>If you like characters who are allowed to be horrible people, then you will not be disappointed here. I saw another review that said the heroine seemed insane by the end. This is a feature, not a bug. Between the very graphic war crimes and what we learn of the human relationship to the gods it's amazing anyone is still remotely functional by the end.

>You get to the end and it's like...wow. This can't end well. I consider this a plus.

Weak points:

>Did feel like the first book could have been condensed. The primary conflict didn't come into play until 40% of the way through, after which the military portion kicked in and carried it through to the end. (Oddly you could conceivably start with Book 2, since it even included its own prologue.)

>The style may be hit-or-miss for some. It lacks the stuffy tone of Tolkien-esque Epic Fantasy, which I appreciate, but occasionally veers into Quippy Territory. Depending on your preference this may be a pro or a con.

>Very particular point: May read a little weird if you're a Japanese-American. This is influenced by real atrocities committed during the Sino-Japanese War, so if you're not willing to think about that ugly bit of history just skip it entirely, but oddly what bothered me more was that the Japanese proxy race were described in the same generalized terms of hive-minded fanatical hordes that were used to describe Japanese-Americans during World War II. There's a touch at the very end that indicates the culture isn't uniform evil, but we never seen anything to challenge their depiction as anything but sadistic monsters. There are also some textual reasons to present them as one-dimensional, and it may be challenged in the second book. Obviously this didn't keep me from enjoying the book, and it may not bother others at all, but if you do happen to have this background and just wanted to settle down and enjoy some Asian-inspired SFF do not be thrown.

All in all, a little bumpy but intriguing enough that I'll be checking out the sequel.

>>17826929
The idea of not being on the front page terrifies a lot of anons. It's why they won't fuck off to Reddit, because they're not guaranteed five minutes on the front page there. They'd not have to deal with anime or whatever is up their ass, but the lack of being front page news would drive them school shooter. It's your standard grandiose entitlement.