bookswithlydscl's Reviews (639)

3.75* - a lighthearted and fun look at, as the title says, queer heroes of myth and legend (and modern popular culture). A few chapters feel a little bit tenuous (Robin Hood) but I overall enjoyed the read, learnt a few new things and was sadly reminded about the outrageous decision to - 

Spoiler Alert - 

kill off Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I just didn't care 

 Notes:
Read the trigger warnings at the start of the book
One of the most chaotic books I've read in a long time.
Pacific Rim meets Handmaid's Tale meets Hunger Games (love a sci-fi dystopian angle)
Really appreciated the use of traditional Chinese culture to inform the story, characters and setting (the feet binding will stay with me)
For me an interesting take on science-fiction/fantasy - female power and taking control by escaping traditional patriarchal expectations with some serious anger (though there are elements of this in The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang which are done better)
Remember it's YA targeted and for that audience level works well

Overall I enjoyed reading it but there are multiple elements that did detract:

World Building - not massively in depth, I had a picture in my mind but I think that was informed more by the Pacific Rim and recent Godzilla movies.
Wu Zetian - so very angry which I get as above but made it difficult to fully root for her. Very few female allies, doesn't really sell the feminist angle of the story for me but uses a 'feminist' agenda as a vehicle for selling her as a Mary Sue style MC (no empathy for the situation of one female character towards the end, no spoilers for the outcome).
Polyamory relationship not particularly fleshed out or developed, the male characters in the relationship didn't get much depth beyond being vehicles for Wu to get to the next thing.
Narrative not subtle - lots of telling not showing. Works great as a wish fulfillment escapist narrative but felt sometimes that messages were getting shouted at me multiple times to make sure I definitely got them (reminded me a little of Her Majesty's Royal Coven in that respect) - this may be the YA audience influence - subtlety not always their thing
Overall I enjoyed reading it but there are multiple elements that did detract:

Summing up - I enjoyed this, it's action packed, loads of set pieces, empowering messaging and utilises fantasy and sci-fi tropes well especially mixed in with the use of traditional chinese cultural elements. It has a main character that for YA audiences is someone they can likely identify with and root for and is a classic tale of overcoming your circumstances to take control and find your own destiny and identity. 

Now that's the way to end a series. Took me a little while to get into it but the final half was fantastic. Pleased with the resolutions for all the various stories, loose ends tied up and even Arseface had a lovely ending. 

4.5* on re-read - this time along with the audiobook, which was fantastic, and the more audiobooks of SGJ I read, the better I understand and appreciate his narrative structures. Oral storytelling is so powerful, and for me, it comes through in the audiobooks of this and My Heart Is A Chainsaw. I appreciated the circular and non-linear, multi-pov narrative structure much more than on first read.
Hardy's conclusion is still a wonderful piece of storytelling, and for such a brutal and violent story overall, this is a delicate and gentle closing element of the book.

Great writing but the storyline wasn't clicking with me and with so much else on my tbr I didn't want to push it. Soft dnf may come back in the future when in a different mood.