Remember Me (Royal Diviner Trilogy Book 1)
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Buchinformationen
Beiträge
I finished this book. Somehow. And I have thoughts. And spoilers. Lately some friends of mine told me about a deline in book quality as in the lack of editing, thankfully, I did not have similar experiences. Until "Remember me" happened. As a little disclaimer: I loved the idea of the story and the approach of Reiko asking about her own story was creative. Entering chapter one, the confusion slowly began. Reiko was a storm spirit, and perhaps in the olden days, people used to pray to her much, but the weather hadn’t been a concern for hundreds of years. It had taken her nearly an eternity to save the five thousand ryo. So there were no storms for the last few hundered years? What kind of world is this? Shortly after we are introduced to the consept of "diviners", which I think is cool in theory, especially since there is one of those in the extended cast. Unfortunately, this person only uses their particular powers once. Eventhough, there were several situations in which throwing some fireballs would have been quite helpful. While explaining how diviners came to be, I stumbled upon one of my main problems with this book- the language. It could have used more polishing and editing, since it is quite repetitive at some points. For example: Humans with mystical powers, diviners, were incredibly rare, but they weren’t unheard of. In the mythology of the empire, the first emperor of Nara had been half divine and half mortal, the son of the Sun Goddess herself. His blood still flowed through his descendants, which was the entirety of Nara, and sometimes mortals exhibited the remnant of the power the emperor once held. They were called diviners, but Ayame had thought them extinct. More common was someone with truesight, a mortal who could see and hear spirits, but they didn’t possess the power to harm them. Or this paragraf, where Ayame describes his clothes two times in a row: Dressed in only a cotton bathrobe, she froze. Her mind was taking its time gathering itself. Long black hair—only bujin kept their hair long—and brown eyes that reflected the flicker of the candlelight like flakes of gold, he had a sharp nose that had been broken long ago and set a little crooked. He arched an eyebrow at her. His attire wasn’t fancy, only a cotton robe, but this wasn’t a public bathhouse—it was only for the Ishii lords and ladies. Later on, one can find this: They were coming up on a torii on the road. In the mortal world, the red wooden gates marked an entry to a sacred space such as a land belonging to a temple, and Ayame thought there was probably an old, abandoned shrine nearby. The spiritual gate, also called torii, was invisible to mortal eyes and marked the entryway between realms. (I did not shorten these quotes, this is exactly how it is in the book.) Fun fact about the diviners: Ayame knows one diviner, this is introduced quite early. In chapter 19 she states: "Ayame didn’t know what to do. She’d never encountered a diviner before." (Said diviner she knows is her bethrored.) Furthermore, there were some unusual sentences. Since English is not my first language, I started to doubt myself and send those to a friend of mine who studied anglistics, in order to figure out if the author used some highly elevated syntax, or if my intuition was right. We both agreed, that something feels off. Naming some: She wanted to go home alive was all, and in the meantime, make memories worth keeping. Neither Lord Kyuzo nor Misaki was addressing it, so Ayame didn’t bring it up. Rumors were just that, rumors. They swallowed souls, was what it was. “Just try not to visit too much trouble on Lord Kyuzo.” Other paragrafs I did not quite understand including this one: The prince contends with powers beyond our understanding, but a funny thing, he actually lost to Kyuzo. It was a great humiliation for the prince. I think he would have killed Kyuzo had the emperor not been there. Maybe I have the dumb, but if he lost against him- how did Noami think he would have been able to kill Kyuzo in that situation? Another thing that threw me off: the nicknames. They are very on the nose and not in a good way. He is funny? He is just Jester. He looks like a badger? He's Badger. He K.O. a lot of people? Goodnight, he is. Don't get me wrong, the idea of Kyuzo to introduce those nicknames is fine with me, but they just do not fit into the setting? Maybe the author should have considered using japanese expressions, since she said, she was inspired by japanese folklore. What I don't understand is how these nicknames, that are not always flattering, should show that Kyuzo is such a generous war lord. But the "just tell, don't show" mentality was something I personally did not liked, throughout the story. Apparently Kyuzo is a popular warlord with lots of respect from his men. And this respect is shown within the story, but I cannot recall a situation where I was convincingly shown, how he earned it. Something else, that I found awkward to read, were the spice scenes. To be honest, that is a general me-thing, while I am okay with one scene, I get annoyed if there are more and don't read books because of the spice but despite of it. Nevertheless, I can appreciate athors who write such scenes in a non-cringe-and-bearable way. "Remember me" made me want to forget. Starting with one of the most confusing build-ups. During the whole story, I could not quite understand, why they are supposed to have feelings for each other and why they fall for the other one. Suddenly they have a "I don't want to ruin you", "I can't take your maidenhood" (his words) conversation ending with him asking if he could "please her". (He was the one taking her to a remote location though. But this situation was not the worst, yet. I was just not prepared for the other spice scene, where her helping him undress is apparently voicing consent. And she describes: She was bleeding on him and would have gotten up to clean it, but he was in the middle of his pleasure and didn’t seem to notice it. What the hell did I just read? I regretted having eyes during that reading session. And later on he calls her "foolish child"- I mean yes, there is an age gap. Because he is a fifty something year old warlord and she is a century old storm spirit in the body of a woman in her early twenties (or so). Though, in my opinion, if you are in a relationship, you should respect each other and belittling your partner as a child, is something where my arm is cramping from agitatedly waving my red flag. Another thing I did not understand was the fact, that she was not allowed to be alone with one man, especially after dark. But riding around with Goodnight or hiking with her father-in-law-to-be alone is okay? Why is this rule only mentioned once and never established afterward? Could it be, that the world and its rules bend for the plot? Just an idea. During the story, there are several deaths of people one could cinsider the "main cast". And none of these did affect me in the slightest. Though I have to give the author one point, because I did not think, that she would really kill-kill Kyuzo. I would have thought there would be a "surprise, it was a trap" moment. Later on, there is a big comeback though. And to be honest, I have no idea, how this world works and how one can explain it lorewise. But after reading this: He had returned with a mortal body despite being cremated, and his memory of the in-between was missing. Ayame didn’t pretend to understand the black gate, magic remnant of the greater gods. I guess, neither did the author, or it will be explained in a later instalment? I think the idea of Ayame going to the inbetween to save someone, has lots of potential, but the tory hurries through and there are not really any obstacles. The sword to cut a portal is easily obtained, she immediatly figures how to cross the black gate and everyone is happy. Another thing that I quite disliked, was that some interesting plotpoints just happened off page. For example, the moment, when Ayame comes clean to Kyuzo and tells him about her being a storm spirit. I would not have picked this up, not thinking I would like it. In the end, it just was not for me. Non of the characters really grew on me, Sora would have had potential, but he did not get enough time to shine. And I was not presented with any moments that made me believe, that what I was told they were supposed to be, was true. In my opinion, the story idea, had so much potential! It was just, that I got the impression, that Ayame's and Kyuzo's plot armor was too strong and preditble. One good thing: usually, I do not like to discontinue book series, but since the last chapter basically spoilered everything I need to know about what will happen, I have closure. I think, if the author would have proofread her work, I might have been more appeased with my score. But this kind of "mistakes" are avoidable. If you take the time to write down your (good!) idea, and you expect readers to spend their time reading it, you should proof read your work at least. You cannot control whether they will like it or not, which is fine. But in my opinion basic editing is an authors way to firstly, show respect to their own work and indicate that they value their readers time (and money spent).
Buchinformationen
Beiträge
I finished this book. Somehow. And I have thoughts. And spoilers. Lately some friends of mine told me about a deline in book quality as in the lack of editing, thankfully, I did not have similar experiences. Until "Remember me" happened. As a little disclaimer: I loved the idea of the story and the approach of Reiko asking about her own story was creative. Entering chapter one, the confusion slowly began. Reiko was a storm spirit, and perhaps in the olden days, people used to pray to her much, but the weather hadn’t been a concern for hundreds of years. It had taken her nearly an eternity to save the five thousand ryo. So there were no storms for the last few hundered years? What kind of world is this? Shortly after we are introduced to the consept of "diviners", which I think is cool in theory, especially since there is one of those in the extended cast. Unfortunately, this person only uses their particular powers once. Eventhough, there were several situations in which throwing some fireballs would have been quite helpful. While explaining how diviners came to be, I stumbled upon one of my main problems with this book- the language. It could have used more polishing and editing, since it is quite repetitive at some points. For example: Humans with mystical powers, diviners, were incredibly rare, but they weren’t unheard of. In the mythology of the empire, the first emperor of Nara had been half divine and half mortal, the son of the Sun Goddess herself. His blood still flowed through his descendants, which was the entirety of Nara, and sometimes mortals exhibited the remnant of the power the emperor once held. They were called diviners, but Ayame had thought them extinct. More common was someone with truesight, a mortal who could see and hear spirits, but they didn’t possess the power to harm them. Or this paragraf, where Ayame describes his clothes two times in a row: Dressed in only a cotton bathrobe, she froze. Her mind was taking its time gathering itself. Long black hair—only bujin kept their hair long—and brown eyes that reflected the flicker of the candlelight like flakes of gold, he had a sharp nose that had been broken long ago and set a little crooked. He arched an eyebrow at her. His attire wasn’t fancy, only a cotton robe, but this wasn’t a public bathhouse—it was only for the Ishii lords and ladies. Later on, one can find this: They were coming up on a torii on the road. In the mortal world, the red wooden gates marked an entry to a sacred space such as a land belonging to a temple, and Ayame thought there was probably an old, abandoned shrine nearby. The spiritual gate, also called torii, was invisible to mortal eyes and marked the entryway between realms. (I did not shorten these quotes, this is exactly how it is in the book.) Fun fact about the diviners: Ayame knows one diviner, this is introduced quite early. In chapter 19 she states: "Ayame didn’t know what to do. She’d never encountered a diviner before." (Said diviner she knows is her bethrored.) Furthermore, there were some unusual sentences. Since English is not my first language, I started to doubt myself and send those to a friend of mine who studied anglistics, in order to figure out if the author used some highly elevated syntax, or if my intuition was right. We both agreed, that something feels off. Naming some: She wanted to go home alive was all, and in the meantime, make memories worth keeping. Neither Lord Kyuzo nor Misaki was addressing it, so Ayame didn’t bring it up. Rumors were just that, rumors. They swallowed souls, was what it was. “Just try not to visit too much trouble on Lord Kyuzo.” Other paragrafs I did not quite understand including this one: The prince contends with powers beyond our understanding, but a funny thing, he actually lost to Kyuzo. It was a great humiliation for the prince. I think he would have killed Kyuzo had the emperor not been there. Maybe I have the dumb, but if he lost against him- how did Noami think he would have been able to kill Kyuzo in that situation? Another thing that threw me off: the nicknames. They are very on the nose and not in a good way. He is funny? He is just Jester. He looks like a badger? He's Badger. He K.O. a lot of people? Goodnight, he is. Don't get me wrong, the idea of Kyuzo to introduce those nicknames is fine with me, but they just do not fit into the setting? Maybe the author should have considered using japanese expressions, since she said, she was inspired by japanese folklore. What I don't understand is how these nicknames, that are not always flattering, should show that Kyuzo is such a generous war lord. But the "just tell, don't show" mentality was something I personally did not liked, throughout the story. Apparently Kyuzo is a popular warlord with lots of respect from his men. And this respect is shown within the story, but I cannot recall a situation where I was convincingly shown, how he earned it. Something else, that I found awkward to read, were the spice scenes. To be honest, that is a general me-thing, while I am okay with one scene, I get annoyed if there are more and don't read books because of the spice but despite of it. Nevertheless, I can appreciate athors who write such scenes in a non-cringe-and-bearable way. "Remember me" made me want to forget. Starting with one of the most confusing build-ups. During the whole story, I could not quite understand, why they are supposed to have feelings for each other and why they fall for the other one. Suddenly they have a "I don't want to ruin you", "I can't take your maidenhood" (his words) conversation ending with him asking if he could "please her". (He was the one taking her to a remote location though. But this situation was not the worst, yet. I was just not prepared for the other spice scene, where her helping him undress is apparently voicing consent. And she describes: She was bleeding on him and would have gotten up to clean it, but he was in the middle of his pleasure and didn’t seem to notice it. What the hell did I just read? I regretted having eyes during that reading session. And later on he calls her "foolish child"- I mean yes, there is an age gap. Because he is a fifty something year old warlord and she is a century old storm spirit in the body of a woman in her early twenties (or so). Though, in my opinion, if you are in a relationship, you should respect each other and belittling your partner as a child, is something where my arm is cramping from agitatedly waving my red flag. Another thing I did not understand was the fact, that she was not allowed to be alone with one man, especially after dark. But riding around with Goodnight or hiking with her father-in-law-to-be alone is okay? Why is this rule only mentioned once and never established afterward? Could it be, that the world and its rules bend for the plot? Just an idea. During the story, there are several deaths of people one could cinsider the "main cast". And none of these did affect me in the slightest. Though I have to give the author one point, because I did not think, that she would really kill-kill Kyuzo. I would have thought there would be a "surprise, it was a trap" moment. Later on, there is a big comeback though. And to be honest, I have no idea, how this world works and how one can explain it lorewise. But after reading this: He had returned with a mortal body despite being cremated, and his memory of the in-between was missing. Ayame didn’t pretend to understand the black gate, magic remnant of the greater gods. I guess, neither did the author, or it will be explained in a later instalment? I think the idea of Ayame going to the inbetween to save someone, has lots of potential, but the tory hurries through and there are not really any obstacles. The sword to cut a portal is easily obtained, she immediatly figures how to cross the black gate and everyone is happy. Another thing that I quite disliked, was that some interesting plotpoints just happened off page. For example, the moment, when Ayame comes clean to Kyuzo and tells him about her being a storm spirit. I would not have picked this up, not thinking I would like it. In the end, it just was not for me. Non of the characters really grew on me, Sora would have had potential, but he did not get enough time to shine. And I was not presented with any moments that made me believe, that what I was told they were supposed to be, was true. In my opinion, the story idea, had so much potential! It was just, that I got the impression, that Ayame's and Kyuzo's plot armor was too strong and preditble. One good thing: usually, I do not like to discontinue book series, but since the last chapter basically spoilered everything I need to know about what will happen, I have closure. I think, if the author would have proofread her work, I might have been more appeased with my score. But this kind of "mistakes" are avoidable. If you take the time to write down your (good!) idea, and you expect readers to spend their time reading it, you should proof read your work at least. You cannot control whether they will like it or not, which is fine. But in my opinion basic editing is an authors way to firstly, show respect to their own work and indicate that they value their readers time (and money spent).