Book Review | Heart of the Sun Warrior

Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan is a difficult book for me to review since I absolutely adored the first book in the duology. I came into its sequel wanting to love it equally as much, but what I was met with instead was a frustrating read.

I think my main issue is that the sequel feels more meandering and haphazardly strung together as if some of the sub plots detract from rather than support the main story. For instance, Xingyin continuously entrusts strangers with her life while, on the other hand, she’s still reeling from Wenzhi’s betrayal in the first book. This is inconsistent character writing to me. It doesn’t add up. I would presume that Xingyin would be more distrustful of others at this point and her poor decision-making feels more artificially set up to create unnecessary conflict than staying true to her character arc.

However, the story does finally pull it together and redeem itself in the final third act, and, I’ve got to say, the ending is beautifully bittersweet and left me misty eyed.

It just was a bumpy road getting there.

Thank you, NetGalley and Harper Voyager, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Details:

Publication Date : November 15, 2022

Publisher : Harper Voyager

IBSN : ‎0063031361

Pages : 480

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