Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: July 11th, 2023
Pages: 448 (Audio: 9Hr. 30Min.)
Publisher: Tor Books (Macmillan Audio)
My Rating: DNF
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle’s Ebony Gate is a female John Wick story with dragon magic set in contemporary San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Emiko Soong belongs to one of the eight premier magical families of the world. But Emiko never needed any magic. Because she is the Blade of the Soong Clan. Or was. Until she’s drenched in blood in the middle of a market in China, surrounded by bodies and the scent of blood and human waste as a lethal perfume.
The Butcher of Beijing now lives a quiet life in San Francisco, importing antiques. But when a shinigami, a god of death itself, calls in a family blood debt, Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate that holds back the hungry ghosts of the Yomi underworld. Or forfeit her soul as the anchor.
What’s a retired assassin to do but save the City by the Bay from an army of the dead?”
My Review:
I think this might be a case of just not for me? I didn’t really feel any kind of connection to the main character. I had a difficult time getting grounded into the story world. And the pacing of the plot was rather slow in the beginning. All of these things combined and I just wasn’t feeling compelled to continue reading. One particular issue I had was that I listened to the audiobook and there were a lot of non-English words used that I wasn’t really able to understand or follow like I would have been able to if I was reading a physical copy. I didn’t have any issues with the narrator or narration style itself, just the content and context of the book. I do think there is definitely an audience for this book, it just wasn’t me. I’ve decided not to leave a star rating because I DNF’d it so I don’t think it would be entirely fair. I didn’t hate it or think it was terrible, I just couldn’t get into it. With so many books and so little time… y’all know how it goes. It just wasn’t great for me and there was nothing that made me want to “keep turning the pages” (so to speak since I was listening). I think using John Wick as a descriptor will end up being a huge marketing mistake. Those are some big guns to fill.
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I love a good book discussion. 🙂
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