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Location: United States

Member Since: Oct. 11, 2012

Amber Butler

Smashwords book reviews by Amber Butler

The Battle of Chibi on Aug. 23, 2013

The Battle of Chibi is an historical war novel much in the spirit of the Old Testament. It is written in such a way that the tone is indistinguishable from books like Chronicles and Kings. Since I don't normally read books like this, I am going to review it on the merit of the writing and the story, as reviewing it on my emotional experience while reading would be unfair. The beginning was slow, laborious, and frequently pointless. Too many extra characters were named who did not need to be named, the history of Chinese names could have been drastically shortened, and the explanation of characters (as at the beginning of a play) could have been easily left out, as it was meaningless since we didn't yet know the characters. At about the 25% mark, and then again at the 50% mark, it picked up quite a bit and became pretty epic. Most of the characters named were side characters and so it took a while to figure out who actually mattered and how they related to the story; I'm still not sure on several accounts. However, it felt very grand, and it was interesting and even at times fascinating to watch how these major storylines and battles unfolded through deceit, trickery, familial obligation, magic, and a certain prophetic Daoist. By the end of the story I felt pretty connected to half a dozen of the characters. I loved the way the woman warrior at the end handled herself and the obvious emphasis on family and honor, which felt authentic instead of obnoxiously stereotypical (as one would expect from a native writing an actual legend, as opposed to an old white guy writing about ninjas). If you like historical legends or war novels, pick up this unique epic. You're sure to enjoy it.