Butterfly Swords (Tang Dynasty, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 27, 2013 Sam rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed, 4-historical-romance, read-2013, authors-asian-descent-outside-asia

I usually prefer my brain candy in the form of historical romances set in Regency England, so had not been familiar with Jeannie Lin’s books. But she has me glad that I branched out. Butterfly Swords is a romance set in Tang Dynasty-ruled China. The fresh-to-me setting with Asian protagonists and wuxia elements inevitably recalled a “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” vibe, and that was a refreshing enough prospect to reel me in.

Essentially we have a road trip story. The emperor’s daughter, Ai Ling I usually prefer my brain candy in the form of historical romances set in Regency England, so had not been familiar with Jeannie Lin’s books. But she has me glad that I branched out. Butterfly Swords is a romance set in Tang Dynasty-ruled China. The fresh-to-me setting with Asian protagonists and wuxia elements inevitably recalled a “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” vibe, and that was a refreshing enough prospect to reel me in.

Essentially we have a road trip story. The emperor’s daughter, Ai Ling, is on the way to marry her betrothed, an influential warlord, to secure an alliance with her family. But she discovers that the warlord had betrayed the family and runs away, determined to alert her father back in the capital. As she gets into scrapes along the way, she meets up with a Western fighter/mercenary from the lost legion, Ryam, who helps her and ends up accompanying her on this journey. Love blooms and angst regarding their different stations in life ensues as they try to escape the warlord’s men to get to their destination.

You have your typical romance tropes here that together made for a pretty solid read. Lin’s prose is smooth and stays out of the way, which is a big hurdle that romance writers don’t always clear and why I am picky about trying out unfamiliar (to me) authors.

One area that has room for improvement, though, is the action; there was very little of it. The story just didn’t feel “full” enough. It focused on Ai Ling and Ryam running away from bad guys and falling in love—you can only do so much here, which is why it felt repetitive. Lin would’ve done well to have added variety by mixing it up a bit and showing what was happening beyond our hero and heroine. How was the warlord scheming as he sent his men to chase after the couple, for instance? This would’ve added some higher stakes and tension, fleshed out the story a bit more beyond what I felt was a “skimpiness” to the plot.

Ditto with character development. The hang-ups of both Ai Ling and Ryam hit the same one note over and over again, making it already tiresome by the second of half of the book. Ryam’s character especially needed more depth. He’s supposed to have his own inner conflicts and guilt and a bit of a tortured past, but Lin doesn’t get into this beyond a few cursory and vague allusions.

Apparently this was the first full-length novel for Lin, so I’ll give her a pass, because really this was a breezy, entertaining read. I’m hopeful that in subsequent books, she’s improved a bit more on the above weaknesses and I’m keen to check out one or two more of her stories to get lost in.
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Jul 17, 2018 Cheryl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, listened-to-it

3.75* Engaging. Dig the wuxia vibe, mixed with romance with an 'outlander'. I'd definitely read another one.
If set in a purely Court / Palace Life story without her swords, I might pass. But a strong female protagonist wielding kickass swords is cool. Enuf said.

Audiobook: Reader is quite good! ...more

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