The Dragon Wakes with Thunder

What a ride that was! When you finally read a book again which makes you feel so many positive and negative emotions at the same time! When you finally read a book again where you don't know how it ends until the very last page and you root for somebody until the very last word... This sure was not my last read from K.X. Song!

The Dragon Wakes With Thunder is the second book in a historical fantasy duology inspired by the Chinese folktale of Hua Mulan. I read the first book in this duology earlier this year, and while I ‘only’ rated that book 3.5 stars, I was still incredibly excited to get to read the sequel once it comes out. So, when I got the ARC I was beyond excited to read it. I was initially scared that I went into the book with my expectations set too high, but I quickly found I had nothing to worry about. I really loved reading this, and actually enjoyed it more than the previous book, which is rare as I’ve far too often read great first books with very mediocre sequels. One aspect of the sequel I was rather nervous about was the love triangle between Meilin, Sky and Lei. My issue was that I felt 0 chemistry between Meilin and Lei, even though it was pretty clear that this was the direction the story would go in. I did feel the chemistry between Meilin and Sky, but it was also very clear that they would never be able to have a healthy relationship. So I’m very happy that this book expanded that dynamics between these three, but especially between Meilin and Lei. I’m not generally a fan of love triangles, but this one, I felt, was genuinely well written and ends on a satisfying note. I’m still not a big fan of the random-English-nouns-as-first-names thing that is obviously in this book as well, but I did notice it less and less as the book went on. My biggest gripe - and if I’m being honest also the main reason why I’m not rating it 5 stars - is the fact that there is that there is exactly one queer character in the book that is more than just a name, and he dies at the end. Now, having a queer character die in your story isn’t automatically a bad thing, there are plenty of instances of this where the death feels ‘good’, for lack of a better term. Another book I read recently also had the gay characters die at the end, but in that case it felt almost cathartic, because it was clear that their deaths, specifically, were necessary, and there was no other way to resolve the story. That was not the case here. If you’re going to have your one and only queer character die at the end, I’d honestly prefer you didn’t include a queer character at all. So, yes I loved this book. It was wonderful to read and I finished it in 2 days, which is very unusual for me. But that ending just left a bad after taste in my mouth that I can’t quite get rid of. --- Thank you so much to Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC!