The Girl King (The Girl King, #1)

by Mimi Yu

This book has a lot of potential, but unfortunately, it is also a pretty generic YA fantasy novel. I find it hard to describe my feelings about this book. I think it has a very intriguing world and history, while the characters are all a bit one-dimensional. It also relies on a lot of tropes, while it stays unique on other aspects.

I really enjoyed the complex relationship between Lu and Min and how the people around them shaped their relationship so much. I thought that Min was a very interesting character, very naive as well, but complex and struggling at the same time. Lu, on the other hand, seemed like a generic YA fantasy badass heroine. I did not notice any character development and the romance plot was extremely annoying. There was no tension between them nor any relationship that hinted at more than just friendship. I wanted to care about Nok, but I couldn't. I guess he is one of these characters that do everything so extremely well, that you just know he is good and, to be honest, pretty boring. He goes on this journey with Lu, has an interesting gift, but does not have an interesting plotline.

My main problems with the characters are that they were not affected after life-changing moments. For example, Lu kills for the first time, and she does not kill just anyone, but the brother of someone she loves. She is maybe shaken for what, one paragraph? Afterward, we hear nothing about it anymore. Also not about the fact that one of her best friends/handmaidens may have betrayed her. At least, her family did. Later on, Nok finds out that his sister is still alive, which was not even shocking to the reading because of all the foreshadowing. Nok is confused for one paragraph, and that's that. They both accept it and live on. After a day or so, no awkward dialogues or thoughts about how they cannot believe it, no, they just accept it. And at last, when Lu decides to accept Prince Jin's offer to marry him, she just accepts it without any other thought. As if that is no big deal.
I must admit, I think this was done a lot better towards the end of the book where Lu finds out that Min has changed so much that she does not recognize her anymore. Also, Min does seem to remember the things that happened to her for a longer time and her character is influenced by these actions.

Personally, I think that the plot was really predictable and the romance really annoying because it felt fake. However, this story does have a lot of potential. The history of the world is pretty well-developed and there are a lot of ethnicities and myths that I would like to see explored further in the rest of this series. Min and Nok's sister are also characters that I would be interested to read more about since these have the most interesting characters and plotlines. I also believe that Lu and Min's mother could be an interesting character if explored well further. Unfortunately, Brother (the monk), Nok, and Prince Jin are more prominent characters that I think are not the most interesting ones.

I will probably continue this series once the next books have come out, but it won't be a series that I am waiting desperately for.

Note that there is some controversy about this book regarding the racist slur for the made-up ethnicities. Personally, I believe that the book shows that it is bad, without putting too much attention to it, and showing that this still happens in the world everywhere. There are racist people, unfortunately, and it is not the book's job to solve this problem nor to portray a world that is perfect.
I also saw a review stating that it is hypocritical of the author to have characters call people from other ethnicities 'pink-skinned' since people from Asia don't like it to be called yellow-skinned. Isn't that just the point? Seeing it in this book can make people realize that it is offensive, and hopefully apply that in their own lives and think before they say anything like that.
I am not stating that this book is not controversial since there is a scene that is quite questionable, but portraying racism in a book without glorifying it, is, in my opinion, realistic and can put people to think more about their own actions. It becomes problematic when the racism is glorified.