Great Book, but I have some Problems

Ardent Tears is a well crafted coming of age Story. I enjoyed listening and have been captivated for the most part of the story (Haha). Jokes aside, I think most aspects of this book are great, others I am not quite sure.

The story is placed in a wonderful World. Unfortunatley we don't get to see much of it but you know it's there and has history, culture and lore. So it's really good worldbuilding because it feels alive.

The Narrator enhances this feeling with great voices and diffrerent accents for different ethnic groups. Maybe you'll be slightly irritated by some breathers in the beginning, but this Problem settles in the first minutes.

So to the Story, Characters and Magic system. The Author manages to give personality and depth to most of the Important Characters and has an interseting Trope. Especially the Magic system itself with it's resonances and emotional aspects is intersting and new.

And here I have some issues. Of course the Magic System isn't a "this are the rules" type of Magic. But most of the time you only see the results of magic without understanding the underlying principles of it. You get some insight into the Main Charakter but what's with all the others and the place who is supposed to develope their strengths? I hope more is explained in the next book.

Furthermore I am unsure about some aspects during the developememt of the story. I don't want to say promising start but not a good ending, because that isn't true. But I think after the main arc ends, a lot of the build up momentum is lost and the Focus of the story shifts.

Let me explain. As the Author explains on reddit: "My writing of this story was partially inspired by my challenges with Borderline Personality and a desire to explore and represent both my sexuality and mental health in my work".
The Book benefits greatly from the Personal experiences and challenges of the author. Especially the Borderline Personality and mental Health part during the darker main arc lends authenticity and depth.

I am not a big fan on bisexual main characters but when it fits into the story I am okay with it. There is some focus on it in the beginning of the story but as I mentioned, after the main arc it is a much greater deal. I totally agree the part after the main arc is importand. But I can't imagine how someone who experienced what the MC did, just goes on and gets entangeld in an romantic affair so quickly.

The MC says she has changed a lot after this time but despite mentally being stronger she is pretty much the same like in the beginning.
I don't think this is bad beacaus she has interesting personality but i miss the "Hard time dealing with extensive trauma and coming back to her true self" part.

So I felt lost in the end because there was a long time one single focus to the story and after the main arc ended there was no time to decrease the momentum. It felt like a jump to everything is dealt with and now we can talk about romance. The whole bisexual discovery didn't feel like it would come out of the story and World. For me it was more like to make a point. Especially the last chapter felt like "in case you didn't got it" lecture.

To come to conclusion, I am not fully satisfied with the developement of the story and not a Fan of bisexual main Characters or general graphic depicture of intimacy in Audiobooks. Is it a bad Story? No. I still think there is a lot to be told, explored and seen in this World. Afterall I did enjoyed the story for most of the time and finished unreasonable fast.

So despite my cons and because I am one of the first to comment and won't discourage others from "only" 4 Stars, I will give 5.

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