IDK if this was boring because of the narrator or if the text itself was boring but either way, this was middling at best.

🎧 The narrator was really not for me. She has a very sedate, almost whispery voice. So everything seemed a bit uninteresting even when it was like, a sword fight. Barely any changes in voice for different characters which made it harder to follow, particularly since the POV switches quite a bit and kind of randomly (mid chapter and mid scene).

🌶️ 3/5 There were a couple explicit scenes but nothing very exciting (or maybe it was excitingly written, but the voice made it seem not exciting? I honestly can't tell.)

🏳️‍🌈✊ There's no gender or sexuality diversity. The book takes place in China and almost everyone in the story is Chinese. The MMC is a white westerner. The FMC comes from wealth and prestige, and the MMC is a wandering fighter with no family; while this is obviously class diversity, we barely see its repercussions because the two MCs spend most of the book alone with each other on the road and in hiding.

If there's one thing Jeannie Lin knows how to do well, it's create an atmosphere of tension and high stakes. This was perhaps my favorite aspect of the story. Ryam and Ai Li were on the run for the majority of the book. The story centers around political intrigue and family honor. Both Ryam and Ai Li are very much self-sacrificing characters, which adds a distinct layer of complication to their romantic relationship - especially towards the end of the book. Ai Li has run away from her arranged marriage after learning of her fiancé's potential involvement with her brother's death. The connection between MCs fell into the realm of insta-lust/insta-love, and I think in the context of the story and its heightened adrenaline it made sense. This book did very little to endear a reader to Li Tao, Ai Li's betrothed and the character behind all of the military and political scheming. I am especially curious to see how their storyline plays out in book 2.

I was confused in the beginning when Ryam's physical description was outlined before realizing he was not an Asian character. This may have been easier to distinguish through eyeball reading as opposed to the audiobook, which was the format I chose. Once I understood that the term "barbarian" was referencing a unique group of people from the West (somewhere in Europe), it made more sense. I did have to do some Googling to gain better context for this bit of information.

I love Jeannie Lin's prose and scene-setting, and thoroughly enjoyed the political machinations of her Tang Dynasty backdrop. The romance, however, just left me a bit bored. There was a lot of wandering - literally - for the majority of the book, and it felt aimless at several points. I have already started the next book in the series, though, because the characters who return as main characters in book two are so promising. Looking forward to reading more of the Tang Dynasty series.

Felt so dated and I didn’t like the virgin princess-experienced barbarian dynamic. 

I've been wanting to read this for a while and the adventure romance of it all did not disappoint!! The dynamic between Ai Li and Ryam is really well fleshed out and Jeannie Lin does an excellent job of showing where the puzzle pieces of their relationship fit. Minor point off for what I felt like was a super convenient ending and unexplained minor character development.