I absolutely love this historical Chinese inspired military fantasy. This book follows Rin Who is a young girl living in a very poor province Who takes an exam in order to escape her life and enrol in academics. However, acing the exams in order to get in the most prestigious military school is not her only hurdle. Being a dark skin peasant girl from the south is not easy since all her classmates come from prestigious wealthy families. Navigating through her new environment while trying to prevent being kicked out from the Academy is not easy and has to face many trials. That is, until the Federation that looks across the narrow sea advances. Suddenly everything she learned in school is put into practice. Finding out that she has shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people.

This is a book that although feel slow will keep you interested from the beginning. I was hooked after the first chapter. This is a book that has many many layers of it. On the surface it is a military story involving war and many other hardships that come with that. Under the surface there is a lot of discussion of politics, race, culture, misogyny and more. You can tell that the author did a lot of research and took a lot of Chinese historical influences to create a story. One of my favourite topics being about women in power. Although this book shows a lot of examples of women in power, women are still second class citizens and watching through Rins eyes as she battles these norms or witnesses them happening in front of here was eye opening. It’s a huge reminder that even though women they look like they’re in power, it doesn’t always reflect that on all women.

This story just has so many layers that it’s so difficult to describe. But it is absolutely addicting. As someone who also doesn’t read adult fantasy often, I actually found this one very easy to read. I absolutely love this authors writing style and expect that she will become an auto by author for me.

If you’re someone who loves Asian inspired fantasies and are looking to try out the adult genre I highly recommend this one. However, there are a lot of trigger warnings. This book can become very brutal especially to women and the author does a good job at being sensitive but also being raw when describing the scenes.

I also highly recommend the audiobook. If you are intimidated by this book especially with some of the Chinese influenced names that the audiobook may also be the route for you. The narrator doesn’t excellent job at distinguishing through the many characters voices and it was very enjoyable to listen to.

Although I am going to be taking a break before picking up the second book, just to cleanse my palate, I’m also very excited to dig into book 2!