i liked this book best when zetian was absolutely ruthless, especially at the end. i wish the author had embraced those dark themes more. otherwise, it was hard to care about her or any of the other characters, even if the poly romance made me quite happy. the action was also super fun!! maybe just because i really, really love mech robots, but beyond that the chi system was very cool as well and not so confusing, as some magic systems can become. anyways, i have pretty high hopes that since this was a debut novel, the second book will be better!

also, a big plus- content warnings at the front of the book!