I really wanted to love this one and it was just okay for me. There were a lot of things I really liked! Bad ass female main character fighting back against the status quo and patriarchy. Zetian was a morally grey character who pushed up against all the boundaries and demanded better for women and girls and we love to see it! Also…polyamorous relationship and not a love triangle in a YA book?!? Give me more. 

While I liked certain aspects a lot of things just didn’t work for me. The world building and character development were severely lacking for me. The magic system never fully got explained and I had a hard time visualizing what was happening in the battles. There seemed to be a lot of telling, not really showing in the characters and their relationships with each other. The pacing of the book also felt off. Parts of it really dragged and then other parts were really quick and would have benefited from being more fleshed out. 

Overall this was a good YA fantasy and I love a story based on Chinese history, which we don’t see a ton in traditional publishing. I just wanted a bit more from the story and execution.