Take a photo of a barcode or cover
In all honesty, this could have been cut in almost in half and it probably would have been a much better read. The first half was just mostly unnecessary. The prose was getting so bogged down with all of the political explanations and issues being brought up. All of them are important issues and deserve to have their own space and be fully fleshed out, so when they are all forced into one space, it gets to be overwhelming, heavy handed, and then overly boring.
I was very close to DNF-ing this in the first half because of all of that and though the second half did get better, I don't know if it was necessarily worth it.
I did not know going into this that it was going to be a longer series. I was definitely under the impression that it was going to be a duology and would end with this book, but instead this one ends on a pretty big cliffhanger. This didn't bother me too much because I like longer series, but it definitely should have been marketed and noted as such so readers would know ahead of reading the book.
Finally, the actual plot and substance of the book is much different than the first one, which is fine, we were warned about that, but I feel like it literally took away everything that was good about the first one and just left this mess here instead. I loved the polyamorous relationship in the first book, but this one took both of those love interests out almost completely. I expected Li Shimin to be absent because of the events at the end of the first book, but Yizhi was still around and I definitely expected to see more of him and Zetian together than what we got. Instead, Yizhi was strictly a background character and couldn't even hold Zetian's hand or hug her at any point in the book. He also did something absolutely heinous and I don't know if even I can forgive him for it let alone Zetian.
Instead we have a new guy, the long ago emperor Qin Zheng who is kind of morally grey and starts off by hating Zetian. Now these are usually my favorite types of love interests and I did enjoy their romance, but I still felt too distant from it. I never knew how the characters actually felt about each other and kept second guessing if they even liked each other or if it was just because they were basically forced together. I don't know if that was the point or not, we'll probably have to finish the series before we know that for sure, but it was just a little too distant for me to fully get into it.
Anyway, I was very much looking forward to this book after the first one and I'm sad that it let me down so much. I do think I'll try to read the next one though whenever that comes out.
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, War
Moderate: Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Colonisation
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts
Graphic: Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Colonisation
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Violence, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape
Minor: Trafficking
The main character Zetian is an obviously flawed character who has risen from commoner prisoner to empress and now has to deal with balancing the politics of her new position as well as her relationship with the new emperor, while trying to protect the two men she loves (a polyamourous relationship).
I would have been interested to see Zetian fighting against true gods but I am curious to see where the third book will go in terms of introducing an intergalactic landscape and the challenges that come with it.
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, War, Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation
Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Medical trauma
Graphic: Misogyny, War
Moderate: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Confinement, Forced institutionalization
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Classism
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Rape
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, War