Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.13 AVERAGE
4.13 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Been waiting for a female protagonist like Zetian - she's unhesitating and in control. Says what she thinks and goes after what she wants. Super refreshing compared to the usual morass of indecision and passivity, even in books praised as super feminist. Ironically, I still wouldn't call this a super feminist book. Zetian is the only major female characters, and apparently no other woman she meets shares her depth of frustration with the patriarchal system. Shame. The villains were also just kind of there. Not well developed or particularly interesting. The writing feels very YA despite the dark tone and content - passable but not that impressive. Good book overall, but needed more rounds of editing.
I don't care for polyamory but it wasn't really a major part of the book. When I saw the LGBT tag, I hoped that meant sapphic, but alas. On the bright side, I've now read my first true love triangle. Not sure how I feel about the plot twist.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was pretty excited for this book because I had seen a few of the author's Youtube videos before and not only do they make decent criticisms about East Asian representation in media but they seem to be quite the Chinese history buff as well. I was really hoping this would be something like The Poppy War — an exciting and engaging history fantasy.
Unfortunately, it became clear that Zhao wasn't as interested in historical retellings or meticulous world-building, but even when tried to reconfigure my expectations to be more standard to YA pleasure-reading this book made me super frustrated.
There is absolutely no nuance or subtlety in this book and I would only really recommended reading this if you wanted to go on some feminist wish-fulfillment power-trip (which is fine, it just doesn't quite make for memorable or impactful literature). Zetian's thoughts fit so cleanly in the framework of modern mainstream feminism that she reads more like a 21st women who was suddenly dumped into a patriarchal monarchy rather than a woman was actually born into such a society and worked to unlearn her upbringing. Zetian/Zhou will also take 3-5 paragraph detours every few chapters to hop on their soapbox and give super surface-level takes on the themes of the book (patriarchy is bad, polyamory is valid, sex is not shameful etc.), which I found super jarring. Everything you are meant to take away from this book is beaten over your head rather than being slowly absorbed through the strength of narrative.
I was also really excited for this book because I wanted to see a "bad" Walter White-esque heroine whose voice is explored and given legitimacy rather than being immediately villainize and dismissed, but all of the potential for emotional and moral complexity is lost here because all of Zetian's acts of violence and sadism is portrayed as vicariously cathartic without any exploration of the toll it takes on her, her friends, and her world. Violence from Zetian and her friends is fun and badass and violence from her enemies is horrific and unforgivable, and that's all it seems like the author really has to say on that subject.
I also really did not vibe with Zhou's writing. It felt really juvenile with its clunky, inelegant usage of adjectives and adverbs ("his designer silk robes contrast absurdly with the weathered roughness of my tunic") and read more like a child trying to tell a story on the spot rather than a published author whose novel had been through several editing rounds. The character's speech patterns were syntactically very modern ("...because we would desecrate them with, I don't know, our female wickedness or something"), which is more of a stylistic choice than anything, but personally I felt like it made the already unrefined writing even worse.
In honesty, I think that the author came up with a list of character archetypes (all-powerful girlboss, sexy misunderstood bad boy), tropes (a love triangle but polyamorous? :0), and themes (we are the real colonizers??) she wanted to explore and plopped a few cursory summaries on the pages instead of taking the time to genuinely explore the interplay of any of these ideas on a deeper level (how do people who live in a society with a super narrow view on marriage and romance come to acknowledge their queerness and learn to express it outside the parameters they were taught? to what extent can we blame women who perpetuate the misogynistic lessons they were taught? how does it affect parenthood when the easiest way to elevate yourself out of poverty is to sentence your child to a brief period of stardom then an early death? we will never know).
On a more positive note, even though I had zero investment in any of the characters or the plot by the end of the book, I can't say reading this was tedious at any point. For the most part, I thought Zhou did a good job of choosing which scenes to linger in and which ones to fast-forward through, so perhaps this book was truly just meant to be a fun piece of YA with more diverse representation and my impression was marred by the expectation that it would be something more.
Unfortunately, it became clear that Zhao wasn't as interested in historical retellings or meticulous world-building, but even when tried to reconfigure my expectations to be more standard to YA pleasure-reading this book made me super frustrated.
There is absolutely no nuance or subtlety in this book and I would only really recommended reading this if you wanted to go on some feminist wish-fulfillment power-trip (which is fine, it just doesn't quite make for memorable or impactful literature). Zetian's thoughts fit so cleanly in the framework of modern mainstream feminism that she reads more like a 21st women who was suddenly dumped into a patriarchal monarchy rather than a woman was actually born into such a society and worked to unlearn her upbringing. Zetian/Zhou will also take 3-5 paragraph detours every few chapters to hop on their soapbox and give super surface-level takes on the themes of the book (patriarchy is bad, polyamory is valid, sex is not shameful etc.), which I found super jarring. Everything you are meant to take away from this book is beaten over your head rather than being slowly absorbed through the strength of narrative.
I was also really excited for this book because I wanted to see a "bad" Walter White-esque heroine whose voice is explored and given legitimacy rather than being immediately villainize and dismissed, but all of the potential for emotional and moral complexity is lost here because all of Zetian's acts of violence and sadism is portrayed as vicariously cathartic without any exploration of the toll it takes on her, her friends, and her world. Violence from Zetian and her friends is fun and badass and violence from her enemies is horrific and unforgivable, and that's all it seems like the author really has to say on that subject.
I also really did not vibe with Zhou's writing. It felt really juvenile with its clunky, inelegant usage of adjectives and adverbs ("his designer silk robes contrast absurdly with the weathered roughness of my tunic") and read more like a child trying to tell a story on the spot rather than a published author whose novel had been through several editing rounds. The character's speech patterns were syntactically very modern ("...because we would desecrate them with, I don't know, our female wickedness or something"), which is more of a stylistic choice than anything, but personally I felt like it made the already unrefined writing even worse.
In honesty, I think that the author came up with a list of character archetypes (all-powerful girlboss, sexy misunderstood bad boy), tropes (a love triangle but polyamorous? :0), and themes (we are the real colonizers??) she wanted to explore and plopped a few cursory summaries on the pages instead of taking the time to genuinely explore the interplay of any of these ideas on a deeper level (how do people who live in a society with a super narrow view on marriage and romance come to acknowledge their queerness and learn to express it outside the parameters they were taught? to what extent can we blame women who perpetuate the misogynistic lessons they were taught? how does it affect parenthood when the easiest way to elevate yourself out of poverty is to sentence your child to a brief period of stardom then an early death? we will never know).
On a more positive note, even though I had zero investment in any of the characters or the plot by the end of the book, I can't say reading this was tedious at any point. For the most part, I thought Zhou did a good job of choosing which scenes to linger in and which ones to fast-forward through, so perhaps this book was truly just meant to be a fun piece of YA with more diverse representation and my impression was marred by the expectation that it would be something more.
Loved the first half, pushed through a quarter more but just got bored and didn’t feel any more interest in where the story was going. Over all interesting concept though
Just wasn't feeling it. I'll probably come back to finish it someday
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
OK, did I think this was the pinnacle of literature? No. Did I have a fabulous time? Yes. I listened to the audiobook all in one day and the fast pace made it easy to keep on and find out what happens next.
I was definitely ready for a story featuring female rage and liked reading from the perspective of a sort of morally gray character. The added historical aspects of oppression against women lent credibility to the actions and reasoning and I found it interesting, if not heartbreaking, paired with a "futuristic" setting. The foot binding description was horrifying and unexpected and it's worse when you know it was real.
For the plot, it felt like all the millennial greatest hits that was designed to be wired straight into the nostalgia center of your brain. Transformers mecha suits & aliens? Check. Pokemon types and evolutions? Check. A "Hunger Games" fake couple dressing up & putting on a show & doing a propaganda tour? Also check. It just needed some magic wands or some shit to complete the set.
I also really appreciated the fact that the love triangle was an ACTUAL triangle and that the romance was allowed to develop in support of the plot with the battles. It was strictly closed door, so I even wanted more of it! That was the fun fluffy bits.
The ending did feel like it came about REAL quick and maybe didn't give the characters enough time to really allow for their quick switch to taking-over-the-world ambitions. But, I'm here for the "ARE WE THE BADDIES???" reveal at the end. You knew it was coming. There had to be colonizer themes in here somewhere, too!
I was definitely ready for a story featuring female rage and liked reading from the perspective of a sort of morally gray character. The added historical aspects of oppression against women lent credibility to the actions and reasoning and I found it interesting, if not heartbreaking, paired with a "futuristic" setting. The foot binding description was horrifying and unexpected and it's worse when you know it was real.
For the plot, it felt like all the millennial greatest hits that was designed to be wired straight into the nostalgia center of your brain. Transformers mecha suits & aliens? Check. Pokemon types and evolutions? Check. A "Hunger Games" fake couple dressing up & putting on a show & doing a propaganda tour? Also check. It just needed some magic wands or some shit to complete the set.
I also really appreciated the fact that the love triangle was an ACTUAL triangle and that the romance was allowed to develop in support of the plot with the battles. It was strictly closed door, so I even wanted more of it! That was the fun fluffy bits.
The ending did feel like it came about REAL quick and maybe didn't give the characters enough time to really allow for their quick switch to taking-over-the-world ambitions. But, I'm here for the "ARE WE THE BADDIES???" reveal at the end. You knew it was coming. There had to be colonizer themes in here somewhere, too!
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
my thoughts about this book are so complicated: the prose is just okay, the concept is fantastic (but the execution of that concept is just okay), and i think for a book about the trauma and horror of being a woman it spends too much time on men. despite all of that, it has some scenes that were stuck in my head for days. it's a fun read, despite not being a life changing one.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
wht fhe fuck