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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: Misogyny, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion
The way that Wu Zetian is written is ah idk how to explain it. She is incredibly selfish and uneducated. However, she has a lot of character growth in learning how politics, economics, and laws have been created. She also finally recognizes that other women exist, even though I don't think she ever gets to the point where she doesn't believe she's not the center of the world. I think this is pretty accurate of the average person though. Most of us are so wrapped up in our own thoughts and experiences, we forget that we exist in communities with others.
I believe it's important to critically think, so I do have a couple critques. Despite Zhao's AMAZING writting exploring the dismantling of gender, class, and capitalistic systems (and slightly ablism)-there is no exploration of dismantling powers that support race. Throughout the book, there is about two or three mentions of people with different skin colors, but there isn't a discussion about it at all. Now, I do get that American racism is different from other parts of the world's racism/colorism, but I geninuely doubt that a fictional world that has capitalism and sexism remains without racism/colorism. If this aspect was included, this book would have been a 5 star for me. It's also important to recognize the violence throughout both books. I don't believe that true governmental changes can occur without some violence, but I do believe real change has more love and more community in it. I think this series should have been a duology though. I'll 100% still read the third book, but I'll agree with other reviews that this story should have ended here. Also the end lmao, wild.
I loved that there was a call to action at the end of this book. Zhao starts and ends their book very beautifully. It's warmth to read trigger warnings, clarifications about the origins that are tied but not directly reflective of history, and clarifications about systematic change.
"It is not human nature to accept subjugation."
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Classism
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, Pregnancy
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Abortion
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy
Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, War
Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, War
Moderate: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Abortion
The political range in the first book is a lot more simplistic. I get the sense that, for this book, the author had to include a lot of detail for people to understand, but it just didn’t feel like organic conversation a lot of the time. And it just went on for so long, I was like, ok we get it already!! I think a lot of the detail of the middle of the book could have been cut and it would still make sense.
Even so, I am enchanted by the world building in both this book and its predecessor. I like how the characters are evil, petty, anxious, vengeful, … just very colorful and memorable. I look forward to the third book!
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Classism
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Deportation
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Abortion, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia