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alyssadorn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I read this in one sitting— I couldn’t stay away!! The angst, the pining, the anguish!This book made me feel, and by the second chapter I was captivated by the characters and wanted to know everything about them and what would happen next. The longing and sorrow and passion and intrigue were so visceral! I felt bereft just reading about their past while knowing how their present looks, sorrowful about the FMC’s past and family, intrigued by what betrayal they kept referencing, enraptured by the story of how they met and fell in love, compelled by their clear pining and worry over each other even through their anger— and moreover I felt these things because I truly felt that both of them were justified in their emotions— their anger and longing and sorrow and everything. I couldn’t fully blame either and I felt for them both.
The book is different from most historical romance— it almost seems more fantasy-like in its high stakes and how it reminds me of Throne of Glass with such a vicious FMC with a past sprinkled with trauma and devastation, but it also has an MMC so down bad I was obsessed with their dynamic together— very black cat/ golden retriever but with nuance. The writing style is also incredibly evocative; the author so clearly and subtly SHOWS readers what the characters are doing and feeling even when those feelings might not be clear to the characters themselves yet.
I also really liked how the story switches between now (1891) and 8 years before to allow readers to unravel the mystery of the main characters’ relationship as well as their individual pasts. We are allowed to see through both of their eyes not only with the anger and complications of the present, but also the pining and emotional intensity of their first meeting (and some really top-notch banter), and then see how the edges of past and present emotions blur. I found myself trying to guess how and when they would learn certain revelations about each other!
The sheer number of coincidences was a bit unbelievable, especially having the prologue and first chapter back to back each featuring the FMC running into a man she thought was dead, but I liked that the author addresses the oddity by having the FMC not believe it either at first, and then the coincidences do play into the themes of fate more and more as the book continues so it makes more sense in the broader context of the story. And I actually grew to like the coincidences because it made their lives and their fates feel so intertwined that it heightened the intrigue and dramatic suspense when we as an audience knew something that they did not about just how connected they are.
I really love the visceral nature of the descriptions, too; “a hard, swift stare that made her feel as if someone had pushed her head underwater” and I immediately felt the “what had Leighton Atwood said to [his fiancé]? Every woman before you was a wrong woman” 😭
And “he looked at Catherine now. Pain suffused her, pain that had nothing to do with her injury— pain complicated with a twist of pleasure, like a drop of blood whirling and expanding in a glass of water.”
The depth of their feeling is described in a way that truly shows us how they feel; for example, “[she] would fade from mind, long enough for him to almost believe that she no longer mattered to him. To almost cease turning sharply in the street when a dark-haired woman of similar figure and gait passed by.”
I also love a book with a badass FMC who can easily kill a man but has made mistakes in her past and who has felt true devastation. Combine that with her running into the man who caused the devastation, who she thought was dead, who betrayed her and who she regrets killing, who now very clearly hates her, and it’s a recipe for a book I’m going to love.
And the way he’s pained to see the fire has gone out of her eyes!! 😭😭🙌🙌🙌 so good.
The moment I realized how down bad I was for the MMC was a moment showing how down bad he was for the FMC— The way he’s depicted in the past as revering her and how he recognized and loved her strength, recounting the one time she was hurt as “the first and only time he had ever had the care of someone stronger than himself” and that “he had been driven with the need to see her restored to her former glory” Gahhh too good. It’s so clear he can’t stop caring about her even as he tries to hate her (“was she injured? Was that why she had looked so fragile?”)— the author competently and subtly shows everything he’s feeling when even he does not yet recognize those feelings, at the same time as showing how good of a man he is and how in awe of her he was (and you better believe I love a man who worships at his lover’s feet). He would beg to have her knife at his throat and I love it.
I also really loved the queer representation; even if it was dead side characters’ plot, it still felt lovely and sorrowful and so important to the main characters’ lives and plots.
Lines that made me FEEL:
“You want someone to look after you?” “Sometimes,” she said, her heart thudding.
SO REAL!!
Oof these lines are making me feel things!! “He regarded her not as a mere girl, but as if she were his Rubicon, a boundary that, once crossed, would alter history.”
“For a moment it felt as if they stood on two sides of the Milky Way, separated by all the stars in the sky but without any flock of magpies to bridge the distance between them” 😭😭😭 and the way that line is between the quote about love that’s on the wedding invitation and what he told her 8 years before— “I am already yours. Forever.” ??? Devastating. 😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Child death
Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Abandonment
Minor: Suicide and Sexual violence
yourbookishbff's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This was a reread for me, and, again, a five-star reading experience. Sherry Thomas excels in using dual timeline/time slips to slowly reveal character backstory and heighten the suspense, and this dual timeline is particularly devastating. This story of two unlikely people brought together by circumstance is explicitly a fated romance, and with its lightly fantastical wuxia elements and chi-based magic, the world feels soft around the edges in a way that fits such a sweeping story of star-crossed spies and unearthly villains. This hits so many of my favorite beats - second-chance romance, hidden identity, on-page declarations of fidelity, and the list goes on (and on). I highly recommend reading both installments in this duology, and honestly they can be read in any order (The Hidden Blade is a prequel to this story and shows our two characters as they grow up and their paths begin to merge). Please note content warnings on this one - I have included additional detail for one potentially triggering scene.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Sexual content
Minor: Infidelity
Child death: there is on-page infant death. It is alluded to from the very start of the book, so it is less a reveal and more a flashback of events. The baby's death is at the hands of our supernaturally powerful villain, and is not realistic or likely (as a parent, this made it far less triggering for me than death-while-sleeping, death due to an accident, death due to illness, etc.). It is tragic, but I personally feel that it is not gratuitously so. For some readers, though, this is understandably a topic they will avoid entirely, and I want to note it here for that reason!yourbookishbff's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Pregnancy
heydebigale's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this duology SO much. I’d definitely recommend reading The Hidden Blade first.
This is an friends-to-enemies-to-lovers second chance romance with elements of magical realism due to the martial arts written in the style of the wuxia genre.
This book is fairly violent so definitely check content warnings.
I love nearly everything Sherry Thomas writes, but this is my favorite yet.
Notes: takes place in north-western, China and London, England. Catherine/Ying-Ying is Chinese and Leighton is English.
This is an friends-to-enemies-to-lovers second chance romance with elements of magical realism due to the martial arts written in the style of the wuxia genre.
This book is fairly violent so definitely check content warnings.
I love nearly everything Sherry Thomas writes, but this is my favorite yet.
Notes: takes place in north-western, China and London, England. Catherine/Ying-Ying is Chinese and Leighton is English.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Child death, and Violence
megatza's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Angst-filled, wuxia inspired, Victorian Era romance. Largely closed door, but achingly romantic.
It's *not* for everyone, and it will likely make you cry. But so beautiful.
It's *not* for everyone, and it will likely make you cry. But so beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
bookfortbuilder's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Sexism, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation and Murder
Minor: Racism
paperbackstacks's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death
jlovesromance's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
megloveswords12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Violence
militantlyromantic's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Before I start this review, MAJOR CW: infanticide.
I've been trying to figure out how to describe this book and, ironically, words are coming up short. It's sweeping and hella emotional and with few nitpicks, a really rock solid piece.
The female protag, Catherine or Ying-Ying, depending on what country she's in, is the daughter of a Chinese concubine and a Scottish man who died shortly after her birth. Her mother became the wife of a governor and died when Ying-Ying was around ten. One of the things I love is that neither the mother, nor any other women who engage in or live by any type of sex work are considered lesser anywhere in the text. They are actually commonly used as spies and other agents because of their recognized value. Her mother is remembered for numerous artistic abilities and other valued skills.
Ying-Ying is raised by a governess figure (a master thief, it's not actually clear how she ends up in this role) as a martial artist, and tutored by an Englishman in English and other Western information. When she resists being raped by her oldest step-brother, it sets off a series of events in which the English tutor is killed by a second step-brother. This, along with some other plot elements, ends in her disguising herself as a young man and acting as an information courier for her step-father (who is not a total shit, unlike his two sons).
It is while she is out acting in this capacity that she meets "The Persian." Aka, our male protag, Captain Leighton Atwood, who is not Persian even just a tiny bit, but is passing as while mapping Chinese Turkestan for the British Raj as a counteroffensive against Russia's apparent intent to come through the Asiatic continent.
One of the things I love about this relationship is that Atwood is pretty hard up for Ying-Ying the moment he meets her. (And he sees through the disguise almost immediately, but never calls her on it.) But he doesn't even attempt to get in her pants. Rather, he takes care of her. He finds food for her, and tucks her in, and does all these tiny things that nobody has ever bothered to do for her and she is absolutely slain by his kindness.
Unfortunately, after they eventually become lovers, a miscommunication leads to him leaving her, thinking her an agent for the Chinese government and preying on him. As he leaves her, she's mad enough that she gives him a "salve" that is actually poison and spends the next eight years thinking she has killed him and feeling deeply shitty about that. Because, on top of the fact that her anger wears off pretty quickly, turns out she's pregnant.
Tragically, two months after giving birth to the baby girl, the step-brother who has sworn vengeance on her due to Reasons, finds her and kills the child.
All of this plays out in flashbacks that take place in between the current action, eight years later, wherein Ying-Ying has gone to England to look for jade tablets her step-father needs. Because this is a romance, and this is how romance works, she almost immediately meets Atwood, who has just become betrothed to another woman.
One of my very few problems with this book is that the woman, Annabel Chase, ends up being a villain, giving away Ying-Ying's location to her enemy, whom Annabel well knows will kill Ying-Ying. This honestly felt unnecessary, particularly since there was another character that just as easily could have done so and would have made as much sense. It felt like an outdated trope for trope's sake.
Which is odd, because so much of this book does not fall into that. Even though there are dual POVs, this is really Ying-Ying's story. The HEA requires resolution of her family issues as much as it does Atwood giving up England (for the most part) to marry her in China, take on her life. Even when things are at their worst between them, Atwood isn't cruel or hateful to Ying-Ying, and for the most part, neither is she to him.
Overall, though, this is moving and both main characters are people you not only want to spend time with, but wish to know more about. There's a lot about this book that is different than other histroms set at the time without upsetting the norms of the genre. I enjoyed it muchly.
I've been trying to figure out how to describe this book and, ironically, words are coming up short. It's sweeping and hella emotional and with few nitpicks, a really rock solid piece.
The female protag, Catherine or Ying-Ying, depending on what country she's in, is the daughter of a Chinese concubine and a Scottish man who died shortly after her birth. Her mother became the wife of a governor and died when Ying-Ying was around ten. One of the things I love is that neither the mother, nor any other women who engage in or live by any type of sex work are considered lesser anywhere in the text. They are actually commonly used as spies and other agents because of their recognized value. Her mother is remembered for numerous artistic abilities and other valued skills.
Ying-Ying is raised by a governess figure (a master thief, it's not actually clear how she ends up in this role) as a martial artist, and tutored by an Englishman in English and other Western information. When she resists being raped by her oldest step-brother, it sets off a series of events in which the English tutor is killed by a second step-brother. This, along with some other plot elements, ends in her disguising herself as a young man and acting as an information courier for her step-father (who is not a total shit, unlike his two sons).
It is while she is out acting in this capacity that she meets "The Persian." Aka, our male protag, Captain Leighton Atwood, who is not Persian even just a tiny bit, but is passing as while mapping Chinese Turkestan for the British Raj as a counteroffensive against Russia's apparent intent to come through the Asiatic continent.
One of the things I love about this relationship is that Atwood is pretty hard up for Ying-Ying the moment he meets her. (And he sees through the disguise almost immediately, but never calls her on it.) But he doesn't even attempt to get in her pants. Rather, he takes care of her. He finds food for her, and tucks her in, and does all these tiny things that nobody has ever bothered to do for her and she is absolutely slain by his kindness.
Unfortunately, after they eventually become lovers, a miscommunication leads to him leaving her, thinking her an agent for the Chinese government and preying on him. As he leaves her, she's mad enough that she gives him a "salve" that is actually poison and spends the next eight years thinking she has killed him and feeling deeply shitty about that. Because, on top of the fact that her anger wears off pretty quickly, turns out she's pregnant.
Tragically, two months after giving birth to the baby girl, the step-brother who has sworn vengeance on her due to Reasons, finds her and kills the child.
All of this plays out in flashbacks that take place in between the current action, eight years later, wherein Ying-Ying has gone to England to look for jade tablets her step-father needs. Because this is a romance, and this is how romance works, she almost immediately meets Atwood, who has just become betrothed to another woman.
One of my very few problems with this book is that the woman, Annabel Chase, ends up being a villain, giving away Ying-Ying's location to her enemy, whom Annabel well knows will kill Ying-Ying. This honestly felt unnecessary, particularly since there was another character that just as easily could have done so and would have made as much sense. It felt like an outdated trope for trope's sake.
Which is odd, because so much of this book does not fall into that. Even though there are dual POVs, this is really Ying-Ying's story. The HEA requires resolution of her family issues as much as it does Atwood giving up England (for the most part) to marry her in China, take on her life. Even when things are at their worst between them, Atwood isn't cruel or hateful to Ying-Ying, and for the most part, neither is she to him.
Overall, though, this is moving and both main characters are people you not only want to spend time with, but wish to know more about. There's a lot about this book that is different than other histroms set at the time without upsetting the norms of the genre. I enjoyed it muchly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Child death
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