kne 's review for:

The Moon in the Palace by Weina Dai Randel

3.0

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It's always nice to read historical fiction about a non-Western woman, and Mei was a really likable character. I felt like Randel probably simplified a lot of the court traditions and relationships for an uninitiated reader, but there was still enough detail for me to paint a mental picture. Several years pass without much change, though the reader gets a sense of daily life in the court. I felt she could have done a better job writing about Mei's certain frustration and her static life and seemingly far unreachable destiny. She succeeds more in writing about a girl feeling alone and rudderless. The ending was a bit unsatisfying, partially because it felt tied up too quickly and partially because it was such a loosely tied knot. However, I think that's largely because it's the first half of a duology, and I'm really looking forward to the second book. I'd almost prefer they had published it as an 800-page tome, but I guess far fewer people would pick it up that way!