3.5 stars

I have such conflicted feelings about this book.
I love Xifeng. Well, I loved her up until the end of the book. The plot was driven by her conflict and need. And then we reached the point where she gets what she wanted and she no longer felt conflicted by her action and it got boring. The climax of this book ended on p.283 and never regained momentum.
I wanted so badly to love this book.
That being said, I'm still hopeful for the sequel. I know Julie C Dao is an amazing writer and will do the rest of the story justice