I enjoyed all the POVs in this story, and found myself excited to get back to other characters while also staying compelled with where I was. This story got a lot darker than I expected, which is saying a lot considering I expected the famine, war, etc. 

Even though it was obvious that Zhu and Ouyang's stories were set up juxtaposed to each other, and I picked up where Ouyang and Esen's storyline would eventually end up, I was very surprised by Zhu's action at the end of the novel. But, kinda loved that she went completely off the rails. I'm curious to see how the next novel moves forward.