GOD I THOUGHT THIS WAS A STANDALONE AND IT DOESNT EVEN COME OUT UNTIL JULY SO I HAVE TO WAIT FOREVER CHRISTTTTTTTTTT

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OH MYYYYYYY. I was enraptured by this beautiful cover and THE BOOK DELIVERED. This was great!

I read nearly 80% in one sitting before I had to force myself to sleep because it was 1:30 AM. Mulan retelling with extra feminist aspects PLUS spirit magic and a mysterious dragon speaking in your ear AND romance AND political intrigue ANDDDDD morally grey goodness? Yes pls thx

I loved Meilin and her unapologetic ambition, we support women’s wrongs! All of the characters were so interesting and multi-faceted, I could never guess their intentions which was stressful but thrilling. There were so many good twists, I just couldn’t stop reading, and every time I started to question a plot decision I was immediately proven wrong. NOICE.

The romance (PLURAL???) was fantastic. I loved Ren and Sky’s relationship and was having a great time with them until [REDACTED] showed up and I was like HUHHHHHHHH and I am SO INTRIGUED by him and really looking forward to seeing what happens in the sequel!

I did find the ending a teeeeny bit unsatisfying. I thought the spirit magic throughout was a little confusing and there’s a lot of unanswered questions there.

EDIT: ok ngl I lowered my rating bc I just tried to write a recap and truly could not remember or explain the plot or worldbuilding. Like idk wtf Lei was doing for this entire book, truly couldn’t tell you what the war was about. LMAO but still had a fun time while reading so