This is a YA fantasy taking place in an Asian fusion setting and incorporating a lot of Asian cultural elements, which is really cool to see.

The protagonist is in the lowest tier of a 3-tier caste system, where the highest people are animal form humans, the middle tier are people with animal and human features, and the lowest is full human. This is kind of weird and sometimes hard to imagine, but it sets the stage for a lot of interesting conversations about race: formation of racial hierarchy, fetishes, consolidation of power along racial lines.

This book does an excellent job of dealing with abuse narratives- for example, Lei’s best friend among the King’s concubines responds to the situation very differently and we see how they are each differently affected by the King’s manipulation. The strain in Lei’s and her friend’s relationship is handled really well and I am very invested in her friend’s journey in the coming books.

The romance in this is hit or miss for me. The relationship felt underdeveloped for the stakes at the end of the book, but I did like the romantic interest and I think the two characters work together. I’m hoping for more relationship development in the next books.

I think this book has set up a lot of interesting conversations- I am hoping the next books follow through with them/I am excited to see where they go.

Warning
There is actually a warning at the beginning of the book, (which is super cool!) but there are depictions and references to sexual violence.