Some bits/ideas of worldbuilding and a central sibling relationship showed some promise for this book, but overall, I thought it fell flat. The time jumps accelerated romances and bonds that should’ve gotten the chance to organically develop, I was expecting more insight on certain parts of the world(especially the political revolution!), and it ended abruptly. Thirty-five years were covered in under 240 pages, and the skips made the story hard to follow at times.

But! I liked that we had a queernormative world, and the fusion of Wuxia-esque storytelling and western fantasy made for an interesting setting. Akeha’s self-discovery in the beginning deftly balanced their inner thoughts with the faster pace from the shorter page count. (Proof that short gender discovery arcs *can* be meaningful—even if it’s only a bit—and not sidelined, actually! Targeted post.) 

The second novella in this series seems more interesting based off of the summary and some of the reception, so I might check it out? However, I cannot say I’m excited to return to this world.