I had high hopes for this, as Chinese history always interested me. And I enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t need my expectations. As this is marketed as a fantasy retelling of Milan, I expected more magic, but honestly it lacked that in my opinion. Mainly the pacing and the elaborated explanation of war tactics in the chapters concerning Ouyang and Esen made it that I had to withhold me from dropping it all together. Strong point was the fierce character Zhu and the underlying gender related questions. Like, did Zhu always identify as man, did she behave like a man taking someones identity, or do we characterize strong behavior from cis gender females as male behavior? I also loved that this book showed the LGBTQ+ representation and its plot was a mere masterpiece. I still would recommend this for people who are interested in Chinese history, war politics or are in search for books with LGBTQ+ representation. But do not start it if you are anticipating a fantasy book.