I need this to be good.
It was not good.

Slightly edited version. Original here .

Warning for slight spoilers, but I also didn’t get much further than 30%

Feeling a bit of a hater rn. I was gracious with 2 stars. I think this was my worst read this year. The fact that this is supposed to be an adult book is what pisses me off most.

Whoever responsible for marketing compared this to The Poppy War set her up. I guess thematically, maybe…? But the tone was just too different.

These are the similarities I gathered (possible pw spoilers):
Some sort of divine entity speaking to her and giving her corruptive destructive tendencies, elemental powers, bad position in society as a woman, running away from marriage, and probably a war to come.

Ignoring the comparison to The Poppy War and whether or not it’s adult, I found the book to be too juvenile, even for upper YA, which was very off-putting to me. It was difficult to take it seriously, and the writing felt like bad fanfiction. If that does not bother you, you may have a better time with this and actually get to the end.

Meilin has some super fighting skills for absolutely no reason at the very beginning of the book, and keeps going on about her kung fu, and how good she is. The author has her show off all the time with theatrical action scenes. The way the prose went into too much detail about her heroics was super cringe to me.

One day, she meets a Prince who starts flirting with her and tells her she’s faster and cleverer than soldiers. After having an internal monologue in the middle of the night, and replaying how she saved him (there really was no need for that, it was already cringe the first time), she decides she’s indeed smarter and more skilled (spoiler alert: she gets humbled). So, she decides to join the army. Getting out of her betrothal was an afterthought (it wasn’t even mentioned when she was making her decision).

While I did appreciate Meilin’s anger towards the sexist, patriarchal culture she was living in, I found it difficult to connect with her character. She mainly cared about herself, her future, and her fate as a woman.

I didn’t care about Meilin and there were practically no other characters to care for. Besides the Prince, she barely interacted with or had any close relationships with other characters. She’s supposedly friends with a fellow soldier, but they rarely spend time together on page. Her stepmother who she’s really connected with, soul sisters or something, was also immediately left behind with her abusive father.

There was hinting towards a romance, but it didn’t really sit right with me. Especially when he acted concerned after whipping her??? He might not be endgame for all I know. My point stands. Also his name was ridiculous. His brother's too.

In conclusion, I was dissapointed with this one and felt no desire to finish it.

Arc provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.