Zephyr was amazing, don't get me wrong, but Crow - okay, this probably doesn't speak too much to my intelligence quotient but seriously, I kind of fell in love with him.
Illogical attractions to fictional characters aside, the author'd worldbuilding was pretty good for YA, and I definitely appreciated the Asian representation, although some plots twists felt slightly... forceful? To avoid spoilers, I won't go into too much detail about said plot twists, but I felt like the end of the book, especially, left quite a few strings untied and I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to stick around to see them tied. However, the first half of the book was very promising, and the relationships between the budding and unrealistically ethical monarch and her dedicated legionnaires were kind of beautiful.
As for Zephyr, to be honest, I'm not sure where her brilliance comes from, and if her plans are really brilliant, but for the sake of the characters around her and their brilliance, I will overlook her slightly pretentious persona. After all, good YA with Asian mythology almost never shows up in Western literary circles, so as a beggar I cannot be a chooser.
Basically, if this review was too long and you just skipped to the end - not that I'd blame you, I'd probably do the same - read if you're interested in Asian-inspired YA historical fiction, but don't go in with high hopes for worldbuilding and solid plotlines.
Illogical attractions to fictional characters aside, the author'd worldbuilding was pretty good for YA, and I definitely appreciated the Asian representation, although some plots twists felt slightly... forceful? To avoid spoilers, I won't go into too much detail about said plot twists, but I felt like the end of the book, especially, left quite a few strings untied and I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to stick around to see them tied. However, the first half of the book was very promising, and the relationships between the budding and unrealistically ethical monarch and her dedicated legionnaires were kind of beautiful.
As for Zephyr, to be honest, I'm not sure where her brilliance comes from, and if her plans are really brilliant, but for the sake of the characters around her and their brilliance, I will overlook her slightly pretentious persona. After all, good YA with Asian mythology almost never shows up in Western literary circles, so as a beggar I cannot be a chooser.
Basically, if this review was too long and you just skipped to the end - not that I'd blame you, I'd probably do the same - read if you're interested in Asian-inspired YA historical fiction, but don't go in with high hopes for worldbuilding and solid plotlines.