"Seize the song's emotion and make it your own."

Actual rating: 3.5/5 stars
I received an e-ARC of this book from the Dragonstone Press & Book of Matches Media in exchange for an honest review.

I have read and enjoyed JC Kang's Scions of the Black Lotus Clan series with Thorn of the Night Blossoms: A Legends of Tivara Story as its first book, and I was eager to read more of his other books within this fantasy world, hence I was excited that Songs of Insurrection had gotten a major revamping.

This multi-POV book follows the story of Princess Kaiya as she learns of her unleashed musical powers, and Jie and Tian working within the Black Lotus Clan, and how their worlds are being forced together by the ongoing political machinations of the surrounding countries, the looming threat of a massive war, and a possible traitor among their numbers.

Plot-wise, it was very fast-paced and engaging, and I found myself flipping quickly through pages to know more what would happen next in the next chapter. It has a lot of elements in an epic fantasy novel that I love, and it was just well-written and satisfying to see them acting out on the pages. However, I only had a slight problem with the amount of info-dumping regarding the politicking and war preparations. There was just a portion in the first 1/3 of the book where a lot of this happened in one huge chunk, and I found myself rereading those particular chapters over and over again just to understand it, especially with the unusually huge number of people involved in this political scheming. It just stalled the story for me a little, but I was glad that it was able to recover. The rest of the story continued on with a high note, and there were twists that caught me off guard, which is a bonus point.

I always adored Jie and Tian from the other series, so I was really happy to see more of them in this one, and how much of their relationship has changed since then. I expected nothing less from their characters, and their character work was consistent and level-upped at the same time in a lot of ways. Princess Kaiya was a character I didn't expect - plain, awkward, and bashful. She was so different from Kang's other characters that I didn't know what to think of her. But she slowly grew on me as her resolve strengthened, and she was able to break against the stereotype that was expected of her. I am definitely excited to see her grow into her new role more as this series goes on.

The author knows how to work his background into his stories and incorporate it into one massive fantastical and huge world full of culture, mythology, and magic. I especially love how the intermingling of different Asian cultures were spread out through this book, and as an Asian reader, it was so satisfying to see representations among different parts of the continent, so it was so easy to picture which was which, and what belong to what. It was also a very atmospheric novel, and a reader can easily place themselves immediately into the story, and feel the emotions and tension within its pages.

I am so eager to know what happens next!

DNF at 40%

I'm sorry. I can't do it.

Songs of Insurrection has a very intriguing premise. I was so fascinated with the idea of a girl who can call dragons with her songs. An asian fantasy. It was such a good idea. In fact, the premise (and the cover) sold me to read the book. And when you are reading the a book part of a series, its job is to subtly sell the next on to you - to hook you by plot, characters, or so. However, as I read the actual story, it didn't sell anything to me at all.

"You have already grown more in a day than Paladin trainees."

There was a lack of build up for our main character, Kaiya. I find it so hard to believe that suddenly she can play the Yanyan's pipa without any teacher. It was such a perfect-main-character moment. The kind that lets the main character get away with everything to serve their purpose in the story even when it makes no sense. It’s like everything is handed to her on silver platter to satisfy the role of being a main character. Somehow, I wished that Kaiya said something about how she learned it. A little monologue that made her think perhaps she was destined to do something and would use her gift to save the others, which would also would have made me resonate with her. But no. Because her sole existence is dedicated to liking Hardeep - an insta-love (really, at like chapter 3). Her personality trait is literally only liking him.

"...even if Jie looked thirteen, and had for as long as he knew her, she was three years, two months, and eighty-seven days older than Wen: ten years, three months, and two days older than him."

The details in the book were so blown out of proportion. The looooong list of characters before you start reading turned me off a little. Why would I want to remember the names of the messengers? There are just too many characters. Irrelevant characters should've been cut off. AND THE TIME AS QUOTED. THE TIME. I WANT TO SCREAM. I literally do not care about unnecessary and overly exaggerated details such as that. Just say she was two or ten years older than them. Done. It's so confusing and a little cringe.

I don't understand reading into the point of views of different characters that have not been introduced to me as important to the plot beforehand. Why am I reading about them? Who are they to the story? I just didn't care.

As much as I wanted to read more to have a say on the misogyny as mentioned by previous reviewers, I could no longer persevere my way through it. It's not a secret that in ancient times - like this one - women were deemed insignificant. Then it should've been Kaiya's job to change that. Arise in the situation and prove herself as a female warrior like what the dedication said. How did she do it? That was what I was very curious on. But the story was dragged on for so long, the little events that could've been compiled into ten chapters were stretched on for twenty instead. I feel that there was so many things that could've been cut off to shorten it because the chapters had the same goal.

The premise, the idea for the book is one of a kind in my own opinion. But the execution was a bit of a miss. I would probably read it and try to finish it someday.

Princess Wang Kaiya is just a pawn. The foreign (and very handsome) Prince Hardeep Vaswani wants her to wield her new-found magic to save his beloved country, Ankira. Her father needs to marry her off to the right noble to stabilise Cathay and his grip on the throne. What can a sixteen-year-old still learning to use her powers do in the face of such confusing politics and constantly-shifting allegiances? Are her powers even real?

I'd put this at something like a 3.5, honestly, because there are some bits that I liked quite a lot, but others that I didn't so much.

Kaiya is young and female in a very misogynistic culture, which also means she is underestimated once she learns of her magic and starts standing up for what is right. She's well-educated, but very inexperienced and awkward, making her the underdog in this story. You come to root for her despite her very stupid decisions because of the strength of her convictions and good intentions. I'm not quite a fan of this instalove or puppy crush thing she has on Hardeep, though I suppose it's... understandable? Maybe? (Mark this down as I'm-too-old-for-this-shit) Personally, my verdict is that she's stupid, but not Too Stupid To Live. Part of this is also the third person POV, I think, which gives a more balanced perspective to her actions and reasoning plus also makes it pretty clear when she's blatantly being manipulated without her realising it.

The politics of Cathay are complex. There's the Mandate of Heaven to think of, repercussions of Hellstorm if the Emperor were to renege on an agreement sworn on the imperial plaque. The neighbouring countries of Madura and Ankira are fighting in the South, rebellion fermenting in the North, and the Tianzi needs to balance all of that while keeping the hereditary Lords happy. Which means compromise. And bribes. And marrying off the princess for political gain. There's a bureaucracy to appease and the military to pacify. All of which makes for pretty dense politics for Kaiya to navigate without proper training.

No, actually, I think Kaiya's part of the politics were easier to read than what Zheng Tien and Yan Jie, agents of the Black Lotus Clan, start uncovering. There's so much underhanded dealing (Bribes! Murder! Betrayal! Weird business deals!) that I got a little cross-eyed and skimmed a little (Sorry, bad reading habit). I think there was a point where some goods were substituted for other goods and if you trace these goods you'll find out who was rebelling and who was betraying who and then I couldn't remember what goods were from what province so I just moved on.

Some content warnings might be necessary, I suppose.
- One of Kaiya's suitors is known to torture women, and there is a brief scene of sorts. (Not graphic, but a little unsettling.)
- The concept/typology of the Bovyan might offend some Christians, though they're mentioned only very briefly in the story itself. (It was a "lol, what?" moment for me)
- The misogyny and racism of the culture are never directly addressed. Some offhand statements which come across as insulting, while true to the culture/worldbuilding, are not dealt with/addressed within the story.

Still, it was overall quite an interesting read.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Dragonstone Press via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Talk about extensive world building!

So I was a bit confused with the release date of this one as you could get it on Amazon as part of a bundle but it is still due to be released. It turns out it was originally on Wattpad so that was interesting to find out!

I am such a fan of East Asian historical fiction and the world building that comes from that. Mixing this with (westernised) fantasy is a brave move but I think Kangaroo did insanely well! I loved and appreciated seeing the relationships between the characters, the in depth map and even how the time is told I’m the world of the book!

I won’t lie, it was hard to keep track of who was who (due to this being an eARC so I wasn’t inclined to flick back and forth) however, if I do endeavour to get the physical books it would make it way easier to know the characters. This book serves more as an introduction to the key characters of the story and does well to show the reader the characters’ motivation (think the first half of S1 of Game of Thrones) and the story has been set up for very nicely for the future books in the series. Although some people may find this slow/boring, I was kept interested for the duration of the book to the end which has made me look forward to what is coming next.

Hopefully, the sequel will be more clear in terms of what is going on now that we are vaguely familiar with the characters!

ARC from NetGalley

2.75 stars

I had a really hard time getting into this. If someone was to summarize it for me, it would sound really great, but in practice it isn't so well done. I couldn't connect with any of the characters. The writing wasn't very immersive. I couldn't really smell, taste, hear, or even really see anything. I certainly couldn't feel anything. There's mean to be romance, but I spent the entire book thinking it was some kind of a ruse, which I'm still convinced of. I agreed to review the next book, so I'll give it a try, but I'm not terribly stoked about it honestly. This wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't good. I hope the author's writing improves as we go along. This story has potential.

Dive into a fantastical world of a princess learning she has to the potential to use magic with her music. With assistance from a foreign prince, Kaiya is attempting to learn what she can do to help those around her. Will Kaiya follow the path of magic or will she have to fulfill her role as princess?
Songs of Insurrection was an enjoyable read and the cover is what really drew me to this book. You get to see this fantasy story unfold from three different points of view: Princess Kaiya, Tian, and Jie Yan. The two latter characters are members of a spy clan and I found myself enjoying their perspectives over Kaiya’s. There’s action, political movements, murder and treachery. I will admit, the ending was unexpected and I am interested to see how the story continues in the next book!
I love that there is a map provided. It helped give a better visual for all of the landmarks and locations that are mentioned. I’m grateful for a “Who’s Who” list given at the beginning as well for the many characters that comprise this story because I feel like it could’ve been easy to get lost in the beginning.

Thank you Netgalley (Victory Netgalley Co-Op) for allowing me to read this story with ARC.

One Sentence Summary: When she meets the foreign prince Hardeep, Princess Kaiya wants nothing more than to become a Dragon Singer to save his kingdom, but little does she know she might need the talent for her own country as rebellion brews to the North.

First of all, I really liked the cover. I was quite excited to learn this is also a Chinese-inspired fantasy as I've been trying to push myself to read more Asian and Asian-inspired books. Being also musically inclined, I loved that this book involved music and Kaiya trying to become a legendary Dragon Singer. This book seemed to have everything I was looking for, but the execution was a little lacking.

The Plot: A Brewing Rebellion

Sixteen-year-old Princess Kaiya is on her way to meet a potential husband when she's diverted to meet the foreign prince Hardeep. Upon their meeting, the two become quite taken with each other and Kaiya learns there's a possibility she can help save his country if only she can learn to become a legendary Dragon Singer.

But, while Kaiya runs around the city with a prince she shouldn't be with, Jie and Tian, members of the supposedly fictional Black Lotus Clan, are busy sniffing out whiffs of a rebellion. All does not seem well and all the threads seem to be leading to one place: the one place Kaiya should be nowhere near.

In theory, I really liked the idea of what Songs of Insurrection was about. It kind of reminded me of some of the Chinese dramas my parents watch, but with dragons and magic added in. In actuality, Kaiya definitely felt very young and sex-obsessed (as a matter of fact, sex-related things was a running thread throughout the book) and the story as a whole felt kind of weak. Interesting though it may be, I felt it was stretched out a little too far and required a little too much willing suspension of disbelief.

There are two main storylines: Kaiya's, and Jie and Tian's. Kaiya's was the prominent one, and also the less interesting one. It follows a girl who falls in love at first sight with a man she cannot be with, but who will do anything for him. Sure, they had some fun and interesting and dangerous times, but, overall, it was lackluster. Jie and Tian's storyline, though, was quite fascinating as they were hunting down clues to a growing rebellion and definitely getting their hands dirty and bloody. They had all the real fun, and I loved reading how they put things together, though it also seemed a little too easy. Still, the rebellion side of the story was the more interesting part. Fortunately, the two storylines collide at the end, making the story much more bearable.

The Characters: One Note Characters

Princess Kaiya is, by far, the main character of Songs of Insurrection. Most of the story is told from her perspective. She comes across as young and naive, but also quite forceful in her need to be useful and do something good and honorable. At the same time, I disliked how obsessed she became with sex, how obsessed she was with Hardeep. It was so overdone that it felt artificial. I found it rather interesting that the male author chose to tell the story through a teenage female. Kaiya lacked the complexity typically found in women (which was also true of all of the female characters) and I became disgusted by just how sex-starved and sex-obsessed she was. Yes, I know I've mentioned it, but it really is that prevalent and annoying in the book.

As a matter of fact, all of the characters lacked complexity. They all felt one note, as though they had a single role in life and that was all they did. There was nothing deeper to any of them. Even the mastermind behind it all could be seen a mile away. The romance between some of the characters felt forced and completely unnecessary, and only served to weaken my opinion of them. The concern Tian had for Kaiya was really the only thing that touched me. Whether it was love or friendship I didn't really care because it seemed to be the only time one of the characters felt something real for another.

Overall, I found the characters to be quite simple and a little annoying. Most of them had a weird sex on the brain thing going on, which really took away from the story, almost as though the energy was being diverted from a potentially complex plot in order to focus on how sex-obsessed the characters were.

The Setting: Asian-Inspired

Songs of Insurrection is set in a fictional Asia and is mostly Chinese-inspired. This was my favorite part of the book. I loved the world and how it explored fantastical versions of China and India. Of course, most of it was set in Cathay, the fictional version of China, but there were still some tidbits of Asian-inspired settings outside of Cathay.

While I didn't necessarily feel like I was walking in an Asian world, I did love that every garden and every hall had it's own name. As confusing as they could be, it did tickle me and remind me China. I also liked that many of the customs are taken from reality, that Kaiya was bound by what women were and were not allowed to do, that there was pressure to conceive an heir, and all those fun Chinese things. I felt it was the only real thing that led to any real tension in the book as Kaiya had to fight against the ties binding her.

Even though I didn't care for the simplistic characters and plot, I did really love the world. Being Chinese, it was nice to feel like I was surrounded by many of the things I was familiar with and had grown up around. It reminded me of some of the Chinese dramas my parents watch and tell me about. Needless to say, the world was quite comforting and familiar to me.

Overall: A Fairly Simple Fantasy

I really wanted to love Songs of Insurrection. It started out on a strong foot with me, but then it gradually weakened. By the time Kaiya became sex-obsessed, I was kind of done with it. The characters, initially fresh and interesting, took a too simple turn and the plot felt too divided and lacked complexity. The world was the highlight for me, but it served as too strong a background for the story to the point where I have a hard time recalling parts of the story without the setting. Overall, not a terrible book, but definitely on the easy and simple side.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

There are many forms of magic in this world but the one we focus on is manifested through artistic talent such as music, painting or calligraphy which I found very interesting.
The prologue was an epic set up: a dragon trapped in the body of a human, thought to have been lulled to sleep by magical music, this sounded amazing. Unfortunately I think I'm to old for this series, it was to easy to predict and I couldn't connect with the teenage characters, for younger audiences this shouldn't be a problem though.
I like the heroines overall attitude towards doing the right thing and at least being a little suspicious of the people around her, and I found her initial thoughts about marriage amusing. I also liked that she's not an epic beauty which you don't see often, but there was to much time is spent describing minutia for my liking, they also repeat themselves inside their minds a LOT.

Quite a bit confused about my feelings on this one. Like the worldbuilding inspired by not just Chinese but also some Indian culture. The rift between kingdoms and the political intrigue was well done.

I just did not like the MC, Kaiya and her tediously repetitive soapy teen romantic feelings. The way her character was made to adore Hardeep's slightest attention just felt overly desperate and very flakey. What could have been a really strong MC ended up at the opposite end of the spectrum that even her achievements with her pales. It does stand to reason that she's only sixteen years old, but still a bit more maturity would have added lot of value to her character.

With a bit more taut editing and more fleshing out of the characters, this would make for a brilliant read!

Overall this was not a bad book, it just had some kinks to workout. The use of music and other arts to channel magic was a really cool concept that drew me in but I stayed for Titian and Jie.

Having multiple POV's usually invests me even more in a story but in this case I wanted to skip our main character Kaiya's chapters and go straight to Titians investigation, which is probably the only reason I didn't DNF. Although some of the clues were really obvious and telling, I really enjoyed teh detective aspect with him and Jie. Kaiya was just to naïve and spent the majority of her chapters thinking about the prince and at a certain point I stopped caring about what was happening with her and it really took away from the potential of a story like this.

Each character had a tic that pulled me out of the story : Titan recalling the exact number of days from events repeatedly, Jie's annoyance of having to wear a dress, Kaiya's obsession with prince and saying how ugly she is, all together was to much and I wanted to DNF within the first half but I was holding on to the hope that as the story progresses they would go away but they didn't.

I kept thinks that something more was happening between Kaiya and Hardeen which had me thinking that he was somehow influencing her but the plot didn't swing that way and I might have enjoyed it more if that was the case.

This is my second reading of J.C. Kang’s SONGS OF INSURRECTION. This time out the author has added more depth, cleaned up loose ends and given us characters that literally step off the pages. From the young princess with a special gift to the young prince she loves, to the mysterious Jie and Tian, a boy long ago banished from the court, the intrigue of their stories come to life with an edgy grace.

Political machinations are brewing, war could be on the horizon, yet, these four could play a pivotal role in defusing the tension with magic. Can one of them make the Dragon Scale Lute sing? The magic from song may be all that saves their world.

J.C. Kang melds the beauty and grace of Asian fantasy with the edginess of the Western world into a tale that feels deep, mysterious and fascinating.

Sometimes an author should leave their work alone, but sometimes just a little tweaking here and there create a tale becomes even more outstanding.

I received a complimentary ARC/updated edition from J.C. Kang & Dragonstone Press! This is my honest and voluntary review.

I was given a free copy of Songs of Insurrection by JC Kang (author), Dragonstone Press(publisher) and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Songs of Insurrection is the first in the Dragon Songs Saga.

I would characterize Songs of Insurrection as Asian-inspired epic fantasy.

This review will not have any spoilers.

The strength of this novel is the world-building. Mr. Kang created a world that has many different types of people and cultures which I think are based on different cultures in Asia.

A magic system is featured in this story, but it is in the background and serves the characters in the story. The magic system is objects infused with magical properties to do certain things. For example, a couple of characters use baubles that create illusions for the characters to look like different people.

The story falls short with characters and story.

Songs of Insurrection has three main characters: a 16-year-old princess, a former prince who is member of a clan that is something akin to an intelligence agency, and a half-elf who is part of the same clan as the former prince. I thought the princess character was reacting to events instead of making choices and events coming from those choices. The former prince is an interesting character, and I would have preferred to have him featured a bit more in the story. He is particularly good with numbers and investigating and nothing will stop him from cracking the code. The half-elf is something akin to a secret agent that has the ability, in this story, to overcome any obstacle and bust through any barrier to get the job done.

I would have preferred in the part of the story relating to the princess was excised, and the character arcs of the former prince and half-elf expanded and deepened. The villains in this story are two-dimensional and somewhat flat. I would have preferred Mr. Kang to feature the villains to show why they are doing what they are doing: what is motivating them.

As far as the story, I found it to be overly complicated and convoluted. Mr. Kang creates an interesting setting, and the start of the story captured my attention. My attention starting to wander at around the middle of the story. I also lost track of the events and who was doing something to someone and why. When I got to the parts of the story featuring the princess, I would skim because I was not really interested in reading about her being infatuated with a soldier. I did not find the way Mr. Kang wrote the relationship between the princess and the soldier to be believable, interesting, or engaging.

I also found the story to be too long and it negatively impacts the flow of the plot. Songs of Insurrection, I think, would have benefited with another editing pass because there are some chapters included that do nothing to propel the story forward.

I rate Songs of Insurrection 2 stars.

I would like to thank Mr. Kang, Dragonstone Press, and Netgalley for the free ARC.

YESSS pick it up, do it. Absolutely a ton of fun and I want more for this offer like yesterday. I totally picked it up because of the cover BUT there is more than just a beautiful cover. Thanks for the ARC!

Overall I enjoyed this book and believe it is a good beginning to a series. J.C. Kang is a gifted writer and clearly addresses many contemporary social issues through this fantasy novel. I enjoyed the premise of a dragon being trapped as a human and I'm a huge sucker for all things fantasy and magic. I didn't really like the relationship between Princess Kaiya and Prince Hardeep. HOWEVER, I am hopeful that this will develop in interesting ways as the series continues. I appreciate and identify with Kaiya as an awkward young girl who has always done what is asked of her and her journey of recognizing that authority figures are not to be automatically trusted. And it does make the relationship between her and Hardeep that much more understandable. He's the person that opened her eyes and so she just went gogogaga. That said, I hope as the series develops she begins to stand fully on her own more. I really enjoyed reading an Asian inspired fantasy written by J.C. Kang and look forward to reading more of his work. I would give it like a 3.7 so I'm rounding to 4.

First off, all the props to the cover artist because this cover is AMAZING!! It is gorgeous and rich and tells you exactly what you’re in for!

Songs of Insurrection is the first book in what feels like will be a very expansive universe. The political intrigue was very interesting and kept my attention for most of the book. I was a little lost with the dynamics of the Black Lotus clan and wished that we would have seen more of them. Though, to be fair, this book was told mainly from the POV of Princess Kaiya, a sheltered daughter of the Imperial Family, and perhaps we’ll see more of their dynamics in later books.

Kaiya is naive and innocent when she first discovers that she has the ability to use magic with her voice and song. She turns to the help of a foreign prince, Hardeep, to understand her powers. However, he’s not entirely truthful with her and initially sees her as a tool, a Dragon Singer that he can use to play the Dragon Scale Lute for his own purposes...

One thing I absolutely adored about Kang’s writing style, was that he had such beautiful imagery. For example “Their performance captured passion and youth… his notes pranced like a fire blazing, while hers churned like the swell of a tidal wave…. This was love, made tangible by sound.” Gosh, don’t those words just make your heart swell?? Absolutely stunning and they match so very well with the theme of magic in music. It just makes them fit in so beautifully.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy how the author wrote female characters. All were very child-like, both in physical description and in personality/behavior. It made sense for the main character Kaiya to be this way, as she was very sheltered and was only just beginning to challenge her way of life, but it seemed to be a blanket theme. It appears the author attempted to tackle the misogyny that we see in a lot of Asian media (tbh in media all around the world), but I don’t think he quite achieved it just yet. Still, this is only the first book, which means there is plenty of room for him to not only prove us wrong in the series, but also to improve as a writer as well. The world, the ideas, the magic are so very promising and I can see many people falling in love with this series. I look forward to seeing how Kang will flip the script on these notions in future books.

*Thank you Independent Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op (Dragonstone Press) and NetGalley for the ARC*

2.5* stars
Overall an okay read, this book dives into Chinese history and follows Kaiya's coming of age story.
Firstly, as a lover of music, I quite enjoyed the magic system. Kang has created a very interesting magic system and put a focus on the arts in order to create magic.
Secondly, the fight scenes and battles scenes were done quite well.
However, the most intriguing part of this book is the Black Lotus Clan, I feel like the book would've been more interesting if we followed them instead of Kaiya.

And now to the issues, I had with this book...

Besides the YA-attitude of the main character, I had some serious issues with this book.
This book <b> is not YA </b>, constant mentions of paedophilia, rape, mention of gang rape, ...
Since when are these YA topics?
Some other things in this book really rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not sure if the author is trying to portray this sexist and racist world. But things like <i> beautiful in an exotic way </i> <i> Jie would welcome being groped </i> are not elements that add anything to the story

The characters in this book were rather weak, some of the characters' only personality trait was being in love with someone else. The only person in my opinion who had a distinct and intriguing personality was Jie. I would've also like to see more of the other races in this book.
Moreover, I'm not a fan of the instalove trope, I did not understand why Kaiya fell in love so quickly.
Furthermore, the world itself is quite interesting, but the worldbuilding isn't done that well. I had so much trouble trying to understand the actual size of the world, let alone remember the names (I also speak Chinese, so the language shouldn't be the problem)
Lastly, the writing style was a bit rough and the first 20% of the book was a drag to get through and made me want to put the book down.

thanks to netgalley for providing me with an e-arc.

this book has been going around among fellow bloggers that have mentioned it’s racist and poorly tackled some delicate topics in an insensitive way. i have no interest in reading such a book, i’m strongly against it going around in such a positive light. i would advise the author to hire sensitivity readers so they wouldn’t hurt their audience and/or anyone who might stumble upon the hurtful comments in this book.

I really wanted to love this book. Fantasy with an infusion of Asian culture sounded awesome, but I couldn't get past the problems which made moving through these 400 pages a slog. Kaiya meets a guy, falls instantly in love with him and then follows everywhere he leads. The guy in question is not a well-developed character. I got no sense of him other than that he was handsome, charming and liked music. I couldn't get behind her and her relationship with him at all. On the plus side, the scenes with Jie and Tian worked better. They both had some substance as characters and it was them who kept me going until the end. There was so much potential here, but between insta-love and two-dimensional characters, I just couldn't invest in the story, so it's a 2-star read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dragonstone Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

From reading the premise, this book looked like something I would really love. Unfortunately, it ended up being the opposite for me. The whole time I was reading this book, I felt very indifferent towards the characters and I found myself not caring for the storyline at all. Aside from that, the romance really annoyed me because I really do not like the instalove trope. I can sometimes let that slide if I see both characters have genuine chemistry, however I didn't get that from this book. I also found the worldbuilding to be lacking since I didn't feel like there was actually any set up for it and that's something that I usually look for in the first book of a fantasy series. The worldbuilding was set in a way that the author assumed we are already familiar of this world. I admit I didn't have a lot of expectations for this when I started reading it, but overall I was still pretty disappointed.

So I found my first one-star read of 2021.
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First, I'd like to start with spreading some positivity: I loved the references to ancient Chinese culture and traditional folklores. The book vividly depicted the life in a palace. I'm not into palace dramas but it was nice to see things that are familiar thanks to years of hearing Chinese fantasy dramas being played as background music at home.
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Despite the familiarity, this book was so difficult to get through. I felt like I was reading a directly translated script of a fantasy drama (instant tb to Chinese Paladin...). I'm not sure if the author wrote the book in English, or in Chinese, but the abundant use of honorific titles gave me constant headache, and a bilingual crisis. The passage doesn't read congruently as it required constant code-switching. The characters felt inhumane, and there are so many of them......... Again, I have no problem with remembering Chinese names. But I have problems with characterless characters. I had who-are-you moments so frequently I quickly became frustrated. Also, is it really necessary to mention how unpretty someone is for multiple times? Girls can be friends with girls, really. And we don't judge each other's appearance all the time.
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Another issue I had was head hopping and the connection. I really didn't understand the need of following other character's journeys. It was so pointless as their stories don't even...connect? Maybe they did in the last page of the story. But at least for 80% of the book, they felt like people living in separate lives and their perspectives don't add up to an epic picture. Maybe the plot was also partially responsible. It was very plain even though it involved lots of politics and cruelty. I have wished for a deeper exploration of the magical system but apparently one's *intention* is enough...? Just focus, listen, feel the connection, congrats you have magic.
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To conclude. I have no intention to read the sequels. I might have appreciated this book slightly more if I read it in Chinese.