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Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor. But Zhu isn't the only one with imperial ambitions. Her neighbor in the south, the courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband--and she's strong enough to wipe Zhu off the map. To stay in the game, Zhu will have to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old enemy: the talented but unstable eunuch general Ouyang, who has already sacrificed everything for a chance at revenge on his father's killer, the Great Khan. Unbeknownst to the southerners, a new contender is even closer to the throne. The scorned scholar Wang Baoxiang has maneuvered his way into the capital, and his lethal court games threaten to bring the empire to its knees. For Baoxiang also desires revenge: to become the most degenerate Great Khan in history--and in so doing, make a mockery of every value his Mongol warrior family loved more than him. All the contenders are determined to do whatever it takes to win. But when desire is the size of the world, the price could be too much for even the most ruthless heart to bear..."--Provided by publisher.… (more)
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Thoughts: I enjoyed this conclusion to the Radiant Emperor Duology but thought it was weaker than the first book in the series.
This book follows many different characters as they
This is mainly historical fiction but it does have some intriguing fantasy elements. The magical Manifests that these feuding members have are intriguing and the ability they give to see ghosts is fascinating. I also enjoyed some other fantasy elements like Zhu figuring out how to use his powers to bring back his dead companions.
While I enjoyed this overall, there was one thing that bothered me throughout. The characters have a lot of internal dialogue going on that takes up a lot of page space. Much of this internal dialogue was repetitive and didn't add much to the story. I frequently found myself skimming some of these portions to get to the meat of the story. I would have preferred some better editing to tighten up all of these internal thoughts and conversations. They just took up way too much page space.
As with the first book, I would have loved an afterward on how much of this book was historically accurate and how much was fantasy. I am always intrigued to learn about history and in a historical fantasy like this it is nice to have some help sorting out what is real and what is fantasy.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I enjoyed this. There are some wonderfully despicable characters in here and they are fascinating to watch as they try to out-maneuver each other for leadership of China. I did think the internal dialogue that characters had in their head were way too drawn out and should have been edited down. I would have also really enjoyed an afterward comparing this to actual history. I look forward to Parker-Chen's future novels and would recommend this book to those interested in historical fiction fantasies, especially those that look at historical China.
Brilliant, queer, fantasy-tinged historical fiction about the founding of the Ming dynasty.
My hot take is that this one of the best fantasy novels of the year and it should contend for all the relevant prizes.
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Signed by the author with yellow sprayed page edges.