IDK if this was boring because of the narrator or if the text itself was boring but either way, this was middling at best.

🎧 The narrator was really not for me. She has a very sedate, almost whispery voice. So everything seemed a bit uninteresting even when it was like, a sword fight. Barely any changes in voice for different characters which made it harder to follow, particularly since the POV switches quite a bit and kind of randomly (mid chapter and mid scene).

🌶️ 3/5 There were a couple explicit scenes but nothing very exciting (or maybe it was excitingly written, but the voice made it seem not exciting? I honestly can't tell.)

🏳️‍🌈✊ There's no gender or sexuality diversity. The book takes place in China and almost everyone in the story is Chinese. The MMC is a white westerner. The FMC comes from wealth and prestige, and the MMC is a wandering fighter with no family; while this is obviously class diversity, we barely see its repercussions because the two MCs spend most of the book alone with each other on the road and in hiding.