I was surprised at the direction this book took, I felt that the author did a spectacular job of continuing on from book one and leading us down a new path, with new(ish) enemies to tackle. I will now say that I was rooting for Wenzhi the entire time in book one, but in all seriousness, he was my favourite character. His banter, the redemption arc he was given, the love he had for our fiercely strong, and independent main lady was beautiful, be still my heart. Now, my heart was broken twice throughout reading this book. There were some major character deaths, and as a result I shed a significant amount of tears, particularly towards the end. I was taken on an incredible journey in this book, I thought the ending was superb. It felt apt and befitting of Xingyin, I don’t think it could have ended any better. I must say Sue Lynn Tann is truly an incredible fantasy writer- I look forward to rereading these books and also reading more from her in the future.