On this reread, I was able to follow with the world-building a little more, and I appreciated the overall concept of the book more as well. I did wish that there was a bit more building of the characters’ backstories, in particular Zetian and Gao Yizhi, and even of their relationship earlier on. I felt like a lot of the character motivation were not fully fleshed out, and that there was a lot of telling instead of showing with their personalities and relationships. This being a debut novel, I wasn’t too surprised at the writing, as at times it felt skillful, and at other times it was on the shaky side. I am hoping that with the sequel, some things get more developed and that the writing will have matured as well.