One of my good friends read this book (possibly as an ARC) years ago. She told me I needed to pick this one up ASAP, and I trusted her judgement so I went out right away and bought a copy the year it was published. And it sat. On my shelves. This entire time. I wouldn’t have been ready mentally or emotionally to take in a book like this. I was just beginning to reshape my worldview. The feminine rage that courses through this book wouldn’t have been as impactful if I personally had read it before February of 2025. This book was everything I’d been searching for to pull myself out of a depression and reading slump that had consumed me for days on end. 

I couldn’t have known that world events, including a social media cock fight between our government, would lead me to a Little Red Book app in January 2025. I couldn’t have known that I’d spend most of the new year logging into an app with an enthusiastic green bird who helped me learn the basics of Chinese. I couldn’t have known that at the same time that I was diving head first into Chinese culture through apps, shows and movies, that my book club would select a Chinese, somewhat historical, dystopian sci-fi novel that tied in so perfectly with my current hyperfixation. And yet, here we are. 

This book dumps the reader straight into the story, with a prologue that you just have to accept you won’t understand until later on, when the world is more fleshed out. This novel digs its claws into you and doesn’t let up for even a second. Not only were our characters consistently finding themselves manipulated as massive cogs in someone else’s war games, they were constantly dealing with mental battles during their perceived down time. This novel was almost impossible to look away from, like a car crash on a freeway. 

There were so many elements of Chinese culture and history woven into this book. I’m certainly not the appropriate person to comment on the complexities of these themes, but it was striking to me that during our book club discussions many members commented on the various elements they were unfamiliar with. A few members struggled to imagine these war machines that I likened to Transformers, Pacific Rim, or Power Rangers. Another member, though they agreed ultimately with the character’s actions, was shocked by how becoming powerful had negative (putting it lightly) impacts/consequences on the character’s family. 

The one moment and underlying character trait we all had visceral reactions to was the foot binding scene, and how the character’s life was completely and forever altered by that one act of violence. We talked at length about how when our two main characters shared mind space and memories, her nightmares were multiple and vast, while his was simply a feeling; constantly being in unrelenting pain. 

This novel had an incredible character arc for all three of our main characters. The depths with which these characters suffered was staggering, as layer by layer more was uncovered for the reader. I personally loved watching our FMC connect mind to mind with three different men through the course of the novel. In my opinion this is the best way to watch her growth, and to see the way the circumstances of the novel have changed her over time. We also got to see moments of weakness when it came to her decisions regarding her family, when prior our FMC acted like an exposed nerve - all raw emotions that were barely kept in check by those around her. 

My book club members described her progress through the novel as someone who had snapped, but I saw someone who realized they had been given (however brief) a second chance. Our FMC knew she would die the moment she avenged her sister, so when she is kept alive there is no limit to how far she is willing to go. The limit no longer exists, because she should be dead already. She had already come to terms with her eventual death so why not break all the boundaries when it comes to her second chance at life? 

I haven’t even begun to discuss our two male characters, the incredible way jealousy and infinite love comes into play between this eventual throuple, or the staggering plot twists towards the end. I could gush and rave about this book for many more pages but I’ll leave you here. If you want to feel true feminine rage, if you want a glimpse into the dystopian life of a Chinese woman who has nothing left to lose, this is your book.