(This book takes the phrase 'hurt people hurt people' to a whole new level.) There is not a single moment in the first 95% of the book where someone is moved by kindness or decency. Perhaps we will stay away from 'grimdark' as Parker-Chan rejects that genre categorization, as is their right, but OMG I have never read a grimmer, darker, more depressing book full of terrible people doing terrible things to one another. An incredible feat, especially for a sophomore effort.* The plotting is intricate and pays off in spades, the characters are complex and driven (many are wonderfully subversively queer), both the battle scenes and the intimate emotional scenes will have you holding your breath in fear and anticipation. 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.Īll the contenders are determined to do whatever it tak 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.

Unbeknownst to the southerners, a new contender is even closer to the throne. 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. 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. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor.īut Zhu isn’t the only one with imperial ambitions.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. How much would you give to win the world?

Parker chan shelley