Week 45 Review: Strike the Zither

From Goodreads:

An epic YA fantasy about found family, rivals, and identity, from New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, inspired by Three Kingdoms, one of the Four Classics of Chinese Literature.

The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves.

But Zephyr knows it's no contest.

Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged—while Ren's honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed. When Zephyr is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp to keep Ren's followers from being slaughtered, she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who is finally her match. But there are more enemies than one—and not all of them are human.

My Review:
Oh, this was such a fantastic read! I've never read Three Kingdoms, I'd never even heard of it before this book. But to have inspired this book, it must've been pretty great! I absolutely loved reading this book, and I can't wait for the sequel!

Zephyr was ruthless and brilliant, and oh, was she an amazing character to read about! She's the strategist of the underdog, and some of her moves-including ones that make her seem like she's betraying Ren-were downright insane in how she managed to get things to go her way! 

That mid-book twist? I wasn't expecting the book to go in that direction, but it made for such an interesting story. I had no idea how things would progress from there, but I loved watching how things unfolded from there! 

The intricate plots and politics that were going on where just incredible. This world is not kind to the people, and combined, that just made for an addicting plot. And oh, that ending and that reveal? That was hard, and fantastic, and with certain information know-and others not-it'll be so interesting to see where things go from here! 

This was an incredible read, and I need book 2 now! 

Author: Joan He
Series: Kingdom of Three #1
Read: November 5th, 2022
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really good, and it's a 2022 Retelling Reading Challenge Book, Historical Fiction 2022 Book and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2022 Book!
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: October 25th 2022

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars