Week 18 Reviews: Sound the Gong, In Another Life

From Goodreads:

From New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, comes the dazzling and sweeping conclusion to The Kingdom of Three duology, Sound the Gong, the breathtaking sequel to the critically-acclaimed Strike the Zither.

All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior's body, and never has she felt more powerless. Her lordess Xin Ren holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains under Miasma's thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces.

Fate also seems to have a different winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it. She will pay any price to see Ren succeed—and she will make her enemies pay, especially one dark-haired, dark-eyed Crow. What she'll do when she finds out the truth—that he worked for the South all along…

Only the heavens know.

From Goodreads:

The not-quite-canon bonus epilogue that can be read after SOUND THE GONG, if one needs a happier ending. To access it, go to joanhewrites [dot] com [forward slash] stgbonus. The password is Crow's last four words to Zephyr, no punctuation, spaces, or capitals.

My Review:
I loved reading these stories! The first book was so fantastic, and I was really excited to see how it would conclude, and boy, was it a fantastic story! Plus we got the bonus epilogue, to get even more of that ending and I loved it! 

This world, and this time, is made up of hard choices. That Zephyr makes a point of taking Crow's body, yeah, that was pretty graphic, between the steaming and the finger, I loved the interactions that they had, because she's piloting his body, and he wants it back. Plus there's still that maybe-attraction between them. They weren't conventional, that was for sure! 

That ending, that was so well done! That reveal about fates, it was a bit bittersweet, but made sense. That after all that work, that was what happened? It was a bit sad, and unexpected, but it worked out in the end and I loved it! 

The short story following, In Another Life, was so great to read! I mean, the end of Sound the Gong was set up to imagine what happened next, but it was so great to have a bit more of that, and it was just so delightful to read! 

I loved reading these, and I can't wait to read more by Joan He! 

Author: Joan He 
Series: Kingdom of Three #2, 2.5
Read: May 1st, 1st, 2024
Source: Bought, Online  
Reason Why: Love her writing and the first book so much, and they're 2024 Retelling Reading Challenge 2024 Books, Historical Fiction 2024 Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2024 Books, and Sound the Gong is a End of Series 2024 Book and WoW Book! 
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, Joan He
Published: April 30th 2024, April 30th 2024

Sound the Gong:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

In Another Life:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars