This book will be published on January 8, 2019. The version I read is advance uncorrected proof. There will undoubtedly be differences between the version I read, and the published version.
This is definitely a book I picked up with the thought process of, "The Girl King? Is that a nickname? Is there some young woman going to be king? IS THIS GOING TO BE A FEMALE EMPOWERMENT STORY???" and now here we are.
An amazon summary, "Two sisters become unwitting rivals in a war to claim the title of Emperor in this richly imagined, Asian-inspired fantasy for fans of Renée Ahdieh and Sabaa Tahir.
Sisters Lu and Min have always known their places as the princesses of the Empire of the First Flame: assertive Lu will be named her father's heir and become the dynasty's first female ruler, while timid Min will lead a quiet life in Lu's shadow. Until their father names their male cousin Set his heir instead, sending ripples through the realm and throwing both girls' lives into utter chaos.
Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu has no choice but to go on the run, leaving Min to face the volatile court alone. Lu soon crosses paths with Nokhai, the lone, unlikely survivor of the Ashina, a clan of nomadic wolf shapeshifters. Nok never learned to shift--or to trust the empire that killed his family--but working with the princess might be the only way to unlock his true power.
As Lu and Nok form a shaky alliance, Min's own hidden power awakens, a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set's reign . . . or allow her to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one emperor, and the sisters' greatest enemy could very well turn out to be each other.
This sweeping fantasy set against a world of buried ancient magic and political intrigue weaves an unforgettable story of ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
This story is told in alternating narrators between the two princesses; Lu (Girl King) and Min, but also Nok, who belonged to the Ashina clan.
Lu (the Girl King) is the first daughter to the emperor. She's kind of insisted she be raised as if she were a male heir for most of her life, and constantly seems to have the ire of her mother. She wants to be the next emperor very deeply, and will do whatever she can to be on the throne.
Min (younger sister to Lu) is the second daughter to the emperor. She's grown up under the very watchful eye of her mother who has strictly molded her into the expectations of a traditional woman of court. She will marry, she will manage the household, and she will be beautiful for her future husband. Min is kind of resentful towards Lu sometimes since Lu is very headstrong.
Nok |(from the Ashina clan) lives in a small village with an apothecary. The apothecary took care of him when he was very nearly dead. Now he works with the apothecary and tries to keep a low profile. The Ashina are often captured and forced to work in labor camps for the empire.
Anyways.
The emperor makes a declaration of who will be his next heir. Unfortunately, he declares Lu's cousin Set as his heir. Lu is furious and comes up with a plan to win the title of heir to the throne. She challenges Set to compete the way emperor's of old traditionally competed, by having trials. The first trial is a hunt in the woods. Min is very angry with Lu for defying tradition. Min is also kind of a fan of Set, but Set is kind of off. He has an adviser known as Brother, who allegedly helped him defeat his addiction to poppy tears. Brother also seems to have some sort of mystical powers or perception on the world. Min has a dream where she kind of has an out of body experience, and well it kind of snowballs from there.
Back to the trials. Lu and Set go out to perform the hunting trial, and Lu is betrayed by the emperor's guards sent out with them. Set is the favored person to be heir to the throne, so he's started to convince the court (and the guard) to go against Lu. Lu, flees from the trial, and runs into Nok.
That's enough summary. I feel like I'm going to accidentally reveal some plot points that should only be uncovered by reading the book (especially since this is an advanced reader's copy I read).
There's going to be a sequel to this book with how it ended. there has to be. That being said, I'm very discontent with where the book left off. I wish a little more of the story had been revealed so it felt like a more complete ending.
Overall, I liked most of the characters, except for the narrators. I found a lot of Min's passages to be really obnoxious because not only was she innocent/ignorant, she seemed a little too invested with wanting to know more about the world, but ALSO remaining ignorant. I thought Lu lacked a purpose besides becoming emperor. There was some vague allusions to things she might like to do when she was emperor, but it seemed that she wanted to become an emperor because well what else what she want. Not because she wanted to maintain her lifestyle, do things with the kingdom, or anything like that. It seemed to just be BECOME EMPEROR. Throughout the story, I think she started to kind of figure out what she wanted to do? I just find it vexing that she had been working towards becoming emperor her whole life and only when she had a chance of becoming emperor did she start to wonder what she would actually DO as emperor.
Then there's Nok. I find it difficult to talk about Nok, because they're not the normal male character I'm used to reading about. He seemed very thoughtful, very aware of the consequences of his actions, cared deeply about his clan, the apothecary, and the family he has lost. He also seems much more caring about those around him, rather than about himself at all. I understand we were presented with the circumstances of his life so that it would make more sense how he turned out like this, but there was something about him that just felt fragile. I kind of liked it, but at the same time, I didn't really know when to cheer for him, or be sympathetic. He seemed to be the character that was mostly finding himself, and trying to understand his place in the world in regards to the history of his clan, but also his present day situation. It was kind of, well, a perplexing but fascinating reading experience.
At this point, I don't know if I'd pick up the sequel, and that's got a lot to do with the mechanics of the world. I felt like there were a ton of magical aspects that all the narrators were baffled by, or didn't understand, and I find that difficult to navigate this very well built world when the narrators are kind of clueless. The world building was SO on point though. There were a lot of passages where it almost felt like I was really there, and I had a great sense of everything going on and how it related to everything else.
It's kind of one of those that I read where I'm like, "I really liked all of THESE aspects, but I could have really done without THOSE aspects." So, that weird middle ground of like a constant, "Hmmmm".
Happy reading!
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