Synopsis
"In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness."
This book was a whole journey. It started off great, and I loved the writing from the first page itself. The middle portion of it was slightly dull, but I found the ending really exciting. The author sounded like she knew what she was talking about. I liked reading a book set in China, and though all the characters and places confused me at first, things got clearer after a while.
“If you want a fate other than what Heaven gave you, you have to want that other fate. You have to struggle for it. Suffer for it.”
The characters were written well, and I felt like each of them had a separate personality that made sense. Zhu was fun to read about, and I liked her character. Some of Ouyang's chapters felt lacking in descriptions, and although that added to him being presented as someone with no emotions, it also made them slightly boring. I liked that the book had many characters, as that also facilitated a lot of people being killed.
The pacing was good, and the story took off from the first chapter itself. None of the chapters was drawn-out, and all the events contributed to the plot development as well. The magic part of this book was about the powers of yin and yang- the life force and the spirit force. There was also the Mandate of Heaven and a lot of talk about fate. This part was different from most fantasy series in the sense that a lot more of Heaven was involved, but the characters giving off light is the case in a lot of books.
“Destroying what someone else cherished never brought back what you yourself had lost. All it did was spread grief like a contagion.”
The author created the characters in such an interesting way that I found myself rooting for them despite all the henoius acts they committed. They felt like real people instead of generic undeserving heroes with a tragically mighty ego and a superiority complex. Although Zhu and Ouyang were on opposite sides, I couldn't help but wish that both of them would win. The side characters were nice too, and the relationships between everyone were well-written.
I liked that this book was unique, fast-paced and that Zhu actually used her brains and schemes to get out of trouble rather than be handed all the victories by fluke. I look forward to reading the next book!
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