Basically a book about war and other horrible things. I had to skip multiple pages because they were just to horrifying for me. I liked the main plot of her being female, not yielding to a lover and not having to be the nurturing mother role.

<blockquote> <i>“You humans always think you’re destined for things, for tragedy or for greatness. Destiny is a myth. Destiny is the only myth. The gods choose nothing. You chose.”</i> </blockquote> First, before I get into my review, I do want to provide a list of content warnings, as <b>my ebook copy</b> did not include them. I am not sure who is responsible for this omission, but this book, which starts out as a military-focused dark academia story, absolutely should have a comprehensive list of warnings, despite being classified as <i>grimdark</i>. <b>•</b> War and Violence <b>•</b> Genocide and War Crimes <b>•</b> Sexual Assault <b>•</b> Torture and Abuse <b>•</b> Drug Use and Addiction <b>•</b> Self-Harm and Suicidal Ideation <b>•</b> Racism and Xenophobia (Depictions of ethnic discrimination and xenophobia.) <b>•</b> Colonialism and Imperialism <b>•</b> Child Abuse, Infanticide, and Child Death <b>•</b> Mentions of Cannibalism, Mental Illness & Trauma, Religious Trauma, PTSD The book has a very interesting world, an incredibly cool magic system, and its (anti) heroine is no princess in need but a girl who has flaws and issues and is portrayed as a character that must go through atrocious things that indeed shape her character. This is refreshing. This is something more authors should do. I am tired of books and stories where trauma doesn't change how a character sees the world around them and just goes on like before. That being said, I can sympathize with Rin, but I do not necessarily like her. That I kept on reading is something I applaud Kuang for because I usually struggle with books where I do not like the protagonist. Rin is awful. But she had no other choice than to become an awful person. I personally can't imagine what war must feel like, let alone how being nearly a child must feel fighting in a war. And Kuang displayed it beautifully with all the downsides there are. You do not need to like Rin. You need to feel what she went through. And that is perfectly written. That said, I want to acknowledge the strong points of this book. The pacing and world-building are incredibly well done, and the story is undeniably gripping. I love the aspects from Chinese mythology that are so beautifully woven into the story. All the way from the naming of places to the gods and the magic system. And that is the book's strength as well as its biggest issue—real life plays a part in it. It draws heavily on real-life tragic events, which gives me mixed feelings. That’s why I’d give it 4 stars instead of 5. While the characters feel believable—especially given that they are essentially children thrown from a military academy into a brutal war—the events of the war are unmistakably inspired by horrific real-life atrocities like the Nanjing Massacre and the experiments conducted by Unit 731. I found it uncomfortable how the immense suffering inflicted by Rin’s enemies—and later, by Rin herself—is largely justified under the banner of “that’s just how war is.” Only one character in the story meaningfully questions this justification, which makes it feel as though these moments of horror are used more for shock value than for meaningful reflection. I sincerely hope that the second book in the series (I haven’t looked into reviews yet) takes a deeper, more nuanced approach to this, rather than simply leaning on shock factor. I believe Kuang has the academic background to do better than that. And that is why I can't give this book the 5 stars it otherwise deserved in my opinion.

A great book, I really enjoyed the authors styles. It’s slower paced but it kept me hooked. It definitely gets dark and the character arc was not what I was expecting.

How is this her first book oml

Pomysł dobry wykonanie? Ok ale mało działań wojennych :(( . Ale pomimo tego wybitnie dobra rozrywka 4,5/5⭐