In a world where girls are disposable, living and dying for the convenience of men in the home, the boudoir, in the building of empires, one girl defies the ages-old custom, determined to avenge her sister’s death even if she dies too.
This book is MANGA in novel, rather than graphic novel, form, and thus a tale of blended spirit and mech tech, of young men with tortured psyches and young women who can reach them when nobody else can. There are plenty of exciting, easy-to-visualize battle sequences. But when our young heroine, Zetian, is paired with the most violent pilot in the Imperial Army, all her unprecedented spirit power may not be enough to save her.
The story is fast paced and very readable, with gentleness and friendships as well as brutal training and individual striving against obstacles that seem insurmountable. While its roots are firmly in MANGA, the novel form allows a depth of insight into the main character and her society that would be lacking in a graphic novel. Zetian is both engaging and repelling; we want her to succeed even when we don’t approve of her methods. The male characters are less developed, serving (unusually) as tools for her instead of her for them. In that sense it’s a subverting book, determinedly flipping the accepted social order on its head even while Zetian maintains a public façade of meekness.
The tale’s Chinese cultural roots are deep and wide, from the ancient custom of binding girls’ feet to the newest ways that media empires shape public perceptions in support of state objectives. Embedded racism in this post-disaster society serves both individual and Imperial aims as all lower-designated (refugee) racial groups are weak separately, their mutual antipathy fostered to keep them from making common cause against the dominant elite.
A worthy read that doesn’t hesitate to burn down the patriarchy both individually & collectively.
Content warning: physical & psychological violence.
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