Published Jan 8, 2019
Goodreads || Amazon
Rating: 4 Stars
ARC from Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review
Sisters Lu and Min have always understood their places as princesses of the Empire. Lu knows she is destined to become the dynasty's first female ruler, while Min is resigned to a life in her shadow. Then their father declares their male cousin Set the heir instead—a betrayal that sends the sisters down two very different paths.
Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu goes on the run. She needs an ally—and an army—if she is to succeed. Her quest leads her to Nokhai, the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. Nok wants to keep his identity secret, but finds himself forced into an uneasy alliance with the girl whose family killed everyone he ever loved…
Alone in the volatile court, Min's hidden power awakens—a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set's reign…or allow Min to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one Emperor, and the sisters' greatest enemy could turn out to be each other.
Okay, I want you to close your eyes. I want you to imagine the color red. Wonderful. Now I want you to feel every association you have with the color. Rage. Lust. Desire. The feeling when you press your fingers tightly to your eyes, move them away, and then open them up.
All of that is what this book felt like, which I think is amazingly fitting since the color of choice for the Girl King, Lu, is a sharp red.
This book is the story of two sisters and their impact on the kingdom. Broadly. Once we narrow the focus we see that what The Girl King by Mimi Yu is actually about is the loyalty of dreams. If that makes sense. I think that’s...kind of unique. There’s so much potential in each person, but that potential can be squashed, transformed, glorified and magnified by events completely out of that person’s control.
Lu and Min face all of that squashing and transforming and glory and magnification as only they can. The line between good and bad, family ties and where self-discovery is allowed to blossom in all of that becomes very...lost. Blurred, I suppose, is a better way of putting it. Motivations don’t make someone good or bad, neither does the person doing them. Nor do the actions themselves, really.
However, the effect on the individual play an extraordinary part in this book.
That’s what I loved the most when reading The Girl King. I’m a big fan of taking sides, getting to know characters and their motivation. That being said, in The Girl King, while I got to know the characters ect, ect- I honest to the Almighty couldn’t take sides.
(you’ll quickly realize how problematic this is when you read the book)
I identified with both of the sisters. I loved them kind of like they were mine.
Overall, this book was a solid read. I was on a LONG adventure/ super long car ride, so this was the perfect day read for me. Entertaining, action-packed and just super-duper fun. Dramatic. Kind of gruesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment