Heavenly Tyrant

It’s likely my score is damaged by the fact that the second book came out so long after the first, and thus, my memory of the details is less than ideal. I found the first book in the series to be extremely compelling. I was enthralled, and loved the world building, the relationships, and the sheer murderous rage.

Unfortunately, I found both the relationships and the politics of Heavenly Tyrant to be insufficient to keep my attention. The relationship half is made far more difficult by the fact that no one actually likes or trusts each other. While this can be compelling, I didn’t feel it worked in this instance. As for the political side, many of the events and pitfalls made sense, but having a narrator with no political background got tiring quickly. I either wanted her to be discovering this more organically, or to have someone with enough savvy to get that maybe one shouldn’t ride in a fancy vehicle during a class revolution.

The ending really worked for me, and is bumping this rating up a star. I had considered not finishing the book multiple times, but I’m glad I did, if only for that.

After suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds herself at the seat of power in Huaxia. But she has also learned that her world is not as it seems, and revelations about an enemy more daunting than Zetian imagined forces her to share power with a dangerous man she cannot simply depose. Despite having vastly different ideas about how they must deconstruct the corrupt and misogynist system that plagues their country, Zetian must join this man in a dance of truth and lies and perform their roles to perfection in order to take down their common enemy, who seeks to control them as puppets while dangling one of Zetian’s loved ones as a hostage.

uhhhhhhhhh rtc