Another ho-hum short modern fantasy that seems designed to tick off various qualities of virtue-signalling. Asian-styled setting. Check. Character who uses the (annoying) ungrammatical single they/their pronouns. Check. The publisher's blurb on the rear calls the book "feminist high fantasy" (debatable, on both points) and "an indictment of monarchy" (ditto). Etc. What's left? A thin story of an empress's revenge, played out over years. The blurbs on the rear by other writers are delusional: "An elegant gut punch" Seanan McGuire; "a small, masterful jewel" Aliette de Bodard; "Glorious, beautifully written" Kate Elliott. The book is not dreadful; it's just not very good.
