Overall, I enjoyed this book.
I love the way R.F. Kung writes.
I really enjoyed the Asian culture and history twisted into a fantasy novel. The tale of the gods and the creation of shamanism was a very interesting way to insert magic into the world.

The part I couldn't really get behind was the excessive amount of torture. I am not naïve enough to think that these things do not happen in war, that people are not capable of such horrible acts, but this just went a little too far. It felt unnecessary. At some point it talks about a normal human soldier ripping a pregnant women's abdomen open with his bare hands, taking the baby out of her now disemboweled body, and then ripping the baby in half as well. Like 1) the amount of strength that would require isn't really human 2) what the actual fuck?

I'm assuming these acts and very graphic descriptions are just to help the reader fuel a hatred for the Federation army equal to the main character. It just felt a little overdone. I went into this expecting brutality, torture, rape, ect. (normal acts of war), but not exactly something so graphic as this.

edit:::: my stupid ass just realized this is a historical reference to the Rape of Nanking. Japan literally did this to China.

That aside it worked. I am rooting for Rin to reap her vengeance on everyone it encompasses. It's always refreshing to me to have a main character who isn't necessarily a "good" person.