I'm so glad I finally got to this long-time physical/audiobook TBR; I ended up deciding to listen to it, which I wasn't sure about initially due to the fact that a lot of fantasy is difficult for me to follow when listening vs physically reading it for the first time. But I found this narration to be a delight to listen to; and it's endlessly helpful to listen to a book based in a different culture other than my own so that I can learn how to correctly pronounce names and places. 

Regarding the book itself, I really loved it! I loved the different kingdoms and all the political/court drama and intrigue. I'm really not a fan of love triangles, but I think this one was well written. Xingyin was an interesting character -- at times she annoyed me -- but it's refreshing to see a FMC defy expectations, go for what she wants without apology, AND make mistakes and learn from them. At times I found her almost too bold, but then, usually within paragraphs, I was like, girl get it. She's far from a perfect character, but I think she always had her heart in the right place and grew a lot as a character. Liewei is precious, and I love him. Wenzhi, well...

I had my suspicions about him, and I was right, lol. I think his behavior at the end is also super ick. It's like he thinks he's entitled to Xingyin, and that's gross.

Anyway, I look forward to reading book two!