I’ve held on to a copy of this book for a very long time, and I think that is somewhat reflected in my view of it. 

I enjoyed the blend of Chinese/Japanese elements in the story, but the world building and spirit-magic just felt a little off to me. In addition, I’m normally not one to guess the twist or ending of a book, but this was so obvious that even I figured it out. And that just made me so infuriated with our MC because of how long it took her to even consider the possibility. That classic MC brooding alone over her failures and inabilities really just kind of lessened my interest in the story.

I would say I enjoyed the story overall, and I will read the second one. Just maybe not right away! 

Let me start with the good. The world building is amazing. I feel like I am in another era while reading the book, and I can almost smell the grass, timber, and steamed buns in the story. Speaking of, Eon has a very exciting story. I constantly need to know what happens next. However, a lot of this is driven by me, the reader, having already figured everything out, desperately reading on so that Eona will get to figuring it out.

Something else that really strikes me is how obvious it is that the book is written by a tourist into Chinese and Japanese culture. There is a lot she gets right, but it is still described with an exoticism and an otherness that makes it obvious it's from someone with an outside eye.

The final disappointment is a spoiler,

when Eona finally joins with her dragon, she magically heals from her disability, and this is celebrated.

This convenient way of handling it is so disappointing, because that was never what was holding Eona back. It would have been much more powerful if her rise to power embraces all the physical things that are supposed to set her back.

Oof. I have a lot of things I want to talk about. Let me chew it over for a while.

I have complicated feelings about this book, especially about the trans representation. On the one hand, Lady Dela is an amazing character. On the other hand, the physical descriptions of her compare her to a man far too often. The book meant a lot to me as a young trans teen, though, and I have to commend it for having a relatively well-written trans woman (even as a side character) in a "girl pretends to be a boy for plot reasons" story - especially since it was written back in 2008. Overall, I'm glad I reread it, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it.