"There's no such thing as karma. Or, if it does exist, it sure doesn't give a shit about people like me. Some of us were born to be used and discarded. We can't afford to simply go along with the flow of life, because nothing in this world has been created, built, or set up in our favor. If we want something, we have to push back against everything around us and take it by force."

10/5 stars
Ladies, gentlemen, and others, may I present one of my new top 5 favorite books! 
I'm obsessed. Obsessed, I tell you. I love everything about this book. I live for Zetian and Shimin, I love their rage filled selves so much, and Yizhi 🥺 Don't get me started on this cinnamon roll. 
If you love patriarchy smashing badass mcs, a cool & unique magic system based on qi (life force), bisexual icons, hilarious writing, or all of the above, this is the book for you. I will be bugging all my friends about it, because it’s unprecedented and unique, it’s a readers book, it’s all the good things. I also really appreciate the formatting (imo the only thing it lacked was a table of contents, especially since the chapters had, often funny, titles), particularly the fact that they included trigger warnings in the actual book. 
Also, I’ve been dedicatedly watching Xiran’s YouTube channel since her first (and very viral) video and I was very excited to read this book, and it exceeded my (already pretty high) expectations. It made me feel the whole spectrum of emotions and I just overall loved it. I need to get my hands on the sequel asap.