Very powerful, and very dark. I did really like this book, and I think it’s an important book to read. However, I wasn’t quite prepared for how dark it got, and I’m not sure it was the right timing to read it in my life.
It’s a fantasy novel based on the Sino-Japanese War, including the Rape of Nanking. It’s history I didn’t really learn in school, and a fantasy novel is a powerful way to explore that history. But it also gave me nightmares and I don’t think, had I known, that I would have read it on vacation at 8 months pregnant.