Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
Series: Rise of the Empress #1
Rating: 5 stars
Published: October 10th 2017
Goodreads Synopsis:
An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl's quest to become Empress--and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.
Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?
Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins--sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.
FANTASTIC. Evil Queen retelling that has all the right levels of evilness. I love multifaceted characters, and even more so antiheroines/villains with so much depth to them.
Xifeng has been trained since birth to be the next Empress; however there are many factors holding her back. She has this dark power within her that she must use in order to fulfill her destiny.
