Strike the Zither by Joan He*

This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for a review

This was book 2 that I read for my 3 ARCs reading vlog!

Strike the Zither is now one of my favourite Joan He books. I think Joan He is an amazing author in general but then again, I still need to read Descendant of the Crane to say which one of the three books is my favourite.

This has such an amazing premise and I think, after having read The Ones We’re Meant to Find, this is honestly peak Joan He - I think that while TOWMTF highlighted aspects of He’s writing as well as the world building and the plot twists (which made my jaw DROP), Strike the Zither really focused on He’s writing as well as plot and dialogue, I think. It might seem similar points but they were delivered in completely different ways and the two books shows Joan He’s range in her writing styles, her plot twists (yes, my jaw did drop for the STZ plot twists as well), her characters and her world-building - especially the world-building difference between the two books since TOWMTF is sci-fi and set in a future world ravaged by storms and climate change (also described as an episode of Black Mirror) whereas Strike the Zither is a re-imagining of the Chinese classic The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and deals with Chinese folklore as well as Chinese history and of course, the Chinese deities.

I really love books that feature smart main characters - not entirely academically smart but more in books that focus on strategy and battles and, in the case of this book, war strategy. Zephyr, our main character, is the greatest strategist of all time but she is under the so-called “underdog” of the warlordesses. She’s cunning, ruthless and very smart. But, being the best of something doesn’t come without skeletons in the closet and Zephyr’s got some big ones.

The plot is fairly simple: It’s the year 414 of the Xin Dynasty and three warlordesses are battling for the empire. Zephyr serves under Xin Ren who is considered the “underdog” of the three warlordesses and when Zephyr is forced to infiltrate the enemy’s war camp, she encounters Crow, an opposing strategist that seems to be the only person who is her equal.

Themes of found family, rivals and identity, as well as a teensy bit of romance (I need more romance PLEASE) are present in the book but I think that Joan He pulls everything together incredibly well (and I have a soft spot for the found family trope so I think the best thing was the found family in this book but the romance!! Yes, it was so good)

So, in conclusion, if you want found family, rivals to lovers and battles of identity then this is the book for you!

Out in October!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Love,

Mila