Synopsis:
China in the age of brilliance, where gods freely wander the three realms. Amongst them is the cruel and beautiful Death God, who has never failed to collect a soul on time. Until now. For when he seeks out Rujia, the noble god of healing—she makes him an offer he can’t refuse: she will help lift the excruciating curse placed upon him if he gives her a one-month reprieve.
Rujia’s deal with Death is merely an excuse to buy herself time. But when her plan causes the Celestial Palace’s collapse and the beloved crown prince’s disappearance, she and Death are both held responsible. The only way to avoid the wrath of all the other gods is to travel across the realms and safely retrieve the crown prince themselves.
As the unlikely alliance between them blooms into more, and Death’s resolve to kill Rujia weakens by the day, neither can outrun their intertwined fate without devastating consequences . . .
Review:
Ann Liang knows how to deliver heart-wrenching fantasy standalones with soft heroines.
Rujia, the ambitious yet kind-hearted God of Healing, makes a desperate deal with the God of Death to lift his century-old curse in exchange for a one-month reprieve from her own fated death by his hands.
The plot is slow and the romance is slow burn, yet there wasn’t enough yearning for my tastes. It follows Liang’s predictable plot points which means it relies on your expectations for the romance that suddenly springs up to work.
“All souls are malleable. They’re like flowers. A seed that has been planted into rich soil and watered every day and faced out into the sunlight will grow to become something wholly different from a seed planted in the dark. That is the case, even if the seeds were to be identical.”
Whilst I would argue this isn’t a romantasy in the traditional sense, there is banter and a familiarity between the two. We also get what feels like a whole new plot in the second half which kept it refreshing and engaging.
The historical setting also adds to the ambience and mood of the tale: gods, celestial Princes, and weak mortals.
It is easy to be drawn in and immersed, and I found myself reading the entire book in one train journey.
Overall, predictable if you have read her previous book, A Song to Drown Rivers, yet still satisfying and evocative.
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