"The Girl King" by Mimi Yu is an epic and thrilling tale of power, love, and identity that takes readers on a journey through a richly imagined world inspired by ancient China. Mimi Yu's writing is vivid and immersive, with detailed descriptions of the world and the characters that bring them to life. The themes of identity, family, and duty are explored in a nuanced way, as the sisters must confront their own expectations and the expectations of others to find their true selves and their place in the world. While it's not my favorite Asian fantasy that I've read recently, it definitely was still an enjoyable read.

The best thing about this book was the obvious attention, detail, and care that was put into weaving Asian details into the plot, characters, and setting. Unfortunately, a lot of other things felt formulaic and it made for a predictable read. I definitely recommend this book to libraries with underdeveloped Asian fantasy collections, but feel that there are other examples out there.

A strong fantasy debut with imaginative mythology and worldbuilding. Long, intricate story, and decent ending with room left for the sequel. Loved the inherent detail and diversity -- and that the main character wasn't afraid to be militant and martial, More girls like this, please.

A great YA fantasy that pits two sisters against each other in their fight to secure the crown. An enjoyable read with great worldbuilding.

Points for diversity, but the characters felt very flat and boring and whiny. I usually expect a more from Asian fantasy, as there is so much for the author to work with. Loved the setting, but that was about it.

It felt very...meh to me. I wanted to like it, but I ended up skimming it in the end. Also, I didn't relate to the characters as much as I wanted to, especially as an OwnVoices reader. It pains me to say this, but it was just...boring.

DNF

I'm sad to say it, but I had a hard time getting into this book, so I will not be reviewing this title at the moment. Thank you for the opportunity to read the title early.

I wanted to love this book. I was intrigued by the synopsis but when I started reading, I felt disconnected from the plot and characters. I kept reading hoping that those feelings would happen eventually. At one point there was an entire chapter that talked about one characters "first blood," which was then continually referenced. This put me off a lot. Sadly, by the end of the book I still felt the same. I can't even put my finger on WHY it didn't work for me. The writing was detailed and the premise was unique. I don't think I will be reading the next book.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed reading this. An interesting story with fun characters. Well written.

From the first pages, I wasn't able to connect with the characters, their world, or the narrative. Not enough is built to establish believable character relationships and, with some POVs, mystery is built without setting up the context for its significance.

Within the first 20% of the novel, four different POVs were shown. While I believe these storylines will intersect at some point, bringing this world building into fruition, the frequent POV shifts only made it harder to connect with the characters and their stories. It would have been helpful to establish one POV as the main one while giving more insight into the plot through the other POVs. (Note: I don't know if this is done later; as I DNFed this read, my review is based on the first 21% of the novel.)

All that said, I've seen reviews that have more positive comments on this novel, so there is an audience for it. It just wasn't for me.

DNFed 21% into the novel.

I will be honest it took me a while to get into this story. It had a slow start but after I was able to get into the story it was very interesting to see the plot and how it was developed through the story. The development of the characters was really something as well. I will say I am very excited for the next book in all consideration of the ending.

I wanted to like this book so much, but it was a huge disappointment. It was really slow, so much so that nothing much happened, and I ended up skimming the ending. I also didn’t like the main characters. The girls seemed so spoiled. Maybe the next one will be better.

The Girl King is a standard YA story, but told in refreshing voices we need more of. Mimi Yu is an author to watch.

DNF @ 45%. This was just too generic and predictable to hold my attention. The tag line and synopsis made The Girl King sound absolutely amazing, and the fantasy genre can always benefit from additional diversity in its authors and heroines/heroes. It's more difficult to appreciate that diversity as a reader, however, when the plot that unfolds is nearly indistinguishable from the countless novels that have come before.

The Girl King
3.75/5 stars

Immediate thoughts:

The start of this book is sloooow. The past unwinds with the present in a way that is beautifully done, but sort of took me out of the story. It’s a lot of questions and character building to set up the series.

It’s described as the story of two sisters, Lu and Min, but I honestly didn’t care about one of them at all until the very end. Min was boring and childish, despite being the one with powers. Her storyline just fell sort of flat for me.

I’m going to bottom-line this review: 3/4 of the book held my interest but didn’t wow me. The last 1/4 was awesome and I will definitely read the next one, but I sort of wish this was more of the story than the two sisters. So that said, it was mediocre as a whole. I’m a reader who enjoys the tedious task of world and character building, but it left me a little wanting here.

Two sisters are princesses of the kingdom. Their parents have a marriage of alliance, not of love and each daughter has a parent who favors them. Lu, the oldest daughter, who has been training to lead for years, is not named the heir of the emperor. Her cousin Set, whom she despises, is betrothed to Lu and named the heir instead. Lu does not accept this decision and challenges Set for the throne. Set will do anything to remove Lu from the competition. Lu must flee for her life and find help and build her own army far from the capital. With Lu gone, Set marries the younger princess, Min, and they discover that she has a power inside her that might just help tip things in their favor. Min wants to please everyone and has always been quiet and reserved. With her new found power, she starts to realize that maybe people should begin to please her. This book ends after a climactic battle where no one wins.

I'm so sad that I have to wait for the next book to come out. I want to read it now!

Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury publishing (I had the US edition) and Mimi Yu for my arc of The Girl King.

This has been one of my most highly anticipated books of 2019 and it did not disappoint! Admittedly it took me a few chapters to fully grasp what was going on, the story is told from three different perspectives: Lu is the princess set to inherit the empire from her father and become the first 'Girl King', Nok is an apprentice apothecary and essentially a peasant, driven from his lands and his people, Min is Ali's younger and mostly ignored sister. I found learning about all three characters plus the world building a little overwhelming in the beginning but once I'd got a handle on everything it got really really good.
Lu is astounded when her father goes back on his word and declares that her cousin Set will become emperor and instead of ruling herself, she will simply be his wife. Determined to reclaim her birthright she goes on the run finding an ally in Nok, albeit a slightly unwilling one. Meanwhile Min who has previously been mostly ignored and disliked, finds an unknown and dark power inside her, now she might have a claim to the throne herself.
This is a classic tale of two sisters turned against one another with a new and unique twist. It's very difficult to side with either sister who have both been brought up in a sheltered lifestyle with a condescending and often cruel mother, a distant father and a court full of spies, gossip and back stabbing. Nok brings a refreshing contrast in his ability to see how people have had to live under the girl's father's rule. I liked that Lu was not cast as a 'saviour' character, her reasoning was often off, she uses people to get what she wants and is prepared to strike whatever bargains she needs to, not for the sake of the people but for the sake of reclaiming her throne.
Despite feeling a deep annoyance bordering on hatred for Min, I liked the way her character was developed, I went from feeling disdain towards her in her initial chapters, to a grudging admiration for her character development and intrigue as to what she would do next. I still found that her character was very weak and to be honest she is a bit stupid but I think sometimes it is stupid people with power who become far more dangerous that those who are clever...
I'm really interested to see where Mimi Yu goes next with this series! A great read!

4.5 stars

I have almost no words that can coherently describe how desperately I have longed for this kind of sweeping epic East Asian fantasy that is reminiscent of those 50+ episode historical dramas that had backstabbing family politics, bloodlust, ambition, betrayal, dangerous emotions!, and everything else. Needless to say, this book completely took me by surprise by how far it leaned into the bitterness and complicated feelings with siblings, especially royal ones. This book hit all the right notes and while it definitely took some time to build up, once you dug into the politics and all the messy messy emotions and ambitions and cruelty, we had a winner.

What drew me to this book was the title and the cover. It reminded me of Mulan, so I was eager to dive into this world. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations. There was nothing spectacular or surprising in the plot, and the "twists" were very predictable. The history of the empire, which seems very important to the story, is muddled in the telling. I am sure in the author's mind it made perfect sense, but because we learned in bits and pieces, it felt disjointed. There was so much I thought we were supposed to know, but it is as if the author forgot to tell us. Basic things about Yunis and the Gifted Kith, like who they are, what they can do, and why they matter to the empire were left out in favor of vagueness and mystery, I suppose. But you would think by the end of the book we would have had a clearer picture. Since this is the first book in a series, I think it would have been fine for the author to spend more time on laying a cohesive, understandable foundation to build her world on.

I will probably read the next book, though, because the storyline I am most interested in is Nokhai's.

I thought this was a strong world with really well-developed characters. I couldn't decide who to root for and who to hate--for the most part. There were characters I absolutely hated. It was great. Highly recommend for fantasy fans.