I enjoyed strike the zither, but the jump from the first half of the book to the second was hard to get used to. It felt like two separate books at first, changing genre. However I am still interested in the sequel as I’m interested in how the gods really do come into play. With that being said the world was intriguing and the way they bring music and qi together was great. 3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillian Children's Publishing Group Roaring Book Press, and Joan He for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Joan He's "Strike the Zither" is the first book in a new fantasy series that reimagines the Chinese classic tale of the Three Kingdoms. We follow Zephyr, a brilliant strategist working under the warlordess Xin Ren, in a war where Xin Ren's honor can get them killed.

My first encounter with Joan He was for their book "The Ones We're Meant to Find" which, if you know me, I was very sorely disappointed in. That said, I did enjoy the depiction of the relationship between two sisters and like that, we see the relationship between two sisters becoming a focal point in this. Like in "The Ones...", at the heart of Zephyr's plans is finding her younger sister. And of course, like in her other work, there is common theme of identity which He literally deals with at multiple points with Zephyr and the "twist".

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this one. I found it to be very unevenly paced, the action wasn't really that well-written, and none of the characters were really that likable. I thought the plot was really contrived and at times, confusing so for me, it would have helped if the characters were likable. If not likable, then at least realistic or something? I just could not connect with any of them. They were all just so underdeveloped and lacked any real personality or character traits that defined them and some could make the argument that because this is a reimagining of an old tale that maybe the lack of character development was purposeful to serve as archetypes but even then these characters were so underdeveloped, it would make no sense to say that.

And the action? As a writer, I know that it's difficult to write action well. It's a difficult thing to translate into writing in a way that reads well. I don't think the action was necessarily awful or anything but I feel like because so much of the plot revolves around war and fighting, He's weaknesses with writing action came across much more obviously. I personally just found the action sequences to be written very clunkily and a lot of the action described just sounded very boring. Again, I know it's difficult to do so I will give He props for attempting it. I do wish an editor would have said "Hey, it's not great, let's leave in the BIG action sequences and cut out the other fifty." cause...yeah, not amazing.

I really really wanted to love this but I found it difficult to stay reading especially once I got past 60%. The last 40% of the novel really draaaaags and again, an editor needed to be brought in because I feel like we could have ended Book 1 after the twist with Zephyr. Definitely not my favorite I've read this year.

Armed with her common thread theme of identity, to-be-expected diabolical twists, and a protagonist with an ego the size of the sky this time round, Joan He wrote another gripping novel — a well-paced action-packed first entry in a series retelling the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Zephyr is easily one of Joan's most fun characters; I love her, even though she is arrogant as hell *cough* (no, I will not explain the cough but feel free to interpret it as the classic C-drama trope of coughing-with-blood-splattered-on-a-handkerchief). Although her arrogance is (I suppose) justified by her wit. She got even more interesting as Joan delivered a midpoint twist that pushed Zephyr's arc forward. Zephyr's 'revelation' causes her to be even more chaotic than before, and I wonder if the fact plus a certain allusion means tragedy is on Zephyr's cards 👀.

She finds her intellectual match in Crow, the mysterious yet equally crafty enemy strategist, who she frequently banters with. Ah, the banters! (Sidenote: I'm getting yin-yang vibes from the pairing due to their choice of colours.)

I can't tell you how many times I bowed over in this book. The first line already got me good. Then the end of the fourth chapter? The END OF THE SEVENTH? THE ENTIRETY OF THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH? THE FREAKING MIDDLE? THE REST OF THE SECOND HALF? LIKE??? This book is just too enjoyable.

Pick this book up; you won't regret it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Fierce Reads for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book! It reminded me of a YA mixture of The Poppy War and She Who Became the Sun, but it was still a very unique story all of its own.

I was quickly captivated by the main characters and the plot! I love how a majority of the characters (leaders, warriors, and others) were female!

The story was unpredictable, and I was shocked by some of the twists and turns. It’s not often that I read a book that completely surprises me!

I think the world and the politics in it was super interesting, and I like how Joan He incorporated a bit of ancient history into the story!

Rating - 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I loved this story so much that I preordered a copy while I was in the middle of the book. 😂 I would recommend this to anyone who likes YA fantasy!

“Strike the Zither” by Joan He is a reimagining of the Chinese classic tale the Three Kingdoms. Typically, I’m a sucker for reimaginings, especially when they have maps and character sketches at the beginning like this one.

So, how did this one stack up?

What I liked about the book:
1. The book included a map and character art for four of the FMCs that were totally to die for! Not sure why we didn’t get character art for at least Crow as well, but whatever…

2. Overall, I liked the strategy aspect of the book. Did I sometimes feel it was daunting and overshadowed real character development? Yes, but it was still good nonetheless.

3. It was well written, there is no denying that. It was grammatically correct and there were no misspellings that I found, as well as the writing was anything but plain. From the prettiest to the gnarliest of moments, the description was what kept me reading this one through to the end.

What could have been better:
1. Ok, here goes. I didn’t like a single character. T0urmaline was ok I guess, since she seemed to have the greatest “character development”, if you want to call it that, though I wouldn’t.

While the strategy was so well developed, there was no connection to the characters in the writing. I am a big character person. I don’t even need a real plot if characters are amazing, that’s just the type of reader I am. However, no matter how good a book is, if it’s lacking a character connection for me, I’m not going to like it. Plain and simple.

I loved the idea of Zephyr and Crow. I loved what I wanted Crow to be and what he was probably hiding (because he most definitely was!). What I did not love was wading through each of their conversations, hoping to find some gem in this book written like “War for Dummies”, to have them be unsatisfactory EVERY.DAMN.TIME!

In fact, here is my complete, unbridled opinion: if the characters had been more developed and not like Sims characters walking around, bumping into one another, and falling into monotonous conversations, this would have been a 5-star read for me. But they weren’t, so it’s not.

2. This book takes a turn at about the halfway point. This turn had me losing any interest that I had. I’m not sure if it’s because the Mary Sue aspect of Zephyr’s character was heighted even more at this point, or because we were introduced to more characters I had no connection to, but it just became a lot to try to enjoy.

Final Thoughts: This is a very well written book, it’s just not for me.

Final Rating: 3 body-snatching stars. IYKYK.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Roaring Brook Press, and Joan He for book one in this anticipated duology in exchange for my honest review!

I don’t know why I expected anything other than profoundly weird from the author of The Ones We’re Meant to Find, but the profound weirdness of this one still caught me off guard. I went in expecting a cliche YA insta love and bro. Bro I was not prepared. Joan He really knows what’s up.

A wonderful retelling of the Three Kingdoms, I enjoyed seeing it reimagined and all the ways the author made it seem new while honoring the original. Thank you to Macmillian and NetGalley for the ARC!

I wasn't familiar with the original tale of the Three Kingdoms prior to reading this story, but I may check it out now.

This is a great start to a series. It's a bit different from what I usually read. It's set in ancient history full or magical elements, as well as lots of scheming, secrets, and betrayal. It's an action-packed read filled with well-developed and believable characters. This is a first-person POV novel, which isn't really one of my favorites, but it sure works for this story. The author's note is quite informative, and it was interesting to read how the story came to be.

The first book by Joan He I read was "The Ones We're Meant to Find", and I knew then that I would read absolutely anything she'd every write. Her prose is gorgeous, her works are masterfully crafted and her characters tend to stay with me beyond the page. The same can be said for her newest book, "Strike the Zither", a loose retelling of the Three Kingdoms. A classic I, admittedly, have never read, though that didn't take away from my enjoyment of this first part in what I think is going to be a duology.

"Strike the Zither" tells the story of a master strategist known most famously as Zephyr who is devoted to a lordess fighting against a cruel warlord and possibly usurper. I loved the clever political manouvering, I loved the mature way of handling the war aspects in the story. I loved how Zephyr was not written to be likeable from the very start - she's arrogant, she's aloof, she's cold and seemingly only interested in her own victories and not the people she fights for. Obviously, I loved her from the very first page. She develops into so much more, and really, I don't want to talk more about her because I don't want to get spoilery. All the side characters are complex and intriguing, though He doesn't spend as much time on some of them as they deserve. I also, admittedly, wasn't too much of a fan of the budding romance between Zephyr and enemy strategist Crow, mostly because while I understood where the chemistry comes from, I didn't feel it on the page and they developed feelings way too quickly and superficially. I'm not too fond of Crow as a character so far, so that might be a reason.

There is a big twist about halfway into the story, and this might be a hit or miss for many readers. I admit I'm not sure if I'm entirely on board with the new direction the story goes in, and I enjoyed the first half of the book more, but it's still intriguing and I absolutely need to read the second book.

All in all - not my favourite by the author, but an amazing book nonetheless that I simply could not put down.

A gender-swapped version of the Chinese classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Strike the Zither is one of those books that left me eager for a sequel the second i finished it (a problem, as it won't be published for months yet). Zephyr is a strategist for the warlordess Ren, who fights to preserve the reign of the Empress and protect the common people. Ren's honor is a weakness in a war where betrayal and cruelty are the order of the day, so Zephyr must take great risks and develop complex plans in order to prevail. The characters are so well developed that they could walk off the page, the sweeping epic setting and plot draw the reader in and won't let go, and the supernatural elements are well woven and subtle. One caution: don't start reading unless you have a good chunk of time to devote - you will probably blow off whatever else you needed to do in order to stay in He's amazing novel (ask me how I know).

I thoroughly enjoyed this genderbent retelling of an old classic. Many stories are told from the POV of the leaders and the fighters, it is rare we see the drama through the eyes of a strategist, people who seemingly have already fought the battles in their heads and are now simply rewatching play out in the real world.

My criticism comes from the book being disjointed, and lacking flow. Again, maybe I have not read the Three Kingdoms source material, but there is very little hints of the supernatural until about a third of the way through when the story suddenly involves gods, possession and prophecies. The relationships or lack thereof also struggle as friends, enemies and family members seem to love and/or hate each other without explanation or motivation.

All and all a really fun book and an easy read for anyone interested in Chinese history and mythology.

A YA reimagining of "Three Kingdoms," "Strike the Zither" follows Zephyr, the strategist of a landless warlordess, who is determine to win the war despite her lack of physical prowess. Zephyr is an unforgettable protagonist, brilliant, cunning. and brazenly ruthless. Her narration demonstrates her intellect and skill to the reader without giving away her schemes, allowing each new development to be a shocking twist. "Strike the Zither" is an absolute page-turner, full of stunning intrigue, riveting politics, and rich world building.

Strike the Zither by Joan He was definitely a unique read. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this book. Zephyr was an interesting character - I loved her haughtiness during the first half of the book. But when she remembers that she’s a god, I don’t feel like her actions are always consistent with her characterization.

The pace was often too fast - this made for excellent, well-choreographed fight scenes. I was always fully engrossed in any action scene in this book. However, because of the quick pace, I also felt like I wasn’t following along with the story well and I missed certain plot points.

A lot of the novel was wild and kind of came out of left-field — namely, the Zephyr-is-actually-a-God plot line. I didn’t really understand why that happened or why Dewdrop helped her break the rules after telling her not to break the rules.

Honestly, the only reason I continued this book to the end was because of Crow. He is my favorite type of book boyfriend - snarky and charming. The banter between Crow and Zephyr was a bright point in this book, and sadly wasn’t included as much as I hoped.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Another fantastic fantasy read for this month!! I am just familiarizing myself with the culture surrounding East Asia. This book helped to further educate me while also opening up a whole new world. The characters were beautifully depicted in the story and the political systems developed throughout the book kept me invested. If these sound like something that's right up your alley, then I highly recommend picking up this book!!!

Zephyr made her choice when she became a strategist for Xin Ren, a warlordess vying for control of the empire against two other factions. Ren believes that the current ruler is being manipulated by a shadow empress, who abuses her station to seize power. She is also unable to convince the south to ally with her against this enemy. As a result, Ren's situation is precarious.

Zephyr as Ren's strategist is forced to make some tough decisions to save her leader's cause. When Ren's army finds themselves in a tough predicament, Zephyr seemingly deflects to the other side to turn back the tide and help Ren survive the war. However, Zephyr does not anticipate meeting the opposing side's strategist, Crow, and finding commonality with him. Conflicted between the paths she finds herself on, Zephyr finds herself for the first time torn between different decisions.

3.5 stars truly. This is a title that I feel conflicted about as I enjoyed the first 23-30%, but felt that choices made along the way weakened the story and main character. Now, I do understand that the source material was out of He's hands, but there are still some choices available to an author, who is re-telling a well-known and ancient tale.

I was heavily invested in the parts of the story dealing with Zephyr outmaneuvering her enemy and winning the war single-handedly for Ren. However, the story lost me when it stopped being about bold political moves and started delivering into the supernatural world. Zephyr went from being an admirable character and unstoppable force to falling into a story arc that felt redundant and done before. Perhaps, it's the part of my heart that yearns for Sansa/Littlefinger political intrigue, but I felt like this story wasted a really intriguing and bodacious character.

This is probably a 3.5 for me but I am rounding up. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Things I liked: the setting and details of actions and people. The general plot taken from a historical fictional story. The trading of historically male characters for strong female characters. I love it when authors do this because it almost always changes the story for the better.

Things I struggled with: Sometimes the plot was slow. The main character zither changing bodies. The (what felt random) inclusion of the gods and how Zither relates to them. The romance, our main heroine seems to fall infatuation very quickly and the attraction doesn't make sense given what he does to her.

The following will contain spoilers.

Our main character is a strategist for an underdog warlordress, she decides to kind of go rogue to help the warlordess Ren and pretends to defect to the North, meets the North's strategist Crow who poisons her and she makes it south under this guise to get a partnership between the South and Ren. She sets up an attack that will also be her cover of escape but she is murdered (turns out the South is playing both sides and attacked them). She returns to the heavens because SURPRISE she's a god. And then she realizes she misses the human realm and even though she isn't supposed to return she does and takes over one of Ren's generals bodies because their spirit was gone. This is the part that frustrates me because in her new form isn't great and she has to lie (people figure out eventually) but I would rather have had her stay as herself instead of the manipulation. Also P.S. Crow is sick and tells a story about a childhood friend who was like a sister and that must be the Southern Queen and so he isn't actually working for the North he's working for the South and is a spy. He tried to save Zither but she didn't accept it. Anyway, the story ends with Ren being the governor of the West after a ploy Zither creates, more people know her real identity, the God mother is on to her, Crow lost a finger from the North leader, the South Queen goes on to make a deal with the North (all fake turns out she wants revenge/possibly rule the whole empire.)

Strike the Zither is simply enchanting. As someone who has struggled to read the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Joan He's retelling is a delightful segue to grab readers' interest in a beloved essential of Chinese folklore and culture.
A must-read for epic battles of strength and wit;

Strike the Zither is funny, charming, and a marvelous addition to any bookshelf.

Just finished this eARC (thank you @netgalley!) and I have a lot of thoughts on this one!! I tore through the first half of this book, absolutely obsessed with the MC: Zephyr is the cutthroat, driven, maybe-even-arrogant strategist to an endlessly honorable lordess, trying to wrest control of the kingdom from a cruel prime ministress. The whole first half, I was enthralled with this dynamic, and with Zephyr, who feels unique in the fact that she’s really not as likeable as YA MCs often are— She’s an intense personality! Watching her navigate and manipulate the politics and war of this world is so compelling, which is why I think I struggled a little bit with the second half of the book. Without spoilers, there’s a big shift about halfway through this story and it (at least for a while) changes the focus of the plot. This is the only spot where the book wasn’t quite as gripping for me. I think this shift is a cool risk and ultimately will benefit the story of the series overall, and honestly, I wish more fantasy/fantasy YA would challenge their readers like this, but IDK- I am struggling to process my feelings on the book because the shift in the story threw me off and definitely cut into the pace of the political plot (my favorite part of the story!), which ultimately did take away from my investment in the narrative, but at the same time, I appreciate the fact that I don’t think I’ve read another book like this in recent memory. 4.5/5 is my rating (rounded up to a 5 for GR), and I think it’s very possible that reading book 2 and seeing how the twist is used in the bigger story might bring this rating back up to a 5. 🤷‍♀️ Confusion aside: this book is great and different and I highly rec, and it’ll be on my classroom wishlist!!

I found Strike the Zither by Joan He to be a cute and entertaining read.

I recently realized that I'm not really the target audience for YA books anymore, but it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy Strike the Zither. Instead, I thought that for a YA book it was very well done.

I liked Zephyr a lot, but what really made me stay was her struggle with her sense of belonging. In the book we see her face both the strained relationships she has with her "birth" sister (November) and her "acquired sisters (Ren, Lotus, and Cloud), as well as her "godly" sisters. They had interesting dynamics, an aspect that I think will be further explored in the second book and that I wouldn't mind reading more of.

The fantasy aspect was fine, nothing too impressive, but it worked for the book.

Not a fan of the insta-romance/infatuation, but given that it's YA and only a duology it's okay. A good thing, in my opinion, is that both Zephyr and Crow retain rational judgments and are pretty loyal to their sides, so you do get a bit of romance but without all the melodrama of "woe is me the peson I like belongs to the other faction and now I will desert for them because I'm in love." The relationship is cute, but nothing too intense. To my surprise, they are a bit more down-to-earth than what I expected for a YA.

Also, can we talk about Cicada? Because wow. Now that is a character I'm really interested in reading more about in the second book.

I will say, Miasma talks with too much flair. Her dialogues looked a bit too young for what I assume is her age, and at times I could only picture Yzma waving her hands around during her grand speeches. It is funny, but not what I would expect for the great villain to act like.

Overall, a cute read for a younger YA audience.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, as well as the Roaring Brook Press, for sending me a digital ARC of this book in return for my honest thoughts and opinions.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Review:

Themes: Action, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance, Betrayal, Found Family, Destiny

Strike the Zither is a YA fantasy that reimagines the classic Chinese tale, Three Kingdoms. I am not familiar with Three Kingdoms, but enjoyed this book nonetheless!

This book was beautifully written and had multiple twists and turns that had me GASPING. It was fast-paced, action-packed, and the ending left me wanting more! I never got bored while reading because there was always something epic happening in the story; it was such a page-turner. I loved the characters throughout the book, especially our main character, Zephyr. She is strong-willed, speaks her mind, and is a brilliant strategist. Her loyalty to her lordess is also extremely admirable. I also did not expect the hints of romance and banter that this book has! I hope to learn more about Crow in the sequel!

I truly loved this book. It is the first book I have read by Joan He, and now I want to read the rest of her novels!