Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

"Strike the Zither" is one of my favourite books this year and definitely one of the most enjoyable! Based upon the epic Three Kingdoms (which I knew nothing about before reading and this didn't affect my understanding at all), Strike the Zither follows the strategist Zephyr as she seeks to win a long lasting war for Ren Xin, the underdog, who fights for the rightfully chosen emperor. Knowing that this is an originally oral story, and a more female focused retelling, makes the lyrical writing and the beautiful characters all the more poignant. Zephyr is such a strong character, with a brilliant internal voice and a massively enjoyable characterisation. As time passes and Zephyr is forced to make decisions that don't align with her strategies, we see even more of her strength and courage. The twist halfway through the book wasn't something I was expecting at all, I love how Joan He wrote the mourning and grieving process here. The relationship between Zephyr and Crow, the sickly strategist on the opposite side, was gorgeously written and I can't wait to see where it might go next with the two of them. I absolutely raced through this in one night, so I'll definitely be rereading, but the sequel can't come soon enough!

Actual rating 3.5/5 stars.

Zephyr's life had humble roots, but she fought to become one of the the best strategist in the land and serve alongside Xin Ren, who is fighting the current empress to take back control of the throne. She will stop at nothing to complete her task, even if it means turning on those she finds alongside and making her existence a solitary one.

Joan He is an author I adore the writing of. This remained true here. I found this initially immersive, fast-paced, and with many twists along the course of it. Zephyr's world was an interesting one and I found the geographic, cultural, and political explorations some of the aspects that made this title so appealing. That, combined with Zephyr's adventures, ensured I tore through these pages.

Zephyr was an interesting perspective as she was not immediately lovable but I longed for her to become so. I usually desire to feel a closer bond with my fictional characters, but it served the purpose of the story for this to not be immediately granted here. I loved learning more about her and definitely did not anticipate what would be revealed.

Despite loving this, I had many questions still lingering at the close of it. I'm sure the focus of the sequel will return here but it did not leave me to feel 100% satisfied at this novel's conclusion.

Setting/Worldbuilding: 3/10
Main characters: 5/10
Side characters: 4/10
Dialogue: 7/10
Plot: 5/10
Technique: 1/10
Prose: 4/10
Romance: 8/10
Ending: 7/10
Overall enjoyment: 4/10
Total: 48/100 (2.4)

Bold in its ambition, lacklustre in its execution.

Strike the Zither tells the story of Zephyr, a master strategist of some renown working for the lordess Xin Ren, who leads a sort of rebel faction against the reigning de facto monarch/prime ministress, Miasma. Throughout the story, we see the unfurling of deitic prophecies, a lot of intrigue and politicking (leading to suspicion and shifting alliances), an enemies to lovers romance, impending war, and a unique magic system surrounding music and zithers. This is feminist, magical reimagining of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

It all sounds very good on paper. There is a story to tell here somewhere, but it all felt really short.

Let's start with the worldbuilding. Or rather, lack of. There is little to no sense of place at all in the novel. We are given scant descriptions of places, setting, kingdoms. I had no idea what the characters were even fighting for. This could have been a truly EPIC tale, but I'm left with nothing here.

Then let's move to characterisations. I think this book was actually much too short for the kind of narrational scope it wanted to tell. For a character-driven story, there wasn't much character building at all. We are left puzzling as to the exact nature of this "swornsistership" between Xin Ren and Lotus/Cloud, and we are also left even more bewildered by why Zephyr remains so loyal to Xin Ren. We are left confused as to Crow's intentions (though he does fall first!) and whether or not he was actually a good strategist. Even if this was all intentional and going to be revealed in the next book, it did little to endear these characters to me and left me nothing but confused as to their intentions and motivations.

There was also a lot of telling, but not showing. We are led through the story through Zephyr's eyes, and her narration is filled with arrogance about her skills and notoriety. We keep getting told how good she is because she keeps telling us how good she is ("I am a master strategist", "I never lose a battle" etc.). There was even one point where I believe Zephyr goes something like "I use my expert skills in geomancy to navigate the palace". Without any explanation as to how Zephyr actually uses said skills in geomancy, what geomancy is, what those said skills are. We just get told that her skills were expert skills, and she uses them. I thought it was a real cop-out for lack of technical worldbuilding, if I'm being honest.

Before I move on to my biggest problem with this story, let's take an interlude to talk about my pet peeve here. One of the kingdom leaders is 16 years old. Her strategist is somehow 15. Zephyr is 18, Crow is 19, and both are master strategists serving under their respective kingdom rulers. Xin Ren is (I think 25). Are we supposed to suspend our disbelief to this extent?

Now. My biggest and most unfortunate problem with this book: the prose and technique. For all the politicking and intrigue that was going on, I am firmly of the opinion that the writing felt far too intimate for it. We are given a first person POV with all the nuts and bolts that come with it, AND the story is also told in the present tense, with extremely short sentences and fast-paced writing that belonged more to a thriller than an epic fantasy. All of this serves to draw the reader in, pulling them close, and in so doing we lose the expansive nature of the politics and the schemings and the alliances. We lose it all. We REALLY don't need a blow by blow of every single one of Zephyr's thoughts, I think we really needed to see more of the world. And this required more detail, more multiple character introspection, a more unhurried pace, more everything.

I don't know if I'm going to pick up the sequel, but this one definitely fell short for me.

Many thanks to Text Publishing and Joan He for the advanced copy of Strike the Zither via NetGalley, in return for my honest and unbiased review. Quick note: I don’t recap plots in my reviews, as it’s easy enough to read the book’s synopsis and blurbs, I purely focus on my feelings & opinions of how the books makes me feel.

Strike the Zither is a fascinating re-imagining of the Three Kingdoms. I will admit that I went into this book not knowing anything about the Three Kingdoms at all. But I can imagine it was a very male-heavy affair. Strike the Zither, on the other hand, has been written with a female majority of characters. Male characters, while present, are in the minority. However, rather than making them inferior (as would be the case in a gender-switch reimagining), He also wrote male characters into positions of political and strategic power in the story.

It took me a bit to get the feel of the story and I found it difficult to fully immerse myself in it. The way it is written would make it work very well as a graphic novel or screen adaptation. There is a large switch of viewpoint in the middle of the book, which again threw me, as I’d not long gotten into the rhythm of the story, and this did detract from the story somewhat for me. Overall, I just felt a little something was lacking. It felt a little shallow, the characters lacked in depth and there were sudden leaps in time with little explanation.

Really, I feel Joan He did not do herself justice. She could have split this book into two. The ‘before’ and the ‘after’. With more depth of the characters and explanations, it would have felt like an even richer, deeper story.

It was a brilliant idea, well executed. But, with more time and over two volumes, would have been immense. It could have been MORE. For this reason I just couldn’t love it.

Moods: adventurous, dark, mysterious
Pace: fast
Character development: weak
Plot or character driven: plot
Diversity: low
Spice: 0/5
Trigger warnings: Ableism, Amputation, Blood/Gore, Death, Death of a family member, Guns/weapons, Murder, Physical or mental abuse, Physical illness, Poisoning, Violence, War

Rating 4/5

Full review will be posted as soon as possible and I'll add links to blog as well. The review will be scheduled and posted closer to publication date.

I would like to thank the publisher Text Publishing and Netgalley for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

A book chock full of political manoeuvring, secrets and plot twists! I found the first chapter confusing and it felt a bit like I’d been thrown into the middle of a tale without much context, and nobody was telling me what was going on. However, once I got past that, I enjoyed the scheming and ruthlessness as well as a book that championed clever and powerful women, as well as sisterhood and friendship. I would have loved to have more romance to soften the politics and okay, maybe because I’m a massive romantic and enjoy rivals/enemies to lovers as a trope and think this part of the plot had some great potential. Zephyr was a complex and scheming character, her knowledge and skills at strategising were incredibly impressive so hats off to Joan He for writing a book so steeped in intricate plans and plots. The use of music was also incredibly magical and creative, with the Zithers narrating their players' stories. Unfortunately, the story did lose me a bit again after the ambush when there was a big plot twist but it was definitely a unique turn of events and not one I saw coming. I don't enjoy a book being too predictable.

I really wish I had enjoyed this more, I loved the concept of a strategic Three-Kingdoms inspired fantasy, but it completely missed the mark.

The book is simultaneously too fast paced, and too slow. The book blows past things such as worldbuilding and developing characters personalities, then crawls to a halt trudging through the mundane. No worldbuilding is provided until needed, leaving it shoehorned in to explain things mid-paragraph. The book states it is not set in China, yet I don't know where it is set. I had no concept of some of the political or geographical landscape or its players, which is vital for a political fantasy.

Zephyr as a main character is entirely unpleasant, even for myself who enjoys rude and stuck up female characters. She thinks herself better than everyone while rarely proving it, going off and covertly doing her own strategies with mixed results. Viewing all the other characters through her eyes makes them blend into one - she dislikes most of them, so we view them through her one dimensional worldview too. I can't even fully grasp why she likes and dislikes who she does as her internal monologue is so inconsistent. Why she worships Ren and and falls in instalove with Crow, I cannot comprehend based on how she feels about other characters.

The main plot twist was also extremely disconnecting, and completely took me out of the book. The first half of the book felt it built up for nothing, and then the second half was slow up until the very end.

Overall I feel a complete lack of connection to the story or its characters, and will not be continuing the series.

I have adored all of Joan He's previous books and with this new release, that love continues. An epic adventure with strong female protagonists that you will devour.

Strike The Zither is the best YA I've read these past 3 months. I am rooting for Zephyr and her story. Joan He's writing style is unique. I really love the twist, and how the author put that cliffhanger.

Joan He strikes again with the plot twists, love to see it. This reminds me of She Who Became the Sun for a YA audience. Lots of strategy and deception. I enjoyed the characters, especially the protagonist Zephyr. I wish it took its time to build a bit more as it felt a bit rushed, but still had a good time reading. Didn't realise it wasn't a Standalone so not looking forward to the wait!

This is a refreshing take on the typical fantasy retelling, with a stellar cast of strong women and enough twists, turns, and intrigue to keep the reader guessing. Like all of Joan He's prose, I found the writing voice strong and unique, and there was enough world building to sustain the story, but not so much to be in-your-face.

Zephyr is an interesting main character - not necessarily one I always rooted for, but fascinating enough I wanted to follow her story. Crow on the other hand was a fabulous love interest - I appreciated that he wasn't the typical warrior type of leading man, but relied on wit and intellect. I did wish for more time between Zephyr and Crow as they had such a great dynamic.

Overall, Strike the Zither is a fantastic addition to the genre - I also want to thank Text Publishing for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Text Publishing for providing an eARC to review!

I wanted to pick this up because I enjoyed The Ones We're Meant to Find well enough, and my understanding is that this is the book that He really hoped to write and that it was kind of made possible because of the success of TOWMTF. It's cool to see a book like this getting published, and I'm glad that He is getting to do what she wants!

I'm not familiar with the original story that this is based on, but I thought the way the zither was used in this was really interesting (and wanted more of it!). As soon as I was introduced to Zephyr as a strategist, I was afraid that this would be one of those books where the protagonist schemes without even telling the audience their plan for it to be revealed as a big twist later. STZ did that a little bit but not too egregiously, and while there was a twist I did like the way it threw a spanner in the works. I'm interested to see if these twists are part of He's 'brand' as an author, because they do make me want to keep reading! I just wanted a bit more from the implications of the twist and Zephyr's actions afterwards - like seeing her put her strategist mind to good use to see how to make the best of the situation despite the altered circumstances.

I think the scheming overall worked, thoughI would have liked to see a bit more of a 'battle of wits' type situation with the other strategist Crow. I thought it was cool that she saw him as a puzzle to solve, but it went a bit too quickly into romance for me. The book was a bit melodramatic - or even silly at times - and I'm not sure whether to pin this to the original source material or a stylistic choice, but either way I wasn't the BIGGEST fan.

I feel I've hated on this too much cause it was a solid read, I just am not really sure that I got enough out of it to want to continue with the series. Ultimately I felt like not much happened, and since I didn't really buy into the character relationships I don't feel super connected to the story to where I would go and seek out book 2 in a few months time. I think fans of She Who Became the Sun and maybe Daughter of the Moon Goddess would enjoy this though.

Joan He's work has always fascinated and delighted me in equal parts and Strike the Zither is no exception! I picked this up thinking it would be a reasonably predictable military fantasy kind of book and then at around the 50% mark everything shifted in a whole new direction and I had to shift my expectations accordingly.
I think one of the things that fascinated me in particular about Strike the Zither was the point in the story in which we begin and then continue. Where some people might lead the reader in gently going from the very beginning He drops you in at a part of the story where most of the plotlines are already developing and running on their own - it makes the book feel very fast paced and exciting and loses a lot of the 'info dumping' some similar books can have.
I liked a lot of the various elements of this book, I think the Zither playing was most interesting to me as a person who loves music. I liked the way that it was not just entertainment but also a tool for negotiation. I also thought that the 'special skill' of the main character being strategy as opposed to fighting was a great way of making the story feel fresh and creating some interesting puzzles for Zephyr to solve.
As someone who is moving slightly away from YA at the moment (but who had to read this because hello it is Joan He) I think this tipped a little bit into some YA tropes that I don't love as much but I think most readers won't have a problem with that - particularly if YA romance is something that floats your boat.
Overall I will definitely be recommending this to people and I look forward to getting to learn more about these characters in the sequel!
I received a free digital review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Joan He is the Queen of political intrigue!

This book is inspired by the Three Kingdoms, one of the 4 classics of Chinese history, but gender-flipped. I must admit I am not familiar with Three Kingdoms but after reading the story assume its about 3 warring states that are eventually united under one dynasty. And there's a lot of war and court politics which I just love.

Zephyr is a confident and intelligent character who is well aware of her strengths, which is so refreshing from typical YA heroines who constantly doubt themselves. Zephyr is a strategist for the warlordess Xin Ren, and cunningly schemes and plots to help Xin Ren fight against the Prime Ministeress Miasma. And most of the time Zephyr suceeds!

I love how as a strategist Zephyr uses any means possible. I mean ANY means possible, which does lead to a general dislike of her from fellow comrades in Xin Rens war party. But that is usually how it is, you have to get your hand dirty if you want to win in war. And I love that Joan He shows that and doesn't gloss over what Zephyr is doing. It may be morally bad but it is war and a strategists job is to help their warlordess to victory. Due to this we get a lot of war politics, which I love and Joan He perfectly executes the intrigue. And I loved watching Zephyr formulate and go over her plans so we could see why she did what she did.

The worldbuilding was amazing and I was sucked in from the first few chapters. As we follow Zephyr through the story we get to meet many different characters. But not for long. One very interesting character I wish sticked around for longer is Crow, who is Miasma's strategist. He challenged Zephyr and they both have really intriguing scenes together and he really added to her character development but he wasn't explored much. But when he did appear, he was an interesting character with so much to unravel. So I wish in book 2 we get to see a lot more of Crow.

Overall, I highly enjoyed this story. If you love war politics and chinese mythology and literature, you will definitely love this book.

Only at 4 stars because I wish the side characters were developed more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Text Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Zephyr is a master strategist for a warlordess in a fierce battle for the realm. When she is sent to infiltrate an enemy camp, she might have met her match ...

This book feels a bit like it starts in the middle of the story, and was a bit hard to follow to begin with. It picked up further in, but there were still some bits that confused me about the plot. Beautifully written though!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A compelling retelling of the Three Kingdoms story with a flawed but fun main character and the beginnings of a really interesting enemies to lovers romance- at least in the first half. I think the plot twist at the end of the second act is unnecessary, though, and it's so different to what has gone before that it completely threw me off and left me scrabbling to regain my footing. I got there in the end, because He is a great writer, but gosh, I wish that it hadn't happened.

Stop what you are doing and go and buy this book! It was so good and is one of my best books of 2022 - all the stars!

Let me start off by saying that I didn't know what a zither was so I looked it up before I started reading and when the significance entered the story I was in awe!!!! It was beautiful, utterly beautiful!

Zephyr is a strategist for a warlordess, Ren and she's good at what she does. When her plans take her on the wrong side of the war she puts her plans into action. There she also meets fellow strategist, Crow and sparks fly......

There was war, politics, found family, schemes, women working together (and against each other!). It was an action packed masterpiece!

'May we meet in another life.'

‘Strike the Zither’ has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year, and I was so happy to receive and ARC from the publishers! This book was everything I wanted it to be, and more. Joan He brings her characteristic wit and humour into this brilliant book, and creates a well-fleshed out world with a captivating plot. A reimagining of the Chinese epic ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’, this book follows Zephyr, a young but clever strategist who supports and follows her leader, Ren, as they fight against the forces of Miasma, the prime ministress who secretly plots to be empress.

This book is incredibly written, and showcases how clever He is as a writer. All of the characters in this novel are fully realised, and have so much depth to them, whether they’re major or minor in relevance to the story. He creates complex relationships between them, from the almost sister-like bond between Zephyr and Ren, to the actual sisterly bond between Zephyr and a character I realised I can’t name because ~spoilers~, and to the tension (is it romantic?) between Zephyr and Crow, Miasma’s strategist. This is very much a character-driven novel, and whilst I’m the type who prefers plot-driven work, I must say, the characters are the shining star of this work. Zephyr, most of all, stood out to me, with her self-confidence and pride, but also her passion and dedication to her work for Ren.

The worldbuilding of this book was equally captivating, and I loved how immersive this world was, from the scenery of the landscape, to the role of strategists in an army. He adds a lot of details, but none of them feel overwhelming as a reader. From the way the strategists play the zither to understand each other, to the role of the gods, and even the history of how this world got divided into three kingdoms, every detail added is relevant to the plot, and creates a brilliant reading experience. I don’t want to give too much away about the world building details, because some of it is very spoilers, but pay attention to the details, because they will be relevant later.

Joan He also does a brilliant job of making ‘Strike the Zither’ a Chinese epic fantasy, by adding cultural details throughout the novel, from both the writing style to the worldbuilding. I haven’t read ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ but reading He’s author’s note made me realise just how many small details she added which pay a homage to that original work. From the way each chapter stars with the last line of the previous chapter, to the cultural role of the zither, everything is carefully written and added. It’s truly brilliant to be entering an era of fantasy where diverse and non-Western books are taking the limelight, and where these books don’t need to apologise or over-explain their cultural details—they’re there because they’re there, and the author doesn’t need to tangentially explain why in each paragraph of the novel.

Overall, ‘Strike the Zither’ was a superb novel, and felt like such a fresh experience to read in the YA genre. I’m eager to get my hands on the sequel!

Strike the Zither is an intriguing and incredibly layered YA fantasy. This is a superb YA fantasy inspired by Three Kingdoms, a classic of Chinese literature.

Joan He is one of those authors that bowls me over every single time. Her writing is so complex and nuanced, systematically destroying every last expectation you have. I love how twisty her books are and how they circumvent genre conventions at every turn. This is no exception - providing a claustrophobic and intense vision of political turmoil and a country torn apart at war. He does not hold back, delving straight into the brutality and backstabbing that defines war. I loved the ethical dilemmas of the strategists and watching these elaborate plans unfurl. Behind that, there is a slowly burning and brilliant plot twist that explodes everything you thought you knew. It is genuinely stunning and made me reevaluate everything I had seen. All I can recommend is allowing yourself to get immersed in this intricate plot and go along for the wild ride you are in store for.

Zephyr is a fascinating and complex protagonist, among some of the most unique characters I have been on a journey with. She is exceptionally smart and ruthless, but there is also a deep desire for connection and family within her. I loved the exploration of her strength and how that presents itself in several different facets. There is some serious three-dimensional chess and anticipation seven moves ahead going on here. Every conversation is a way of gaining leverage and power, balanced with the desperate need for survival. The dynamics she has with the surrounding characters are so complicated and ever-changing, creating some interesting tension in different forms.

Strike the Zither is a jaw-dropper of a book.

I'd heard good things about Joan He's other novels and was excited to read this one - it did not disappoint!

This story follows Zephyr, a master strategist whose story is full of unexpected twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this and the setting was interesting, though I wish it had been further explored. I think this story could have transitioned into an adult fantasy novel and been given a lot more depth - this was my only complaint with it.

Highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, or who wants a story with similar vibes to The Poppy War but for a younger audience.