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What Members Thought
The audiobook version is definitely not the best way to take this one in - even at 2x speed, the narration is unbearably slow and drags down what's already not a particularly pacey plot. While I can believe that Min's research is exhaustive (maybe overly so, given how overstuffed this book feels with random facts about court life at the time), ultimately the story suffers from a weak narrative arc that can't carry the weight of that research.
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Good historical fiction, lots of drama but not overly melodramatic. The characters are strong, especially Orchid as the narrator. I love the description of Forbidden City circa 1800s, it feels so vivid. Recommended for historical fiction lovers - as well as Asian literature enthusiasts.
Sep 25, 2009
Efe
marked it as to-read
May 26, 2011
Vesra (When She Reads)
marked it as to-read
Nov 05, 2011
Kat (A Journey In Reading)
marked it as to-read
Shelves:
owned-books,
historical-fiction
Feb 03, 2012
Sara
marked it as to-read
Jul 21, 2013
Jocelyn
marked it as to-read
Feb 13, 2014
Amy 💖
marked it as to-read
Dec 04, 2015
Yani
marked it as to-read
Jul 16, 2018
Brenda
marked it as to-read
Nov 23, 2019
Michelle
marked it as to-read
Dec 31, 2020
Cheryl
marked it as consider-reading
May 20, 2021
superawesomekt
marked it as bibliocurious
