Continuing with Striking the Zither by Joan He, I think it’s best seen as a fantasy set around certain historical events as detailed in the Romance of Three Kingdoms. In fact, after section 1, the fantasy element is so much that it’s enough to tip the whole story into the fantasy genre. On the other hand, I feel the novel did not make clear what was the actual gender norm for the story until the Author’s notes right before Acknowledgements- I basically got confused over whether it was matriarchal versus patriarchal society and it turns out that it was neither- people stood on their merits irrespective of gender.
I don’t want to nitpick but there are also typos impeding my understanding at more than one place. Overall, it’s still solid work but I’m not sure I’m on board with the story enough to follow it to its conclusion.
This book is probably a good model for me to follow if I ever consider historical fantasy like that other project I put on the back burner because it was turning too straight historical on me even though I made up a fictional protagonist who inserted herself into history.
Moonlake's Fiction Space 