This was great! I loved Ying, even though she was a bit too reckless and headstrong. And the other characters were great, especially Ye-Kan. I loved the world and the engineering with the airships and clockwork things and mechanical beasts. And I always am up for a good contest - even though it wasn't the sole focus of the book, it played a big part. There's also a Mulan-esque plot where she needs to disguise herself as a boy, a mysterious prince, and a bit of a murder mystery. It was a great time!

I liked the first book in this duology a lot, but this one was a bit disappointing. It just doesn't feel like a duology. The 2 year time jump made it really hard to get back into the story. The book also added a new POV with Nian, which at first I didn't like (but by the end, I was disappointed with Ying's story, so actually liked Nian's view more). But my big problem was that Ying was out on this pirate adventure, which as kind of fun, but felt completely disconnected to anything in book 1. I was also hoping for more romance.