Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Rise of the Empress, book 1)

By Julie C. Dao

Blurb: 
Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?

Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins--sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.

Review: 
This is the second time I have read this book, only because I realised there was a book 2 and then I also realised there was a book 3 which I pre-ordered. Since I haven't read this book in 2 years, I thought I best do a reread. By god I'm pleased I did. I first rated this book 4 stars and I'm not sure why because at the time of reading this book the first time, I was not writing reviews but this time I am awarding it 5 stars. I believe this book is worth the 5 star rating, I did enjoy it a lot and there was not sex scenes but there was a mention of lust and love.

So actually on to the review, the characters within this book were really well developed all the way through. There was not one character that was main that I felt was lacking information, it would have been nice to discover more about Lady Meng, but then she was only really a minor character.

I felt Xifeng got on my nerves at times because she was so selfish and stubborn. But then around half way through the book you start to discover why, so I have to kind of forgive her for that I just wish she wasn't so blind to Wei's love and horrible to him. Then when she actually got to the Court she just totally forgot about him but expected him to still love her, that's possibly the most annoying bit in the whole story for me. But it doesn't allow me to lower the rating because I felt it fit in with her character when you discover more about her.

Wei on the other hand, I felt he was a lost puppy but was very loyal even though he kept getting hurt. I understand he was trying to do everything for Xifeng and trying to get her to see the life she was living. I guess that's what you do when you're truly in love with someone. But then at the same time the length of time that he loved her and since she kept turning him down he should have really gave up.

The characters Xifeng met along the way to the Court weren't really developed either but then they weren't a full main part of the story, they were mentioned several times throughout and you did get to hear about their past and some of the things that had happened to her while she was in Court.

The actual storyline was pretty well thought of, basically there was an Emperor and an Empress. The Empress had 3 sons but none of them wanted to take the throne and the Empress wanted a daughter. Xifeng wanted a mother. They developed a friendship but then things changed and Xifeng's character changed and that is where the story takes a twist for the better.

I felt like there was a lot of adventure, friendships, heartache and a lot of loss happening within this book. I did expect this from a book though, something that always keeps you on your toes and wanting to read more. I did receive this book in October 2017 from FairyLoot and I remember I enjoyed it then too and I can say in the last 2 years my opinion of it has grown and I do actually enjoy it a lot more.

I hope the next book in the trilogy will be just as good and the plot continues to develop, hopefully it will follow on with Jade and we will see how Xifeng responds to her.

Favourite Character: Emperor Jun

Read: 01/11/19 - 04/11/19

5 stars out of 5

Written by Sammie

Check out Sammie's review of Book 2:  Kingdom of a Blazing Phoenix