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The Empress of Bright Moon by Weina Dai Randel

From the first line (“Would he die tonight?”) to the last, Weina Dai Randel’s beautiful prose pulls you into ancient China with the story of royal concubine Mei and her struggle to prevail over the rigid traditions that thwart her hopes of love. In The Empress of Bright Moon (Sourcebooks Landmark), Pheasant, the man Mei loves, becomes the new emperor, yet this only brings new threats. Daughter of a disgraced courtier, Mei would’ve been content to live peacefully as one of his concubines. But she soon realizes that she must play the long game and rise to the title of Empress, or live forever in fear of ruthless plots against her life and the lives of those she loves.

This is the second book in Randel’s duology about the seventh-century ruler Empress Wu. In a well-balanced blend of romance, palace politics, and history, this absorbing novel convincingly casts a different light on the early life of China’s legendary – and not in a good way – Empress Wu, the ruler Mei becomes.

In a court seething with the machinations of eunuchs, ministers, and royal wives, not even the Emperor can flout protocol to live and love as he pleases, let alone the lesser women of his court. Nor can he rely on the loyalty of his generals to keep him in power. Randel is masterful at bringing to life the brutal realities beneath the wealth and luxury of palace life.

Even more compelling is how Mei grows from the trusting young girl she used to be in the first novel (The Moon in the Palace) into a woman who makes her moves with calculated determination. This is by no means a one-woman show of a novel. Mei lives in a world dominated by women, and these are well-developed characters, from Pheasant’s free-spirited sister to the venomous Lady Wang, Mei’s main adversary. Mei’s allies and enemies are never one-dimensional. It’s clear they are all making the best of the cards they’ve been dealt. Playing well or cheating, sacrificing pawns or buying new ones, the stakes are literally life or death, not simply power or prestige.

You don’t need to be a fan of historical fiction to enjoy The Empress of Bright Moon. Its historical details are well-researched and woven seamlessly into the fabric of the story, but family relationships, romance, and intrigue are what drive the action in this gorgeously-written novel.

The Empress of Bright Moon is now available.

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The Empress of Bright Moon by Weina Dai Randel
Genre: Fiction
Author: Weina Dai Randel
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
ISBN: 9781492613600
Janie Chang

Janie Chang writes historical fiction with a twist of the supernatural. She belongs to a family with 36 generations of recorded genealogy and always brings stories about her ancestors into her books. Her first novel, Three Souls, was a finalist for the 2014 BC Book Prizes Fiction Award and one of nine Canadian books nominated for the 2015 International Dublin Literary Award. Her second novel, Dragon Springs Road, was a Canadian national bestseller and nominated for the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award. Born in Taiwan, Janie has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, and New Zealand. She now lives in beautiful Vancouver, Canada with her husband and Mischa, a rescue cat who feels the staff could be doing a better job. For more information about Janie, please see: www.janiechang.com

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