Set three centuries after Under Heaven, this is an incredible continuation of the themes in the first book, but also makes a wonderful standalone. I simply love how Kay focuses on the interconnection between belief, destiny, and personal striving.
Ren Daiyan has known since he was a child that he would become a soldier and try to take back the lands lost when the empire went into decline. His strong belief in this "destiny" ends up being a key factor that helps him come away almost unscathed from an encounter with a fox demon. However, he doesn't allow his belief to turn fatalistic and he still makes deliberate choices and strives to achieve this feat because he wants to, not because he claims the gods will it.
The twist at the end though was so powerful and I absolutely love how Kay goes into the fact that no matter what we believe, things never work out as we plan. I also enjoyed the echo from Under Heaven that doing what is right will resonate powerfully with others and will have unforeseen positive consequences. The ending wasn't at all what I expected, but it was beautifully poignant and was open enough with some pointed hints that allow me to extrapolate a very satisfying conclusion for the characters I really cared about. That open freedom for the reader to decide how things "really" ended is quite unusual and I like how Kay pulled it off in this novel.
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