5/5 stars
Recommended if you like: magic, mirror world, Asian fantasy, enemies to lovers, horror
Big thanks to Netgalley, Penguin, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
I absolutely flew through this book, it was so good! It already starts in a really interesting place, with Ying preparing for a wedding to a prince who had her confined to her set of rooms in the palace as soon as she arrived. Weird things start happening almost immediately, but they remained stable enough that it was questionable as to whether it was all in Ying’s head or if it was actually happening.
Things escalate from there and Ying ends up in the mirror world, discovering her ability to travel between the two. The mirror world is identical to Ying’s own, complete with mirror versions of each and every person. Despite the fact that there are identical versions of everyone, these mirror versions can have vastly different personalities, as seen with the Prince and the Mirror Prince. Mirror people are also distinct in the fact they have cold, glass-hard skin. They’ve been cursed to be ‘reflections’ and are made to mimic exactly what their ‘real-world’ counterpart does, and it’s this curse that lies at the crux of the book. While things are mostly the same, there are some key differences that Ying discovers, including the fact that monsters exist. I really enjoyed seeing the mirror world and learning how it worked. I also liked how Chow brought some of our physics into the magic of the world. The mirror people are reflections and, as such, they need light. So if one of them is injured or ill, they need to access light in their world or somehow find a way to cross over into Ying’s to get it. I thought it was a nice touch and added an interesting layer to things.
Ying is fairly lighthearted, though she knows her duty. She’s willing to get married to Zhang Lin, despite his horrendous attitude, because she knows it’s what she’s supposed to do. I feel like that’s not a trait you see a lot in arranged marriage fantasy books, so it was actually refreshing. She’s also quick to want to help people, which both helps and hinders her since sometimes it means she puts herself in dangerous situations. However, it’s clear that she’s willing to go to great lengths to keep those she cares for safe and is willing to go to bat for them if something threatens them. I liked seeing Ying grow as a person and realize she doesn’t have to do everything alone. Despite how fiercely she loves, she’s hesitant to rely on others even when it would benefit her.
Zhang Lin is, as mentioned, quite terrible. He does get better, I promise, but at the beginning of the novel he’s truly an asshole and it’s hard to see how he could possibly redeem himself. While I don’t think his later explanation totally explains his behavior, by then he shows enough good that I’m willing to let it pass. Despite this terrible introduction, it is clear from the get-go that Zhang Lin is dedicated to his people and takes his duty as prince very seriously. As we get to know him, more of his true personality peaks through and it’s easy to like him. I think Zhang Lin just doesn’t totally know how to express himself, because once he starts opening up, he quickly becomes much more tolerable and his rate of assholish behavior goes down, which is nice.
Of course we also have mirror!Zhang Lin, who is shown to be nice from the get-go. He immediately helps Ying and decries his counterpart’s terrible behavior. He seems genuinely distressed at having to copy it as a reflection, which gets back to how mirror versions can differ from their counterparts. Mirror!Zhang Lin spends a good deal of time showing Ying around the palace, taking her on the tour she should’ve gotten but didn’t when she first arrived at the palace in her world. It’s easy to like the Mirror Prince based on how he treats Ying, and we even see some of that kindness extended to Ying’s friend and handmaiden, Li Ming, whom the ‘real’ Zhang initially dismisses as unimportant.
While they’re minor characters (they have even less page time than Li Ming), I particularly liked Ying’s family, and especially her eldest brother Hao. Hao seems to have a soft spot for his only sister and encouraged her to tag along on their adventures and to learn martial arts. He also slips her a ring full of poison on her wedding day in case her husband is untoward, which I liked and thought was funny. Their whole family is obviously quite close, and I liked getting to see them together.
While the interpersonal relationships of the characters are important, this is mainly a plot-driven novel and there’s a lot going on. In the mirror world, Ying finds friends and enemies closer than she could’ve ever expected, and things go south rather swiftly. It’s clear there are some weird things going on and when she gets back to her world, she’s desperate to try and find the answers. But with mirror enemies and flesh ones abound, there’s a lot of tension over who can be trusted. Some of this was kind of predictable, but I was still hooked trying to figure out when the other shoe would drop. It was also fun trying to puzzle out the song/quest/riddle alongside Ying, and I actually kind of thought of the answer without realizing, lol. This was definitely one instance where I did not see where that was going.
I really liked how the reflection/mirror thing played out and the way it was used to amp up the horror. The horror aspect is particularly apparent at the beginning of the novel, when Ying is seeing things in reflections that disappear when she looks fully or when other people are there. I really liked the creepiness of that. Later on in the novel, the horror element is more about whether mirrors/reflections are present and if they are, who is watching through them.
Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and thought the mirror world and reflection idea was super interesting. There are some horror elements but I wouldn’t say this is a scary read, most of the book is focused on figuring things out and going on a mini quest.
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