The Other Empress Review

 

Book: The Other Empress

Author: Amanda Roberts

Pages: 451

Date Read: September 30^th, 2024 to November 4^th, 2024

Date Published: March 21^st, 2023

Rating: 5/5

The Other Empress was an interesting novel in that it goes into the perspective of the other empress, Cian, during the reign of empress Cixi. This book focuses on the dysfunctional relationship between Cixi and Cian which makes it unique for a historical fiction as people and events are usually the focus, not relationships.

 

In this book we see Cian, known before her time as empress as Zhenxiu. Zhenxiu is an amiable, pragmatic, and pleasant girl but there are sparks of jealousy and moments of classism. She's hard to properly describe with so many different and conflicting sides of her showing. One moment she is a wonderful friend and doting mother, the next she is in a fit of jealousy and decrying the servants at the forbidden palace for being of a lesser class. After reading this 451 page book I'm still not sure how much I liked Cian, especially when compared to Cixi, known early on as Lanhua. Lanhua is bold, ambitious, clever, and calculating. I felt a little like maybe I wasn't supposed to like Lanhua but I couldn't help it. She was so cunning and courageous, her love for her eunuch Little An was also quite touching and made her a much more empathetic character than you'd think a ruler would be.

 

The relationship between the two girls is somewhat dysfunctional with the brazen Lanhua getting help and advice from Zhenxiu whose primary motivation is to keep Lanhua as a friend to quell her own loneliness. I found Zhenxiu to be frustrating at times, unable to speak for herself and standup on her own feet. It isn't until the very last two chapters that Zhenxiu finally comes into her own as confident and capable.

 

I thought the characters and history were interesting as was the relationship between Cian and Cixi. The biggest complaint I have though is the ending is just so abrupt. I know when and how Cian died can't be altered because it's a historical event, but I felt that the writing could have given the reader more because the abrupt writing makes the reading feel almost unfulfilling.