She Who Became the Sun

I love historical novels, I love alternative history. On the other hand, I have a tremendous, almost instinctive dislike of several semi-religious concepts - like ancestor worship and the concept of the Mandate of Heaven.

So, this book has me terribly confused. On one hand, it's masterfully written and set-up, it's an expansion of a critical period of Chinese culture, with limited fantasy elements. Unfortunately, those fantasy elements are that the ghosts of our ancestors haunt us, and they are not happy, and also, that the Mandate of Heaven, whatever it is, is a real thing.

Overall, I liked the book, even if a lot of the setting rubs me the wrong way. Not sure whether I will continue with the next one in the series, as I have a distinct feeling it will just be more of the same.