The book reminded me of 'Wicked', as Cixi has so often been cast as the evil Empress/Witch this book seeks to humanize her, explain her motives in the given set of nearly impossible circumstances, though I think the author is a little more kind to her than Cixi is probably worthy. The book is well written and gives a relatively realistic look at life in the Imperial circle at the time, if somewhat simplified and occasionally pedantic, though not fatally so. The novel actually only covers the first half of her life, as she rises up from an impoverished Manchu family to become the fourth level concubine to the Chinese Emperor bearing his only son, she is able to become regent after her husband's untimely demise, probably due to stress because of his dire incompetence, as rebels and foreign powers invade the Empire. Read moreĪ wonderful a first person historical novel based on the life of Dowager Empress Cixi, who ruled China in the waning days of the Qing Dynasty in the mid- and late-19th century. I don't claim to be an expert, but from what I have read about the woman from history, 'passive' is not the word. And then between trying to make all the characters seem as much like ordinary people as possible and the terrible flatness of the prose, Tzu Hsi comes off as very, very passive. The writing is incredibly flat and emotionless - I appreciate the descriptions of all the beautiful gowns, but they should not be the most moving thing in a book about a woman who gives up an ordinary life in order to become first the Emperor's concubine and later the Empress herself. This book is most emphatically of the second school. (The platonic ideal of this school is Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.) The second kind wants you to remember that the historical figures are people, just like you, and so makes everything as much like your own life as possible so that you can never forget this. The first kind wants you to understand what it was like to live in the time and place in question, and so drowns you in detail and asks you to learn to swim in it.

There are two basic schools of historical fiction, I think.

The empress orchid