Sound the Gong (Kingdom of Three #2)
Joan He
Roaring Brook Press
Published April 30, 2024
Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads
About Sound the Gong
From New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, comes the dazzling and sweeping conclusion to The Kingdom of Three duology, Sound the Gong, the breathtaking sequel to the critically-acclaimed Strike the Zither.
All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior’s body, and never has she felt more powerless. Her lordess Xin Ren holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains under Miasma’s thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces.
Fate also seems to have a different winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it. She will pay any price to see Ren succeed—and she will make her enemies pay, especially one dark-haired, dark-eyed Crow. What she’ll do when she finds out the truth—that he worked for the South all along…
Only the heavens know.
My Review
For some reason, I thought this was book two in a trilogy, so I read all the way to the end, expecting a setup for a third book. Ha! The marketing copy does say pretty clearly that it’s a duology, so it must simply be my desire for more books by Joan He speaking there.
I really enjoyed diving back into the epic political landscape of this story world. Zephyr finds herself yet again bargaining for her very existence, and determined to pay whatever price she must in order to save Ren and her allies. Even if it means she must change fate.
I haven’t read The Three Kingdoms, which inspired the duology, so I’m not sure which elements follow the original versus which are the author’s reimagining. There’s an extensive author’s note at the back of the book that outlines some of the ways the characters in these books relate to the original novel. I really appreciated that information– it’s a lot of names to digest, so I had to read it a couple of times, and I’m still not sure I followed every reference, but I love that the author offered the explanation and shared so much about the original work.
Both books seem strange, not in a bad way. Some of it comes from including deities in the story and some supernatural workings. The author strikes a good balance between the characters and their relationships and the political machinations driving the plot.
I’m glad I stuck with the duology from start to finish. Joan He’s debut, The Descendant of the Crane, is still my favorite of her books, but I enjoyed this one, too.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation
The characters are Chinese. One minor character is in love with another woman.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Vague references to sex. A girl kisses the hand of another girl. There’s a brief reference to a wedding between two women.
Spiritual Content
A pantheon of gods exists, and they’re forbidden from interfering with human affairs. When gods misbehave, a leader god punishes them.
When humans die, they are reincarnated. If a god dies, they cease to exist.
Violent Content
Battle violence. Descriptions of torture and execution. One of the warlordesses is particularly cruel in how she treats those she perceives as enemies.
Drug Content
Characters consume alcohol at feasts, in celebration, or in grief. One character uses poison darts as a weapon. The darts incapacitate the victim who recovers later.
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