This is a unique book. It starts simply, with a young woman joining a military school, and riffing on A Wizard Of Earthsea. Rivalries. Secret adventures. A wise mentor. But because it‘s set in a fantasy of medieval China, it also has kickass martial arts tournaments.
The Chinese elements and the excellent writing made me forgive the cliches... and then it record-scratched into the naked horror of Sino-Japanese history and blew my mind.