Review: The Last Empress by Anchee Min

Tittle    : The Last Empress
Author : Anchee Min
Publication date : March 21st 2007 by Houghton Mifflin

The Last Empress: A Novel by Anchee Min is the sequel for Empress Orchid . I finished reading this book a few weeks ago after struggling to read every single page of it. I fell in love with Min's writing style. I could feel the emotion of Orchid, the point it, the book made me laugh and cry.

However, the same thing didn't happen when I read The Last Empress. The story was so devastating that every bad thing came hundreds of times a row. Finishing it was a pain! Don't get me wrong, though, I love Anchee Min's style, no matter what. She's a great writer, but in this book, she seemed to forget about "show don't tell" thingy which makes this book blah...

The dialogue in The Last Empress was also "flat". It even looked as if the author were just throwing quotes here and there and called it "dialogue". I wonder what she really trying to do when portraying Tzu Hsi as a total different person with what she was known as in history. Tzu Hsi was one of the most corrupted leader in world's history, however Min's portrayed her as a loving mother and a kindhearted empress. I know The Last Empress is a historical "fiction", but still, it's historically inaccurate.

The Last Empress was a big disappointment for me. I had great hope and expectation for this book and I couldn't wait to read it after I finished its prequel. Anchee Min did a great job researching for the novel however, maybe this is just not her best book.

I rate The Last Empress 2 

Have you read The Last Empress? What's your opinion about the book? Did you enjoy it? Feel free to write a comment!