2.5 stars 
 When I first read the premise of this book, I was more than excited to read it. Richelle Mead is one of my favorite authors, and everything that I've read by her so far has been nothing short of amazing. Even as I started the first couple of chapters, I really really wanted to love this. Unfortunately, that just didn't happen. 
 Don't get me wrong; there were several things that I enjoyed about this book. I thought the world Richelle Mead created was beautiful, captivating, and unlike anything I've ever read before. I loved the twists and turns she placed throughout the story as Fei and Li Wei discovered the truth behind what lies at the bottom of their mountain. There were some moments that simply took my breath away. It felt unique, fresh, and original. In fact, about half way through the book, I had it in my mind that I would be rating this 4.5 or 5 stars. 
 However, when I got about 2/3 of the way through, everything just fell flat for me. The big romantic moment between Fei and Li Wei felt very rushed and cheesy, which was extremely disappointing since Mead had done such a good job with it up until that point. In addition, the last 70 pages went way too fast. Between the last minute info-dumping and lots of extreme, hard-to-believe scenarios, it all felt very anticlimactic, to the point where I almost lost complete interest in the story. 
 Near the end, I could definitely see glimpses of potential, especially as I was able to make connections between events that happened at the beginning of the story and then saw how they related to the final conclusion. I think with some fleshing out, a little more world-building, and 100 additional pages, it could have been incredible. But with those last 70 pages, it unfortunately wasn't. :/