"She fought in the Battle of Changping and witnessed the killing of hundreds of thousands. She once led the Qin Iron Calvary and battled against the Six Kingdoms. She has seen a third of the land and witnessed the breaking of mountains and rivers. The sound of a grand zither and the light of a great female emperor. A prosperous world that was forged on the battlefield. Yet, these two thousand years are forgotten from history." What is this book? It's a story of a man from modern China who transmigrates into a woman's body in the Kingdom of Qin in 260 BC. And she is immortal. In fact, immortality and the consequences of this are the heart of the story. What is it like to live so long that everyone you know and grow attachments to will grow old and die before your eyes? How can you form and maintain relationships when they start realizing that you're not quite human? What of undertaking promises that will take lifetimes to accomplish? What is a peaceful age, and how can it be created and maintained? All of these questions are asked in this book, and it is set amidst the backdrop of Warring States China (and a few other settings). It's that rarest of works in that it's a proper historical novel so expect tons of historical figures and events. Who is this book for? People who have an interest in history, or war, or military strategy, or nation building. The story has lots of all of these elements, and pulls them off pretty well. It's especially rewarding for anyone interested in Warring States or the Three Kingdoms eras as they feature prominently. Who is out of luck? People who like romance becaust it's basically nonexistent in the story. And for anyone worried because of the "Gender Bender" label, you don't really have to be. There's no romance, no sex, and she even thinks of herself as a man throughout the story.
I do not see why you put the "worried because the... you don't really have to be" From what i understand she is active in political and war, dresses like a man and acts like a man. The latter which you mentioned as well. That is actually "Gender Bender", this tag has nothing to do with the romance or sex categories. Anyway, thank you for summing it up about what this novel is, i look forward to the journey it will bring me to!
It's just to reassure anyone out there who thinks that "gender bender" implies BL relationships or the like. I've come across a number of male -> female gender bender stories with no romance or any sex content. These seem to exist because a male writer wants to write a female protagonist but doesn't feel like he has the chops to write one authentically. I can always do with more books with female protagonists so I think it works out pretty well!