Reread June 2020

Wow as it turned out, I remembered almost nothing about this book lol but what a pleasant surprise ! I decided to reread this after reading this author's retelling of Mulan that came out last year, I was expecting a basic YA fantasy of 2013 but it was much more than that.

The leads are competent and smart, one is a Prince of this declining magical kingdom controlled in the shadows by "Atlantis", the other is one of the most powerful mage of her generation trying to escape from Atlantis, helped by the Prince.

Basically you have a delicious mix of elemental magic, spells and potions, prophecies and destiny, cross dressing, England in the late 1800s, dragons.. plus a complex world and magical system. It could get messy but the author makes it work. Also just found out that after emigrating to the USA at 13, she taught herself English, what a champion.