Like Shadow and Bone, Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao centres on a young woman with incredible powers and a dangerous path forward. Xifeng grows up as a peasant girl, but her aunt, a powerful witch, promises that she's destined to be an empress — but only if she embraces the dark magic that flows through her. It's up to her Xifeng to decide what she really wants to do: live her quiet life with the boy who loves her, or embrace a cruel magic that could make her the most powerful woman in the empire?