Warring States (novel)

 was the fifth novel in the Faction Paradox series.

Publisher's summary
The Year of the Metal Rat has brought with it greed and self-preservation. The Everlasting Empire is dying, eaten up from within, and the young upstarts Britain and Russia are circling like carrion-birds, for crows of every nation are equally black. The peasant-sect of the Righteous Harmonious Fists attacks all foreign devils. In the capital, the ancient heart of the Empire, the Europeans are besieged by the Dragon Empress' army and the blood of a thousand Christian converts runs in the gutters.

When there is War in Heaven, there is War in the Land. A dagger can be concealed in a smile and this House of Paradox smiles often. Its servant here carries grief like dead petals in her hands and wakes the ancient spirits.

Their anger makes the sky weep blood, and we shall all pay dearly for her trespass.

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * Cousin Octavia Sutherland
 * Ursula
 * Kuan Yin

Continuity

 * Octavia speaks of a place after the end of the universe where every human is resurrected. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)