JY Yang

Akeha and Mokoya are the twin children of the Protector, given to the Monastery for aid given. But as Mokoya develops a prophetic talent, they have to go back to her, the visions exploited by their mother for power and dominance.
As they reach adulthood, their ways divide, and each has to make their own place in the world.

Well, that's a depressing book. But I also thought it was very much lacking.

It did not feel like a full book, not like a novel. I thought it sounded more like a myth. There isn't really any explanation of the world, of the background, even of the characters. You just jump through 35 years of the twins lives, get to read a tiny little section of it, then you go on. It never made up a complete picture for me.
The worldbuilding also. There where some interesting ideas in there, I assume, but since nothing is explained, I ended up with more questions than answers. I have no idea how any of this works. I guess not everyone cares about that, but it's important for me to understand a world to enjoy it.
And the choose-your-own-gender shtick seemed to have gotten more scene time and background than anything relevant to the plot ever did.

I never did get a good grip on the characters either. I didn't really get their character, their emotions, it's all so vague and slippery. It was enough to make me feel sad, but not enough for me to actually enjoy reading the book. It felt like most of the story was missing and I just got to see random chapters here and there.