HuangChu

Remarkable and Transporting

Revisado: 10-20-24

What a confident and enthralling debut novel. The imagery and the prose are endlessly inventive and memorable. The characters are compelling. The setting is vivid, unique, and the real star of the book. I also appreciated the subtext examining what happens when great, colonizing civilizations realize that they themselves are being colonized, in this case by nature itself. The audio performer was also excellent. Note that there were some technical issues with the audiobook, particularly with the opening syllable of many of the chapters being cut off. If there is a chance to upload a corrected version, that would be great. but that is the my inly quibble. This is an accomplished, completely unique novel. I will be riding this train again and again and learning new things from it for a long time.

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Delightful Romp!

Revisado: 08-18-23

I blasted through this delightful book after slogging through so many other books. Fun, charming, suspenseful, breathlessly paced. The reader does a great job, too.

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SUPERB READING BY THE AUTHOR

Revisado: 08-09-23

The book absolutely holds up after all these decades and the author's reading is surprisingly deft and sometimes terrifying.

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Lovely, Diverse Spielbergian STEM Story

Revisado: 06-13-23

This charming little book follows a likably nerdy budding entomologist as she finds herself unexpectedly in a sci-fi story. The entomology is woven in effortlessly as is the diverse representation. It reminded me of my childhood love of bugs because of their otherworldliness.

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A Powerful, Hard to Forget, Unique Read

Revisado: 11-25-22

This novel will certainly get attention because of the film adaptation coming out, but it stands on its own. It’s a powerful, spare, strangely beautiful work. Its plot is filled with twists and dread. However, it’s the echoes of deeper themes that make it so fascinating. It keeps teasing at being a metaphor for things like veganism, being closeted gay, being adopted, searching for identity in one’s bloodline, co-dependency, etc. However, it wisely, artfully, never maps solely onto any one issue, making it universally resonant despite also being so specific. It’s a book that makes you feel things you don’t want to feel, and that stays with you long after you’ve finished it. The audio version is read with a resigned coldness that is very effective.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

A GRIPPING, GRACEFUL SECOND ACT

Revisado: 08-10-21

This book continues one of the great fantasy stories of all time, in my opinion.

The second book takes the concept of “The Fellowship of the Egg” (the title of one of the chapters of the first book) and turns it upside down. In “The Lord of the Rings”, the One Ring was so indestructible that Frodo had to travel across the world through numerous dangers to the one place that could destroy it. In “The Dragon Prince: Sky”, to the contrary, the egg (now baby dragon), is fragile, mortal, and vulnerable to both natural dangers and those who hunt him. The delicacy of the precious thing that must be transported across a treacherous world creates a new intensity that elevates the emotional stakes.

Like the first book in the series, this installment treats readers to the inner lives of the characters. I particularly enjoyed being granted access to what is going on in the minds of Viren, Soren, and Claudia. The events of the second season of the show start to position these three characters as villains. By granting us access to their thoughts and doubts, the book balances out their actions and emphasizes the central theme of the heart in conflict with itself. While that theme is in the show, the book deepens the exploration of the idea that there are rarely true heroes and villains. In every war, there are simply people on both sides doing what they feel that they must do, and that idea lands even harder in the book.

The book embraces real and important themes, such as how a leader must make decisions between two difficult choices that no one wants to make, and how restraint and kindness are critical to breaking the cycle of violence. The book also doesn’t sugar dust some uncomfortable things, such as where dark magic comes from. In one of the most powerful scenes (not in the show), the book shows us exactly what it looks like to take from an animal what a human needs as Claudia does what she feels she has to do in order to save Soren. However, the authors strike a graceful balance. Despite the weighty themes, the book uses language and imagery that are tasteful and respectful of how ready younger readers might be for this kind of material. There is nothing in the book more upsetting than in classic Disney films like “Bambi” or “Snow White”, and that is a notable achievement given how ambitious the themes are.

The prose is economical, age-appropriate, and unshowy. The pacing is propulsive but not rushed. This is a book that will consume young readers, who are likely to finish it in one or two sittings despite the length, but that they will want to discuss and tell you all about because of how complex and conflicted the characters are.

Also, bonus points for giving us some of Bait’s inner life!

In summary, this is yet another marvelous installment in this series that is even more thought-provoking than the first book. It stayed with me for days after finishing it. This is a book that asks more questions than it answers. It is less concerned with feeding readers convenient teachable moments and more interested in teaching them to ask the important questions.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Empathy, Honesty, Complexity, Hope

Revisado: 06-12-20

This is a novel about two young women first, and the flawed world they live in second. I appreciated that the author made me care about the characters long before sending them into the important issues that the book is concerned with. I was able to completely empathize with their decisions and reactions because I was invested in them well before the world came crashing down on them.

I appreciated the honesty of the character portrayals. These are two believable young women and they aren't flawless. Nonetheless, when they do or say things that are unkind or self-involved or self-deluding, I felt for them. I recognized those behaviors. I remembered what it was to be a teenager trying to find my place.

Finally, I appreciated the complexity of the portrayals of all the characters. The author makes it clear that Asian-Americans are not a monolith. There is vast diversity of opinion and differences (cultural, generational, socio-economic, and just plain personal) within the "community", including over sexual harassment. The portrayal of the debates among Asian-Americans was realistic and rang true.

Finally, I applauded the book's notion of what "winning" looks like. Winning meant speaking the truth. Not "my truth", not "a truth", but the simple, unassailable truth that "no means no". In a world of fake news and a seeming worship of the idea that truth is subjective, the reminder that such a fundamental thing is not subject to debate gives me hope.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

FANS OF THE SHOW WILL UNDERSTAND THE CHARACTERS MORE DEEPLY, NEWBIES ARE IN FOR ONE OF THE GREAT FANTASY STORIES OF ALL TIME

Revisado: 06-10-20

I've made it no secret on my social media that I consider "The Dragon Prince" to be the greatest animated show of all time and that I consider Wonderstorm, the studio that created it, to be the American Studio Ghibli. But that doesn't mean that I can't be objective about this book co-written by "The Dragon Prince" creator/writer Aaron Ehasz and Melanie McGanney Ehasz. And I found this book a delight.

Fans of the show are treated to a deeper dive into the minds and motivations of the characters, which are revealed to be even more morally conflicted and compelling than in the show. I was impressed at how the authors managed to communicate those complexities so economically and in prose that even beginning readers could understand. There are also a number of lovely grace-notes and poignant exchanges in the book that are not in the show. Thus, while the book tracks the show closely, I was left with a deeper understanding of the characters, their motivations, and their inner conflicts.

For those who are new to "The Dragon Prince", you are in for one of the great fantasy stories of all time. This is storytelling on par with "The Hobbit", and I don't make that comparison lightly. Though the worldbuilding draws on familiar Western fantasy elements, the treatment of them is remarkable. This is a story that truly feels like a kid-friendly "Game of Thrones" because it is all about the human heart in conflict with itself. Or the elven heart. No heroes. No villains. Just real, recognizable people responding to their circumstances, doing what they feel they have to do to be true to their values. The story reminds us that in every war, there are heroes on both sides. Despite the very serious and important themes, the story is full of hope. One of the chapters is entitled "The Fellowship of the Egg", and that pretty much sums up the entire story. Three enemies, united to save something small and precious that could annihilate the world or save it. It's also bust-out loud funny. I have zero sense of humor so if something can make me inhale my drink, it's got to be supernaturally funny.

The prose, pacing, voice, and POV-pivots are all admirably unshowy and invisible. Even though the book clocks in at about twice the run-time of the season of the show that it tracks, and expands considerably on the inner emotional lives and thoughts of the characters, the storytelling is so fleet-footed that it always feels swift and urgent.

Also, I noted that unlike most middle grade novels, in which the author goes through contortions to infodump the characters' physical appearance as early as possible in the book so we can locate them on a race spectrum, "The Dragon Prince" does something highly unusual. For the most part, it entirely eschews physical descriptions of any of the characters. The pitfall of that is that readers of books written in English and published in the West could fall back on a default assumption that the characters are all white, especially since this is high fantasy. This is where the relationship with the show creates something special and beautiful. As fans of the show know, the characters and the cast of "The Dragon Prince" represent a broad spectrum of diversity. Prince Ezran, King Harrow, Corvus, and several other characters are not white. Not even the elves are racially homogenous. The idea that a young fan of the show could pick up the book and fill in the identity of the characters with something other than the white default, or that a young reader of the book could go and discover the show afterwards and have assumptions challenged, is exciting and kinda fills me with a very welcome sense of optimism.

Finally, the audio version features a lovely, enthusiastic performance from one of the voice actors on the show who breaths personality into the characters without resorting to flat-out impressions of the other actors’ takes on these characters.

In short, I think this is a book that is poised to please both fans of the show and newbies. It’s a rollicking, hilarious, thrilling adventure tale, but one that looks unflinchingly at some of the most important questions. Is it wrong to hate people just because they don’t look and live like we do? How do we reach across the divide and find commonality with the people we think we hate? How do we break the cycle of hate and revenge? It asks the most important questions but does so in a way that is filled with fun and hope. It’s not only the kind of book that you’d want kids to read for moral nourishment, it’s the kind of book that they would pick up on their own.

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esto le resultó útil a 11 personas

Socks the Sophomore Slump Right in the Jaw

Revisado: 11-17-19

Spoiler-Free Review:

"Jade City" was one of my favorite fantasies of recent years. "Jade War" is the rare second book in a trilogy that tops the first book. The second book finds the characters reeling from the events at the end of the first book. We watch them struggle with what leadership means. Everyone makes decisions that are understandable and human, even if massive miscalculations.

The women characters are not exempt either. There is no monolithic patriarchy that serves as a straw man enemy to these characters. They are each others' enemies, and they pass the Bechdel test in the most meaningful way. Though the plot is largely driven by the decisions of the complex female characters, and they are undeniably strong female characters, these are people who wear no plot armor and who are not immune from mistakes. Several scenes were particularly gripping because I sensed that the author was willing to let the characters suffer the consequences of their decisions. I cringed at some of their stumbles, even while I cheered the courage behind their decisions. I noted that none of the female characters really regretted their decisions. What I as a reader called mistakes, they called the hard decisions that come with leadership.

I also particularly appreciated the geopolitical complexities. Real world politics are rarely about the relationships between just two countries. There is always a third, fourth, or fifth country whose agendas complicate things. "Jade War" did a terrific job of building out the world in this aspect. It also managed to explore international relations with what I assume is the analog of a European power without casting the whole story as a simplistic colonization story, and deftly avoiding catering to the "White gaze."

The prose was refreshingly straightforward, unshowy, and no-nonsense and thus captured the sense of drive and purpose behind the characters.

In short, this is one of the freshest, most compelling fantasies of recent years.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

I laughed, I cried, I learned

Revisado: 04-01-18

I rarely write online reviews but felt compelled to write one for this book. Other reviews here have provided excellent synopses so I'll skip that part. I haven't been this stirred by a memoir since "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." What a hilarious, gently raw, brave, and loving book this is. The author in her humble, "self-defecating" way charts a personal journey through a profound question that was enlightening to me. The central question was, "How does one build a fulfilling, meaningful life when someone dear to you has seemingly already done that in the biggest, most undeniable way possible, but you know your path must be different from hers?" I laughed out loud many times, and got emotional many times. I feel that this book has given me insights into my relationship with my own sister; made me appreciate her more than I have in the nearly half century of knowing her; made me regretful for the ways that I failed her; and given me understanding and hope for how to improve. What came through most strongly was the fierce love between these two sisters. It made me wish I had a relationship like that with my own sister. And made me realize that I could, that it's never too late. In short, this book has made me a better person. From a literary standpoint, the book is an achievement to be proud of for any author, but particularly a debut author. It is beautifully, charmingly written and unrushed but paced and structured so as to be very, very hard to put down. It is a quietly gripping page-turner. The author's commitment to honesty, even when it left her in an unflattering light, was generous, brave, and often just breathtaking. This is a book that I will be thinking on for years to come. As the final and perhaps highest praise, I bought two copies of this book, one for me (on audio with an intimate reading by the author and some delightful surprise extras at the end) and one for my sister.

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