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tr_reading's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
rinkitaynezha's review
adventurous
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
brittanybwrites's review
5.0
When I pick up this book, I have never heard of the Lady of Ch'iao Kuo. Never heard of her, though I picked it up because I'm a huge history lover/nerd and I wanted to learn about this time in A.D. 531, a time where Confucius and wars and everything else that happened during this period. But I've never heard of Lady of Ch'iao Kuo until now.
So this book is her diary and the first part talks about her short time living at her school in China with Master Chen and his family, and how she's learning how to read and write, because in her village women and men cannot read or write, not even her family. Along with all that, the Dog Heads (another thing I've never heard of) are attacking villages left and right, taking the heads of the people they attacked, and they also killed her father. That's what happened in the first half of the book.
The second half of the book was actually pretty amazing. She comes up with a plan to stop the wild elephants the Dog Heads brought for war, and used it (if I can explain it, I could....) but it worked, and along with all of that, her brother Little Tiger became king of her village, but the problem in the first half he was actually a bit of a prick and didn't listen to anyone, then he got better and actually listened to his people and became a better king.
I enjoyed this book and I really do recommend it.
So this book is her diary and the first part talks about her short time living at her school in China with Master Chen and his family, and how she's learning how to read and write, because in her village women and men cannot read or write, not even her family. Along with all that, the Dog Heads (another thing I've never heard of) are attacking villages left and right, taking the heads of the people they attacked, and they also killed her father. That's what happened in the first half of the book.
The second half of the book was actually pretty amazing. She comes up with a plan to stop the wild elephants the Dog Heads brought for war, and used it (if I can explain it, I could....) but it worked, and along with all of that, her brother Little Tiger became king of her village, but the problem in the first half he was actually a bit of a prick and didn't listen to anyone, then he got better and actually listened to his people and became a better king.
I enjoyed this book and I really do recommend it.
kenzie5227's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
trisa_slyne's review
4.0
I was really thrilled to learn about the different tribes. I hadn’t thought about there being a group calling themselves Chinese and other groups calling themselves different things. It was a really cool perspective.
alicezothers's review
At age 9, I remember feeling very glad to have read this book set in southern China. But coming back to it, now 24, the characters are colorless. They have no personalities, and I think children's books, even and especially, should have three-dimensional characters. I understand it can be harder to do that with historical fiction, so many of the facts and events of the characters already set in place.
empressofeverything's review
3.0
I actually enjoyed this one more than many of the others. There’s quite a bit of adventure, actual conflict with Chinese culture and other forces, and an interesting main character.
kukushka's review
3.0
This book is part of Scholastic’s Royal Diaries series. I picked this book up at a second-hand sale my University was hosting. Having never heard of the author or the series, I was sold entirely by the cover art (which is absolutely beautiful and quite possibly the best part of the book – maybe I can just frame it?).
Overall, I found it to be an interesting read. The concepts of being forced to grow up and being responsible for many people despite having no experience kept me turning the pages. Unfortunately, they weren’t really fleshed out. I also noticed a few continuity errors – for example, Redbird’s father decides that she will act as the translator when they talk to the Chinese, but then he goes to the Chinese without taking her along. This seems to happen for no reason other than to be able to kill off the father without having to hurt Redbird (or have her experience battle before the climax).
There were also some descriptions that may have been anachronistic, such as referring to the army as a “machine.” I’m sure they had machines of some sort or another back then, but would she have seen them? More importantly, would she have had enough exposure to machines to think of such a description? It’s a small detail, one that I might easily have passed over without noticing. It’s just that the book is so full with these little things that it bogs the story down.
Finally, I just felt that the author wasn’t very good at writing in the diary style. We’re never told why she starts writing the diary (something that modern little girls living in an age where paper and ink are both cheap and plentiful might not need a reason for). And then there’s the way she describes things… The narrative just feels very objective and detail-oriented, while perhaps missing some of the details that would have been important to her. It didn’t feel like a diary, but rather a third person narrative crammed into a first person diary format.
All that being said, I still finished it and I did still enjoy reading it. I just feel disappointed because the story deserved a much better treatment than it received.
Overall, I found it to be an interesting read. The concepts of being forced to grow up and being responsible for many people despite having no experience kept me turning the pages. Unfortunately, they weren’t really fleshed out. I also noticed a few continuity errors – for example, Redbird’s father decides that she will act as the translator when they talk to the Chinese, but then he goes to the Chinese without taking her along. This seems to happen for no reason other than to be able to kill off the father without having to hurt Redbird (or have her experience battle before the climax).
There were also some descriptions that may have been anachronistic, such as referring to the army as a “machine.” I’m sure they had machines of some sort or another back then, but would she have seen them? More importantly, would she have had enough exposure to machines to think of such a description? It’s a small detail, one that I might easily have passed over without noticing. It’s just that the book is so full with these little things that it bogs the story down.
Finally, I just felt that the author wasn’t very good at writing in the diary style. We’re never told why she starts writing the diary (something that modern little girls living in an age where paper and ink are both cheap and plentiful might not need a reason for). And then there’s the way she describes things… The narrative just feels very objective and detail-oriented, while perhaps missing some of the details that would have been important to her. It didn’t feel like a diary, but rather a third person narrative crammed into a first person diary format.
All that being said, I still finished it and I did still enjoy reading it. I just feel disappointed because the story deserved a much better treatment than it received.
storyfabric's review
4.0
I remember this being one of my favorite installments of this series--each of the historical figures featured in the series are interesting, but I found the Lady of Ch'iao particularly fascinating.
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