Reviews

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

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marimoose's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 out of 5 stars

I think if I was in my teens or early twenties, I would have eaten this book up. It had everything I would have wanted within the scope of a silkpunk fantasy. The mixture of a sweeping YA story, a secondary romance, all wrapped up in a STEM-inspired plot and backdrop would have been instant catnip.

So I really did wish I read a book like this back then.

Mostly, I was a bit let down on the appearance of the STEM marvels and the lack of actual engineering happening in this book. The premise was cool enough; you have a girl who pretends to be a boy to take part in a set of engineering trials that would get her into a prestigious guild of engineers. It's Mulan but in engineering. However, to add and build up to the story, the girl does this because she is searching for answers about her father's past, and the whereabouts and identity of her father's killer. The story from here branches out to encompass a sweeping theme of following in a father's footsteps and the cost of making the same mistakes.

While I liked the idea itself, and the book was good, don't get me wrong, I felt like some parts were a hit, and others a miss. I loved the trials (even though I ranted about the first one at length at some point), and I wish there had been more focus on the actual applications of the engineering they were learning within the book. Unfortunately, part of the story was this focus on a romance arc that I was only kind of lukewarm over. The male love interest only got interesting the minute I started to see how his life paralleled Ying's, but the romance itself was kind of lackluster. (Again, I probably would have eaten all this angst up in my teens.)

Also, those chapters were looooooong. I needed them cut up a bit more frequently because the pacing threw me off.

I am, however, here for Ye-kan and his antics. I will read the next book for Ye-kan and his antics. And maybe for the potential of generally great villainy that's definitely coming up in the sequel. Here's hoping.

tinkrbe1l3's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

sarahberry_reads's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Jade and Dragons tried to be a take of revenge in a steampunk-inspired world, but its execution leaves much to be desired. Instead of being action-packed, it’s boring, flat, and often forgets the plot’s purpose.

Aihui Ying, who aspires to be a brilliant engineer like her father, is devastated when she arrives too late to prevent his murder and loses the killer. Determined to find her father’s killer and learn about his past, Ying sneaks into the Engineers Guild, disguised as her brother. As she navigates politics and challenges, Ying must grapple with her quest for revenge and decide if her vengeance is worth the cost.

I did enjoy the slight taste of world-building. Steam-punk-inspired fantasy should be a mainstream genre. Unfortunately (for all the reasons listed below) the world-building is sparse and couldn’t make up for the meandering plot and lackluster characters

Ahui is hard to read about. Her reactions to mundane things or slight offenses are childish and go against the “strong female surviving in a man’s world”. I was told she's intelligent, but it’s not shown on the page. Her wit and cleverness are only mentioned and seem implausible when displayed. Her lack of focus on her father’s death is so odd considering it’s supposed to be the overarching plot in the book, yet it’s rarely mentioned and she seems to recover from the trauma completely off-page. I could have handled the lack of focus if the book had Ahui struggling with bigger problems than a crush (more on that later). For example, most of the story is set in the Royal Court and Engineer’s Guild. Yet, she never actively has to fight against gender roles or societal oppression that exist in these environments. Yes, she is disguised as a boy, but the themes are rarely brought up, or at least discussed somewhat thoroughly. It felt like a Disney movie the way societal barriers and sexism are underplayed.

The romance (which took up more page time than the actual plot) was cliche and trope. Ahui seems to find a very feminist Prince despite being raised in an environment where the patriarchy is standard. It’s never explained why he accepts women's empowerment. Their relationship is built on tropes and shallow interactions. The repeated instances where the Ahui “trips” and falls into the prince’s arms had me fighting several eye rolls. These moments and other quirky interactions highlighted the lack of anything meaningful between her and the prince, which made the love declarations even more silly.

The pacing suffers due to significant periods passing off which could have been used to build the world, develop characters, or advance the actual plot. Combining this with the problems above makes for an incredibly boring read.

Overall, Jade and Dragons is a book with an intriguing premise undermined by cringey dialogue, shallow character development, and a lack of meaningful engagement with its themes.

Thank you, NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

jaznico's review

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4.0

Of Jade and Dragons finds a way to combine the traditional Chinese folklore with the industrial revolution, which is very cool and something I never thought I would be reading about. As a Mulan retelling, I was expecting the plot to stay close to the Disney film, but it was anything but. Ying’s journey is captivating. She dives headfirst into a world her father spent his life trying to shield away from her and we get to experience everything for the first time alongside her.

Although the story is told in third person, it follows Ying very closely. This prevents us from seeing more of the other characters. The princes and the other competitors in the guild all seem to have interesting backgrounds and I wish we got to see more of them.

The story ends with a twist we should have seen coming but could never be prepared for. I am hoping this is not the end of Ying’s journey. I would recommend this book to those interested in joining a young girl who puts her life on the line for a shot at revenge.