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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was good and somewhat endearing at times. The history facts were amazing.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a really cute one! A fun romp to start off my year. Curious about where the next one will go.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
*Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for an arc*
Xiran Jay Zhao is easily one of my favourite authors. I read Iron Widow last year and fell in love with their writing. Zachary Ying and the Dragon Empire has writing just like Iron Widow, yet funnier.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Empire is described as Chinese Percy Jackson meets Yugioh, and that is a perfect description. If that description alone doesn’t make you want to read it, just think of how funny a Chinese Percy Jackson could be with an Emperor possessing his AR headset. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Xiran wrote this book to be funny, yet also tackling heavy topics but never letting it get too heavy or dampening. There are talks of racism in China towards ethnic minorities, and as a white passing Metis person who didn’t know about some things that happen in China, Xiran made this book funny and adventurous yet educational.
Zack is 12-years-old, just like Percy Jackson was in The Lightning Thief, and the amount of times I laughed in both books is equal. Reading middle grade novels is always fun to see how authors write pre-teens. Zack makes mistakes like pre-teens do, and I love when authors don’t make their characters perfect.
If you’ve read Iron Widow, you know how Xiran Jay Zhao can write cliffhangers. And beware, this one also has one. Is it still worth it to read now? ABSOLUTELY it is. It’s not the worst cliffhanger I’ve read (*ahem*Elizabeth May*ahem*), but I still need the second book.
When I started this book, I completely forgot that there is LGBTQ rep in it. Zack is gay, and every time he talked about having butterflies around other 12-year-olds, I was surprised. Like I don’t know why it slipped my mind that the MC is gay.
I highly recommend this book. Middle grade is an amazing age range, and this book is one that will be enjoyed by pre-teens, teens, and adults!
Xiran Jay Zhao is easily one of my favourite authors. I read Iron Widow last year and fell in love with their writing. Zachary Ying and the Dragon Empire has writing just like Iron Widow, yet funnier.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Empire is described as Chinese Percy Jackson meets Yugioh, and that is a perfect description. If that description alone doesn’t make you want to read it, just think of how funny a Chinese Percy Jackson could be with an Emperor possessing his AR headset. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Xiran wrote this book to be funny, yet also tackling heavy topics but never letting it get too heavy or dampening. There are talks of racism in China towards ethnic minorities, and as a white passing Metis person who didn’t know about some things that happen in China, Xiran made this book funny and adventurous yet educational.
Zack is 12-years-old, just like Percy Jackson was in The Lightning Thief, and the amount of times I laughed in both books is equal. Reading middle grade novels is always fun to see how authors write pre-teens. Zack makes mistakes like pre-teens do, and I love when authors don’t make their characters perfect.
If you’ve read Iron Widow, you know how Xiran Jay Zhao can write cliffhangers. And beware, this one also has one. Is it still worth it to read now? ABSOLUTELY it is. It’s not the worst cliffhanger I’ve read (*ahem*Elizabeth May*ahem*), but I still need the second book.
When I started this book, I completely forgot that there is LGBTQ rep in it. Zack is gay, and every time he talked about having butterflies around other 12-year-olds, I was surprised. Like I don’t know why it slipped my mind that the MC is gay.
I highly recommend this book. Middle grade is an amazing age range, and this book is one that will be enjoyed by pre-teens, teens, and adults!
This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 especially since the author’s site notes it as: “Zachary Ying is a middle grade series in the vein of Yu-Gi-Oh! meets Percy Jackson”. Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of my all-time favorite shows and I couldn’t be more happy to have a book with a similar concept to it. Unfortunately though, I just couldn’t get through this book.
The main character, Zachary Ying (or Zack) distances himself from Chinese culture to fit in with his primarily white school mates. Zack is Hui, which is an ethnoreligious minority group with Islamic heritage or adhere to Islam. His mom is a hard worker and the sole breadwinner of the family and Zack loves her dearly. However one day, Zack meets Simon who is not only eager to meet Zack and talk about Chinese history, but also becomes the start of an event that allows his mom souls to get taken by demons. Now as the descendent and host of the First Emperor of China, Zack’s trying to get back his mom’s soul all while trying to save all of China!
I liked Zack’s character in this book – well, in the beginning anyways. I liked the concept of a Muslim character and his fear not just towards fitting in at school but also fitting in with his Chinese culture. It’s something a lot of new generation immigrants feel and go through when they arrive in a new country. However, Zack’s character becomes quite annoying as the book goes on. He seems selfish such that he cares about saving his mother only and not a country with a population close to a billion. Zack also doesn’t look into Chinese history or culture even though he knows it’ll help him connect better with the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. I understand Zack has a cautious relationship and fear with China but he was being supported quite a lot and didn’t put in much effort to warrant him being a “chosen one”, in my view.
Besides Jack there were many other characters with notable appearances and traits in this book. Simon and Melissa will probably top the list, because not only were they both knowledgeable but they were brave and understanding. The emperors, Tang Taizong, Wu Zetian and Qin Shi Huang were also quite unique personalities. Each was neither good nor bad historically, and I liked how Qin Shi Huang admitted to that. It takes a lot of courage and self-reflection to admit to that, honestly speaking.
The story was neither fast or slow and took a more measured pace. The action scenes were countless and descriptive yet impactful. There are a lot of references to Western games and superheroes, which unfortunately I didn’t get since I’m not knowledgeable enough about them which made them feel unnecessary to me. I didn’t see why Chinese culture and history had to be compared to Western culture and pop media so much. The history and culture seemed to be a bit forced at times. It was quite random, appearing during action scenes or scenes with no lead-up to it. However, it was nice to know more about the history to understand the emperors and related characters and I liked how the history told was never just good or bad, but a mix of both. Although, I’m not sure if the history and facts told are true to Chinese history and culture.
Overall, this was a good book covering multiple themes and tropes such as identity, self-awareness, and being a chosen-one to name a few. I think for me, it just didn’t work out with our main character and I would have loved it if the historical references were fleshed out a bit more. I did enjoy the emperors since they were neither good nor bad which is something I didn’t experience in a previously read book yet. I am looking forward to the next book in this series, mainly because I want to know what happened with Qin Shi Huang (yes, it’s a little spoiler!).
Read more reviews @ Mystic's Review Shelf
The main character, Zachary Ying (or Zack) distances himself from Chinese culture to fit in with his primarily white school mates. Zack is Hui, which is an ethnoreligious minority group with Islamic heritage or adhere to Islam. His mom is a hard worker and the sole breadwinner of the family and Zack loves her dearly. However one day, Zack meets Simon who is not only eager to meet Zack and talk about Chinese history, but also becomes the start of an event that allows his mom souls to get taken by demons. Now as the descendent and host of the First Emperor of China, Zack’s trying to get back his mom’s soul all while trying to save all of China!
I liked Zack’s character in this book – well, in the beginning anyways. I liked the concept of a Muslim character and his fear not just towards fitting in at school but also fitting in with his Chinese culture. It’s something a lot of new generation immigrants feel and go through when they arrive in a new country. However, Zack’s character becomes quite annoying as the book goes on. He seems selfish such that he cares about saving his mother only and not a country with a population close to a billion. Zack also doesn’t look into Chinese history or culture even though he knows it’ll help him connect better with the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. I understand Zack has a cautious relationship and fear with China but he was being supported quite a lot and didn’t put in much effort to warrant him being a “chosen one”, in my view.
Besides Jack there were many other characters with notable appearances and traits in this book. Simon and Melissa will probably top the list, because not only were they both knowledgeable but they were brave and understanding. The emperors, Tang Taizong, Wu Zetian and Qin Shi Huang were also quite unique personalities. Each was neither good nor bad historically, and I liked how Qin Shi Huang admitted to that. It takes a lot of courage and self-reflection to admit to that, honestly speaking.
The story was neither fast or slow and took a more measured pace. The action scenes were countless and descriptive yet impactful. There are a lot of references to Western games and superheroes, which unfortunately I didn’t get since I’m not knowledgeable enough about them which made them feel unnecessary to me. I didn’t see why Chinese culture and history had to be compared to Western culture and pop media so much. The history and culture seemed to be a bit forced at times. It was quite random, appearing during action scenes or scenes with no lead-up to it. However, it was nice to know more about the history to understand the emperors and related characters and I liked how the history told was never just good or bad, but a mix of both. Although, I’m not sure if the history and facts told are true to Chinese history and culture.
Overall, this was a good book covering multiple themes and tropes such as identity, self-awareness, and being a chosen-one to name a few. I think for me, it just didn’t work out with our main character and I would have loved it if the historical references were fleshed out a bit more. I did enjoy the emperors since they were neither good nor bad which is something I didn’t experience in a previously read book yet. I am looking forward to the next book in this series, mainly because I want to know what happened with Qin Shi Huang (yes, it’s a little spoiler!).
Read more reviews @ Mystic's Review Shelf
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War
Minor: Gore, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Alcohol
Character - 10
Atmosphere - 10
Writing - 10
Plot - 9
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 9
Enjoyment - 10
Rating: 9.71 / 5 stars
Atmosphere - 10
Writing - 10
Plot - 9
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 9
Enjoyment - 10
Rating: 9.71 / 5 stars