A review by nicolemhewitt
Peasprout Chen, Future Legend of Skate and Sword (Book 1) by Henry Lien

5.0

This fantasy world features a uniquely imagined blend of figure skating and martial arts. Right there, I was fairly certain that my youngest would love this audiobook, and I was right (he listened to the whole thing in like a day and a half). The worldbuilding in this book is surprisingly complex for a middle grade, which I actually appreciated, and I was amazed at how well I was able to picture the city of Pearl, a city designed specifically for ice skating (and constructed out of a mysterious substance, which is part of the central mystery of the book). Peasprout feels completely out of her element in Pearl, and the girls at her new school seem intent on making her miserable–and accusing her of being a spy for the city of Shin. Now, I’ll confess that Peasprout can be pretty unlikable for a lot of the book–she’s so intent on protecting her little brother that she smothers him, she’s often ridiculously conceited and she pretty much always thinks the worst of everyone. But at fourteen, you have to give her a bit of a pass–she’s just a kid, and she makes a whole lot of mistakes, but she learns some important lessons by the end of the book.

The book’s ending takes a pretty shocking turn that I didn’t see coming at all and it sent the characters in a new direction I’m very interested in seeing explored. Nancy Wu’s narration is excellent as well. I will be picking up the second audiobook in the series very soon!