A review by ylshelflove
Sign of the Qin by L.G. Bass

3.0

I was drawn to this book because of the ancient Chinese mythology. However, there was not much explanation or detail, the creatures and characters of legends just appeared and did what they came to do. I would have appreciated a bit more depth to Chinese lore.

Also, this book was confusing in places, especially concerning the opening of certain chapters. Those chapters usually opened in a situation almost completely unconnected to where the characters were seen last. After a page or two, the story would backtrack, revealing how the character had gotten to that situation in the first place. The abruptness of it all threw me off, and I often had to re-read the first five pages or so and flip back to the character's last chapter for some sort of a reference point.

Lastly, I believe it was implied what the twelve animals of the zodiac were. It could be that I interpreted the story wrong, but that's the impression I got. However, the animals that were mentioned are not zodiac animals. There are no cranes, foxes, or bears. This ambiguity or incorrectness made me wonder just how rooted this story was in Chinese mythology.

I will not be reading the next book in the series.