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A review by jayecard
The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas
5.0
An amazing story about overcoming biases against others and yourself, and about finding heroism not in gender or tradition, but at the end of the day, in your own humanity. I expected nothing much and got swept away. The characters open up slowly and become loveable, the story is interesting, and a lot of early details unfold later on (despite a major twist being pretty predictable). The pacing is super silken smooth and someone with a longer attention span than me could easily read this in one go. The style is beautiful, although occassionally the writer lays on a little thick, but that depends on personal preference.
I am sadly not very well versed in ancient Chinese culture at all, so I cannot vouch for its authenticity, but I am willing to believe that a lot of research went into this book. The characters don't speak like people in today's America, and cultural details like food that characters eat or what kind of furniture is used paints a world completely different from the one we know today. It certainly feels authentic, but if you're super into historical accuracy, you'd need to consult someone else.
What was notable in that regard is that a lot of the cultural details are actually explained, like the origins of sayings, or Mulan pointing out when something that sounds extremely polite to our Western ears is actually quite rude. It sometimes feels a bit interruptive, but absolutely justified as this book is written for an audience that, like me, is vastly unfamiliar with the culture of its historical setting. Therefore, while I usually would detract points for that, I actually quite enjoyed those occassional annotations.
I am sadly not very well versed in ancient Chinese culture at all, so I cannot vouch for its authenticity, but I am willing to believe that a lot of research went into this book. The characters don't speak like people in today's America, and cultural details like food that characters eat or what kind of furniture is used paints a world completely different from the one we know today. It certainly feels authentic, but if you're super into historical accuracy, you'd need to consult someone else.
What was notable in that regard is that a lot of the cultural details are actually explained, like the origins of sayings, or Mulan pointing out when something that sounds extremely polite to our Western ears is actually quite rude. It sometimes feels a bit interruptive, but absolutely justified as this book is written for an audience that, like me, is vastly unfamiliar with the culture of its historical setting. Therefore, while I usually would detract points for that, I actually quite enjoyed those occassional annotations.