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sparksbooks 's review for:

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen
5.0

This was such a great read! I loved the fantasy world, built to be a silkpunk reimagining of Mulan mixed with Iron Widow and inspired by Chinese history - the Qing Dynasty, I think I read. The FMC, Ying is out to investigate her fathers murder by joining the Engineer’s Guild as a boy, as the guild - surprise - does not allow women into it. I did really enjoy her character and how she pushed to stay true to herself, despite losing that somewhere along the way.

The MMC, Ye-Yang, is the eighth prince of the High Command and has a lot of mystery surrounding him and his motivations for helping Ying get into the Engineer’s Guild. He has morally gray vibes due to how he acts as a politically minded person, but is very kind and gentle toward Ying at the same time.

“If I want to conquer the world, will you stand by my side?”

There are some convenient moments in the plot, that I think work well still since it is YA and I wish to see more of this world and go on a high speed airship chase/battle in the sky. Hopefully we see more of this world sometime soon!

“I was your sword, but you were never mine.”

FOUR AND A HALF STARS rounded up

Thank you to Viking Books and NetGalley for the eARC of the book. All thoughts are my own.