My Rating: 4 stars
First off, let me say that I am not the target audience
for this book, as this is classified as a YA fantasy and I am neither a Young
Adult nor do I read fantasy novels all that often. I have nothing against
either genre of course, it’s just that at my age, I sometimes feel a bit
self-conscious reading books that are clearly meant for a younger audience, as
I feel that perhaps I’m too old for the story and with all the characters
mostly in their teens, I probably won’t be able to relate to any of them.
In terms of the fantasy genre, it has always been a hit or miss for me –
depending on the type of story, the world-building in fantasy novels can often
become too overwhelming for my tastes, so I end up struggling through the
story, which is rarely ever a pleasant experience. Based on the above, it
might seem that Joan He’s YA fantasy debut novel Descendant of the Crane
shouldn’t appeal to me -- to be honest, if I were just looking at genre alone,
I probably would not have chosen to read this one. But then again, this
is exactly why I don’t choose books based on genre alone…rather, I always read
through the summary and do my own research before I make the decision to pick
up a book (unless it’s an author I’ve read before or a favorite author whose
books I already know I will want to read). In this case, in
addition to the summary and research, what influenced my decision most in
picking up this book was the “Chinese-inspired fantasy” element, which to me,
is important given the fact that Chinese-themed stories are a rarity in the
genre (and technically in the mainstream literary community as a whole as well)
-- and of course, being Chinese-American myself, I was curious as to how my
culture would be represented. Also, I understand the difficulties that
writing a Chinese-themed story (and a fantasy one at that) for a largely
non-Chinese audience entails, so I applaud Joan He’s effort in doing so and
wanted to support it. Going into this with so many expectations, I wasn’t
sure what impact it would have on my reading experience, but it turns out I
needn’t have worried, as I ended up enjoying this book way more than I thought
I would. Perhaps it is my background, growing up in a household where I
was often immersed in Chinese pop culture (television, movies, books,
magazines, etc.), the familiarity with the culture made it easier for me to
connect with the story, the characters, and even the world that the author
built, more than I initially anticipated.
The story itself revolves around Princess Hesina, who is
suddenly thrust into the role of ruler over the kingdom of Yan after her
father, the king, is found inexplicably murdered. Determined to find her
father’s killer, Hesina consults with a soothsayer – in her kingdom, an illegal
act punishable by death – and launches an investigation in the hopes of
bringing the perpetrator to justice. Meanwhile, as she takes up the
responsibilities of being queen to an unstable kingdom, she must learn to
reconcile who she is as a person versus who she needs to be as a ruler, even if
it means sacrificing her own convictions for those of the people. As the
trial progresses and Hesina gets closer and closer to the truth of who killed
her father, she is also thrust deeper and deeper into a complicated world of
danger and deception, a world that leads her to question whether even those
closest to her can be trusted. In the end, Hesina must decide
whether the cost of seeking justice for her father is worth the sacrifices she
must make, both for herself as well as for her kingdom.
This book was a fun, exhilarating read for me, one that
surprised me in so many ways. The story was quite creative, with
well-developed characters and plenty of plot twists that kept me engaged and
completely immersed to the point that I didn’t want to put the book down.
I found Hesina to be a very interesting character, as there were different layers
to her personality and it was fascinating to watch how her character evolved as
she adjusted to her position as queen – the author did a good job depicting
Hesina’s constant struggle between her personal beliefs and those instilled in
her by her father versus her duty as the ruler of the kingdom to consider the
greater good and will of the people. All the other characters were also
multi-layered in that there was an ambiguousness to them and you could never
tell where their loyalties lie – in other words, the lines between good versus
evil, friend versus enemy, moral versus corrupt, were constantly blurred.
Plot-wise, there was a lot going on and the story actually covered a lot of
ground – from a murder mystery that encompassed palace intrigues, political
machinations, family dynamics, love and friendship, loyalty and betrayal, lies
and deception, to action-packed fight scenes, cleverly written court scenes,
and the various cultural elements woven seamlessly throughout the story.
The writing was good as well, though I did notice some pacing issues,
especially in the first half of the book, that made parts of the story feel a
bit slow and drawn out. Other than that though, the plot was intriguing
enough that it was easy to lose yourself in the story – in fact, I was so
engrossed at certain points that I almost forgot I was reading a YA novel,
except that some of the language used was a bit amateurish, which jarred me
into remembering at those points. To be honest, I actually think the
story would work well as an adult novel too, as long as the language is cleaned
up a bit and the characters’ ages are adjusted up a few years.
This is the type of story that I feel would be perfect
for adapting into a TV series or movie. In fact, as I was reading, each
scene played out visually in my mind as though I actually WAS watching one of
those Chinese costume drama series that I would binge-watch in my younger days
(though admittedly, I still watch my fair share of Chinese dramas on a
consistent basis, even now). Also, based on the way the book ended, the
stage is set for a sequel and who knows, there might even be more books down
the line as well. Regardless of how many there will be, this is definitely
a series that I will be following. Sign me up for the next book please!
As a bonus, I recommend going onto the author’s website
and checking out the sketches of the main characters there. This book has
a huge visual element to it so browsing through the artwork – which complements
the beautiful cover perfectly – definitely played a role in making the story
and its characters come to life for me.
Received ARC from
Albert Whitman & Company via Edelweiss
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