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Yep, Laurence - City of Fire
Mon, Aug. 31st, 2009 08:43 pmScirye is accompanying her mother (an ambassador) and sister (female warrior) as they help protect and manage a museum exhibit of important Kushan artifacts when evil dragon Badik attacks and steals one. In the meantime, Bayang the dragon is attempting to stalk and kill the young boy Leech, who has no idea what's going on and happens to be in the museum at the wrong time with his friend Koko. They all end up meeting and questing after the stolen artifact.
This is the first book in Yep's new trilogy set in 1941, but a 1941 populated with dragons, goddesses, water sprites, and all sorts of other supernatural creatures. Although the story begins in San Francisco, it moves on to Hawaii, and by the end of the book, the gang is off to even more locales.
I'm sad I didn't get to read this as a kid; I would have loved it! Even so, I love it now as well. The entire main cast is POC; it has an awesome girl in the form of Scirye and an awesome older woman in Bayang; the plot is fast-moving and exciting; and there are miniature griffins, volcano adventures, Asian mythology, flying carpets, shapeshifting, reincarnation, old vendettas, weary assassins, and much more! If you haven't figured out yet, it was a ton of fun to read.
It does read slightly young in that it handles fairly weighty topics rather quickly, but I like that they're there, and I particularly love the character of Bayang and how she develops throughout the book.
In conclusion: really fun, and Yep creates a retro, magical setting with actual diversity. I wish I could give this to all the people who seem to think that you can only have one or the other.
This is the first book in Yep's new trilogy set in 1941, but a 1941 populated with dragons, goddesses, water sprites, and all sorts of other supernatural creatures. Although the story begins in San Francisco, it moves on to Hawaii, and by the end of the book, the gang is off to even more locales.
I'm sad I didn't get to read this as a kid; I would have loved it! Even so, I love it now as well. The entire main cast is POC; it has an awesome girl in the form of Scirye and an awesome older woman in Bayang; the plot is fast-moving and exciting; and there are miniature griffins, volcano adventures, Asian mythology, flying carpets, shapeshifting, reincarnation, old vendettas, weary assassins, and much more! If you haven't figured out yet, it was a ton of fun to read.
It does read slightly young in that it handles fairly weighty topics rather quickly, but I like that they're there, and I particularly love the character of Bayang and how she develops throughout the book.
In conclusion: really fun, and Yep creates a retro, magical setting with actual diversity. I wish I could give this to all the people who seem to think that you can only have one or the other.