Review: Zachary Ying And The Emperor
Ten days. Ten days, I had to wait for ten fricking days before I could get my hands on this book, because I'd been waiting for quite a while for its release. I'd even asked for an ARC from Edelweiss but Edelweiss being the assholes that they are didn't even bother to send me an email about whether it was accepted or rejected. Y'all should not leave bloggers hanging like that you know, its called being rude.
Percy Jackson meets Yu-Gi-Oh in this new stunning novel by Xiran Jay Zhao. Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack knows nothing when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open. The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers. And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.
QUICK THOUGHTS AND REVIEW: 4.4/5, I LIKE THE PREMISE, BUT I NEED THE NEXT BOOK.
WHAT DID I FEEL ABOUT THE BOOK'S:
1. Writing Quality: I do love the writing quality from the beginning. It is smooth, easy flowing and kind of soothing to the eyes because there are no bigass words used in it, which kind of make you squint and hurt the eyes. And not to add, funny. I was doubling over with laughter over the humour in the first few chapters. Also, don't get me started on the titles. LIKE PLEASE, I was wheezing every time I read those titles but I felt guilty because I was not even supposed to laugh. But there is a hell lot of information dumping in the beginning, which I do not like at all. Negative marking for that.
2. Worldbuilding: I do love the worldbuilding and all the different Chinese legends that are told throughout the story. Some of them I've heard before while studying History back in school, but there were a few others that were kind of new to me, but they seemed interesting, so I did some background research on them later on, which cost me both my data and my time for studying, but definitely worth it considering I now have the knowledge of legends of other civilizations, and a new topic of research for my mythologies, legends and cultures portfolio.
3. Character Development: Zachary Ying is a Muslim Chinese American, which is definitely a new break from the usual Chinese MC, the Han Chinese. Zack is a child who suffers from actually discovering his identity in a place that is not very accepting of his identity, being biracial. He's kind of hanging in the middle which is kind of really relatable. I do like how he develops from being kind of quiet to actually growing a backbone and standing up for himself. Though he does seem like an idiot sometimes.
4. Couldn't put it down- Ness: 9/10. I do like how the story's played out and it's a short novel, so it finishes pretty quick.
5. Plot Twists: The plot twists are really intense towards the end of the book. The different takes kind of made me go like, 'now this is what we're talking about.' Because what is a middle grade fantasy book without proper plot twists? Scratch that, what is a fantasy book without plot twists. Plot twists are important man, I need something to spice up my boring af life, and since social anxiety prevents me from actually putting myself out there, the only spice I can get is fictional. So, plot twists are definitely very very important. And I like how they're neither too shocking that would put me in an intense cardiac arrest, or so meh that I'd have to boo them away. Nah they're stuck in the middle and they're pretty chill. Can't believe I used the word "chill" for a plot twist.
6. Plot: IMMENSE PERCY JACKSON VIBES. I was pretty interested in wanting this book after I'd read Iron Widow [link down below]. Man Iron Widow was hands down one of the best books that I have ever come across. Gawd, y'all do be missing out when you're not reading Iron Widow. I hope the second book comes out soon. So, this book, has a hell lot of Percy Jackson vibes. I wish I knew what Yu-Gi-Oh was, then perhaps I'd have been able to fully connect with the book. But the plot gets really messy in the last few chapters, as if the author had tried to wrap this up very quickly, but some of it fell out of the wrapping paper. Or they didn't have enough wrapping paper to wrap this out with. It gets hella messy so again, negative marking for that.
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