Resa Nelson

I had this book on my kindle for quite a while, and I ended up reading it more out of random chance because I was traveling on the subway when I abruptly finished one book, and once the vehicle goes underground, my chances of reading a book during the long commute home would have gone nil. So pretty much this book was more of a pick something fast or else!

That said, this book's cover is simply gorgeous. Kudos to the designer for such an awesome cover!

Setting those two issues aside, this book is one of those cases where the overall story and ideas are quite good with an ancient Chinese esque society clashing against a more modern minded barbarian Anglo-Saxon culture. My main issues stem mostly due to the very sluggish start and the whole issue/non-issue about angry Northern gods.

Like many readers, I definitely prefer something interesting happening at the start of a book over a beginning with an alarm clock and a morning routine. In this story, our feisty female lead with chinese roots Frayka is traveling by boat alongside her blonde and blue eyed betrothed Njall to their home village. Why were they separated and wandering in the northern lands? The book doesn't offer a satisfying reason, only that some gods got angry at some other gods and obliterated most of the Northerner settlements long before the protagonists were born. We never really know why they were out on some yearlong adventure, or if their trip would have been important to begin with.

The only thing we are offered is the fact that Frayka was born with seer abilities and knew that Njall was destined to become her husband even though he teased and bullied her when they were kids. Apparently she was commanded by the Northern gods to locate the dragon gods of the Far East and make some amends (why don't they do this task?), or someone will kill everyone in Frayka's village. I think the book could have started with a huge bang with her suffering from one of her occasional trance like states while they are being urged to return home for some random reason that sounded plausible. Pretty much the minute they arrive, Frayka tells her dad about the haunting vision, and the newlyweds are setting off once again on a mission that initially seems absurd. We never really got a chance to see her home village in order to compare it with the sweltering rules and patriarchal society of Zansheen City. I also feel like the novel suffered greatly at first because I never connected much with the two protagonists or gotten to like them that much.

Luckily, once you pass the 40% point of the novel, the two heroes reach Zansheen and become bombarded big time with the culture shock of a country where women can be kidnapped by random guys (even if they are only little children), forced to marry the guy and be expected to mutilate their bodies in agony during the mourning period if their husband dies. Frayka's brash nature gets her into a lot of trouble because everyone assumes by her looks that she is supposed to be a meek and well behaved local.

I liked the supporting characters TeeTea (odd name indeed) and Emperor Po a lot. If one of them had been the protagonists, the book would have been much more limited plot wise because of their specific POVs, but I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more. Other characters seemed to behave in contradictory ways (Asu Chen didn't find Princess Ti's request to be kinda... odd?). Madam Po was funny in her own peculiar way.

Having visited China in real life (albeit I only know the uber modernized cities surrounding Shanghai), I know that bride stealing and foreign women abductions still happens even today in the southern regions. The victims either try to make the best out of living with a man without any documents or knowing the language, or decide to find the way to flee while being forced to leave behind any underage children that as Chinese citizens are always given custody to the father. I found this aspect of the Far East society to be both fascinating and very disturbing to read. If only the first third of the book had been as strong and interesting as the rest of the book, it could have been a really memorable read.

I am indeed at a conundrum. I didn't care too much about Frayka as a protagonist, but I am quite curious about where the story is heading. The novel indeed has a lot of faults, but if you are into ancient Chinese culture and wish to see the world from a very different pair of eyes, this book has those merits going in its favor. Enjoy!… (more)