Name: Of Jade and Dragons
ISBN: 9780593692905

Amber Chen

Of Jade and Dragons

thank you to penguin teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

i worry i may feel a ton more neutral about this book than most seem to be. there were a ton of things i loved and a ton of things that i thought should’ve been executed differently. and all together it put this as a middle of the road debut, for me personally. however, up front i want to say that i’d absolutely want to continue in this series. while i don’t fully have ideas of where this will go (as i felt it wrapped up in a way that totally could’ve been considered the true end point), i will stick around. i think amber chen has incredible potential to expand on this story, with the greater universe becoming involved.

i think, for me, personally it was the toughest for me to get along with the fact that everyone BUT the love interest believed in her disguise. i still don’t understand how he was able to clock her literally right away. but over the course of multiple months not another person discovered her out (of course not including ye-kan). but also, with him knowing about her kind of fueled an insta-love type romance. i do wish we had more of a chance to see them interact before developing their relationship. and yes, this might just be me, but i really really wish that we could’ve had a queer sub-context story in true mulan retelling fashion. but! we persist.

i do think the story was interesting, even if i felt like ying’s story essentially strayed a tad from her original goal (find her father’s killer). but i think chen did a fairly good job weaving that story with the apprentice path she pursued. it was definitely an interesting take on one of these kind of, sort of chosen one stories. and of course, with it centering around her experience as a women, facing very misogynistic thoughts, i think it was handled fairly well. ying experienced a lot of second hand misogynistic comments from her fellow competitors and from the guild members. and she never let that stop her from working hard and essentially proving them wrong (even if they didn’t directly know).

overall, while this wasn’t a personal fave for me, i truly adored the characters. and i will be eagerly waiting to see more, especially from ye-yang’s story. i would love to see us in his mind in the next book, even if i know we’ll likely continue to follow ying. ye-yang was truly as stand-out for me. ever the graceful, his deadly instincts but quiet demeanor truly were so fun to read about. color me intrigued.

ash (smokedshelves)

thank you to penguin teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

i worry i may feel a ton more neutral about this book than most seem to be. there were a ton of things i loved and a ton of things that i thought should’ve been executed differently. and all together it put this as a middle of the road debut, for me personally. however, up front i want to say that i’d absolutely want to continue in this series. while i don’t fully have ideas of where this will go (as i felt it wrapped up in a way that totally could’ve been considered the true end point), i will stick around. i think amber chen has incredible potential to expand on this story, with the greater universe becoming involved.

i think, for me, personally it was the toughest for me to get along with the fact that everyone BUT the love interest believed in her disguise. i still don’t understand how he was able to clock her literally right away. but over the course of multiple months not another person discovered her out (of course not including ye-kan). but also, with him knowing about her kind of fueled an insta-love type romance. i do wish we had more of a chance to see them interact before developing their relationship. and yes, this might just be me, but i really really wish that we could’ve had a queer sub-context story in true mulan retelling fashion. but! we persist.

i do think the story was interesting, even if i felt like ying’s story essentially strayed a tad from her original goal (find her father’s killer). but i think chen did a fairly good job weaving that story with the apprentice path she pursued. it was definitely an interesting take on one of these kind of, sort of chosen one stories. and of course, with it centering around her experience as a women, facing very misogynistic thoughts, i think it was handled fairly well. ying experienced a lot of second hand misogynistic comments from her fellow competitors and from the guild members. and she never let that stop her from working hard and essentially proving them wrong (even if they didn’t directly know).

overall, while this wasn’t a personal fave for me, i truly adored the characters. and i will be eagerly waiting to see more, especially from ye-yang’s story. i would love to see us in his mind in the next book, even if i know we’ll likely continue to follow ying. ye-yang was truly as stand-out for me. ever the graceful, his deadly instincts but quiet demeanor truly were so fun to read about. color me intrigued.

original review
RTC soon :)

The premise hooked me from the start, you can never go wrong with a murder mystery! The writing style was simple; nothing stood out to me, but the pacing was good enough that there wasn't a moment where i got bored. What fell off for me was the characterization... especially Yeyang, who felt so lackluster and had zero qualities other than being the "love interest". Ying's characterization was okay; I just didn't connect with her. While i couldn't care less abt the romance, I loved Yekan and Ying's friendship so much! It was probably my favorite part of the whole book. I hope we see more of them in Book 2.

The last 10% of the book was its saving grace and made feel hopeful of the potential of Book 2 so ofc i'll be tuning in!

I'm SO glad that it didn't end with Ying forgiving Yeyang and all. Their romance didn't make sense to me. I mean, they barely had interactions, and suddenly they're yearning tragic lovers?!

The premise hooked me from the start, you can never go wrong with a murder mystery! The writing style was simple; nothing stood out to me, but the pacing was good enough that there wasn't a moment where i got bored. What fell off for me was the characterization... especially Yeyang, who felt so lackluster and had zero qualities other than being the "love interest". Ying's characterization was okay; I just didn't connect with her. While i couldn't care less abt the romance, I loved Yekan and Ying's friendship so much! It was probably my favorite part of the whole book. I hope we see more of them in Book 2.

The last 10% of the book was its saving grace and made feel hopeful of the potential of Book 2 so ofc i'll be tuning in!

"You said that if I wanted to seek revenge, that you would wield the sword on my behalf. But that was a lie. I was your sword, but you were never mine."

I'm SO glad that it didn't end with Ying forgiving Yeyang and all. Their romance didn't make sense to me. I mean, they barely had interactions, and suddenly they're yearning tragic lovers?!

Anyways i hope Book 2 is angstyyyyyyy

Mulan meets Iron Widow in this thrilling silkpunk fantasy about a girl who must disguise herself as a boy and enter the famed and dangerous Engineer’s Guild trials to unravel the mystery of her father’s murder. Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart. Left with only a journal of her father’s engineering secrets and a jade pendant snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father’s hidden past—determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately chose a quiet life over fame and fortune. Disguised as her brother, Ying manages to infiltrate the guild’s male-only apprenticeship trial with the help of an unlikely ally—Aogiya Ye-yang, the taciturn eighth prince of the High Command. With her father’s renown placing a target firmly on her back, Ying must stay one step ahead of her fellow competitors, the jealous guild masters, and the killer still hunting for her father’s journal. Complicating everything is her increasingly tangled relationship with the prince, who may have mysterious plans of his own. The secrets concealed within the guild can be as deadly as the weapons they build—and with her life and the future of her homeland at stake, Ying doesn’t know who to trust. Can she avenge her father even if it means going against everything he stood for, or will she be next in the mastermind’s line of fire?

Great thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for this arc!

Upon reading the description of this book I rushed to request it, a Mulan inspired book? Count me in!
It started off quite slow and only picked up with the introduction of Ye-Yang, but even then I didn’t feel compelled to pick up the book. Around 25% into the book I already felt something off about the writing, it just wasn’t allowing me to be fully immersed in the story. I pushed on hoping that perhaps I could look past it but unfortunately, it really prevented me from enjoying this read and I had to DNF it.

Of Jade and Dragons

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