Sherry Thomas

Bestselling writer Sherry Thomas weaves an enthralling #ownvoices retelling of a story that has thrilled readers for centuries: the ballad of Mulan.

A Ballad of Mulan

The Magnolia Sword

Mulan has been drilled in martial arts to fight the duel of her life - but what if her sworn enemy is also her secret love? A heart-thumping retelling that brings a much-loved heroine to life.

Alix N

Megan Lowe

I absolutely adored this book!
I love the perspective of Mulan it gives. I love the insight of being a girl in China back then.
I love how early the romance was established and sweet it was.
I loved Kendan and Tuxi.
Kai is a total book boyfriend.
I loved how authentic it felt, it felt like reading a Chinese painting.
Absolute 6 star read.

allison moler

Josie McQueen

A great story, beautifully written and descriptive fight scenes. Truly in-depth research into 5th Century, China. This is one of the few books I have read from cover to cover (including author's notes). It is also amazing to see an author that isn’t Caucasian retell this story. Definitely will be looking into more of her work.

Caitlyn DeRouin

4.5 stars

Trigger Warnings: death of parents (past), sexism, ableist slurs, war (violence, death, blood, etc).

I'd been meaning to read The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan for quite some time as I had heard great things about it and love the story of Mulan. And while I know more about the Disney version of Mulan than I do the actual story of Mulan, I think that actually made me more excited to pick up a book that's more accurate to the original story. I'm glad to say that I was not disappointed. 

The Magnolia Sword is full of very detailed storytelling, right from the beginning I felt as though I was transported to 484 AD China. The descriptions were vivid and painted a lovely portrait. You can tell that so much research had gone into this book (which the author discusses at the end) and gave me a new understanding of Chinese culture (especially from that time period) that I did not have before. While I do not know much about 5th Century China, I do know that at that time there was a lot of political unrest between the Northern and Southern dynasties, which this book does discuss and made me curious to research this time period more. 

I thought that Mulan was just as tough and fierce as we expected her to be, but also showed a lot of vulnerability in quiet moments. She was confident and worried, she was fearful and fearless. I felt that she was well rounded and complex and had a very distinct voice. I also really enjoyed her friendship/relationship with Kai and how that developed throughout the story. 

Overall I thought that this was a wonderful retelling of the story of Hau Mulan

Simona Fritzsche

I really enjoyed this book because it focused on the Legend of Mulan and not on the Disney version. I greatly enjoyed their discussion on how history is recorded and how mostly only one side is represented. 
Also as someone who is studying Sinology I loved how the history and background was well researched and how the use of mandarin was also correct. 
One other thing i enjoyed is the big focus on Mulan and how she found herself during battle and how she realized that she doesn't have the be her brother to have confidence in herself.

Megan Rose

** spoiler alert **
           “What is courage but strength in the face of fear? His fear might be great, but his strength is greater still.”

I hoped to enjoy this book more than I did- I am a big fan of the ballad of Mulan, but I had a difficult time connecting with any of the characters in this book and that made it hard to feel drawn into the story. Overall, this was just an ok read for me!

The Magnolia Sword A Ballad of Mulan

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