Sound the Gong (Kingdom of Three, Book 2)

My Thoughts:

This is the conclusion to the duology The Kingdom of  Three, following the first book, Strike the Zither. You don’t need to know that this is based on a classic Chinese text. After all, it is thoroughly Americanized-ish to be led by women and sword sisters. You do, however, need to spend from now to this release in April to read the first book Strike the Zither. In fact, if you haven’t started the first book, read them closer to the April release date so that you can more easily keep track of all the characters. This is especially true because there are so many characters and connections to keep track of. It reads like a Russian novel/tome. 

The main character keeps changing bodies too, so I would appreciate a little character list like a play.

The one thing I want to talk about without giving away anything is the fact that this is American-ish. What that means is that the feminism is American. The filial piety is very Asian. In addition, the concept of deity is very non-American , especially Christian. This is not the all seeing, all knowing deity. Think Greek and Roman gods and goddesses with their loyalty and bickering. Also, they mess up and try to manipulate fate. 

What to read more like this? Check out other YA Asian fantasy books by Joan He (Descendant of the Crane), or Xiran Jay Zhao Iron Widow  for older YA or Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor for younger YA.

From the Publisher:

All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior’s body, and never has she felt more powerless.

The warlordess Xin Ren holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains a puppet under Miasma’s thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces.

Fate has a winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it. She will pay any price to see Ren succeed—and she will make her enemies pay, especially the enigmatic Crow. What she’ll do when she finds out the truth. . . Only the heavens know.

Featuring gorgeous map art by Anna Frohmann and black-and-white portraits by Tida Kietsungden, Sound the Gong is the second book in Joan He's riveting Kindgom of Three duology.

Publication Informaton:

Author: Joan He

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (April 30, 2024)

Print length: 320 pages

Tokyo Dreaming

 

My Thoughts:

I was not approved for this book on NetGalley, but I wanted to follow up on Akio and Izumi from the first book, Tokyo Ever After, so I am not averse to buying my own books. After all, I gave my Tokyo Ever After book I bought to one of my English teacher alum and I will do the same for this one. I did get the first book via NetGalley and liked it so much that I bought the hardcover. I have also book talked Ms. Jean's first book to students at Nanakuli Intermediate, so I know which teacher I am giving this to. 

This is a continuation of Izzy's time with her father as well as a continuation of the love story of her parents and her relationship with Akio. However, it is less com and more rom. There are twists and complications as all book 2s must have. Izzy has a lot of decisions to make and finds herself in a new fake relationship for a good cause until it becomes a love triangle. In addition, she has to decide what she wants to do - college, no college, expectations from the royal palace, to conform or not conform? What will our Izumi do?

What I liked about this second book is that the character, Izumi, is showing more maturity. Her Japanese is getting better and her relationship with the Shining Twins is quite hilarious. I wanted to know more about the Empress, but this was still a devour read good for high school. The other book could be read by middle grades, but there is a brief sex scene in this one. 

From the Publisher:

When Japanese-American Izumi Tanaka learned her father was the Crown Prince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now, she’s overcome conniving cousins, salacious press, and an imperial scandal to finally find a place she belongs. She has a perfect bodyguard turned boyfriend. Her stinky dog, Tamagotchi, is living with her in Tokyo. Her parents have even rekindled their college romance and are engaged. A royal wedding is on the horizon! Izumi’s life is a Tokyo dream come true. Only. . .

Her parents’ engagement hits a brick wall. The Imperial Household Council refuses to approve the marriage citing concerns about Izumi and her mother’s lack of pedigree. And on top of it all, her bodyguard turned boyfriend makes a shocking decision about their relationship. At the threat of everything falling apart, Izumi vows to do whatever it takes to help win over the council. Which means upping her newly acquired princess game.

But at what cost? Izumi will do anything to help her parents achieve their happily ever after, but what if playing the perfect princess means sacrificing her own? Will she find a way to forge her own path and follow her heart?

Publication Information:

Author: Emiko Jean

Publisher: Flatiron Books (May 31, 2022)

Hardcover Length: 336 pages

Lunar New Year Love Story:a graphic joint

My Thoughts:

Asian fate, family curses, a love triangle and lion dancing make this a feel good story to start your year of the dragon reading. Valentina loved making homemade valentine cards for all her classmates, but her favorite Valentine was the one she made for her father. But as she gets older, her classmates do not share her same enthusiasm and Valentines day becomes a lonely and sad event for her. She also believes that her family is cursed in love. 

This sweet coming of age story is about Val's rejection, struggles, betrayal and hope. The illustrations and interjection of comic relief create a feel good story for readers. This is definitely a great choice as the first graphic novel to read for the year. It is a multicultural story that reveals both our differences as Asians, as well as our similarities. Well done.

From the Publisher:

She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.

Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed―no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.

But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?

Publication Information:

Author: Gene Luen Yang

Illustrator: LeUyen Pham

Publisher: First Second (January 9, 2024)

Paperback: 352 pages

An Echo in the City

 

From the Publisher:

Two star-crossed teenagers fall in love during the Hong Kong protests in this searing contemporary novel about coming-of-age in a time of change.
 
Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is … until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing.
 
Seventeen-year-old Kai sees himself as an artist, not a filial son, and certainly not a cop. But when his mother dies, he’s forced to leave Shanghai to reunite with his estranged father, a respected police officer, who’s already enrolled him in the Hong Kong police academy. Kai wants to hate his job, but instead, he finds himself craving his father’s approval. And when he accidentally swaps phones with Phoenix and discovers she’s part of a protest network, he finds a way to earn it: by infiltrating the group and reporting their plans back to the police.
 
As Kai and Phoenix join the struggle for the future of Hong Kong, a spark forms between them, pulling them together even as their two worlds try to force them apart. But when their relationship is built on secrets and deception, will they still love the person left behind when the lies fall away?

My Thoughts:

I usually post my thoughts before the publisher, but I wanted to switch it because the publisher makes a connection with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, (two star-crossed lovers. . .). So I was reading to see the connection. Was this a Hong Kong version of Westside Story where this is definitely a tragedy between historically feuding parties (Montagues and Capulets; Jets and Sharks)? Then there is the clever and equally hearbtreaking Angel and Hannah, a novel in verse by Ishle Yi Park: 

Unlike Romeo and Juliet, there is no double suicide, but there is more than death that can make this tragic, so perhaps the message here for young readers is really about the wide spaces between cultures and places. Perhaps this is about the residual effects of poverty, culture clashes and a crumbling social structure.

I think An Echo in the City is actually closer to Park's novel in verse but set in a Hong Kong where democracy is burning and China is looming like a dark cloud over the island. Kai and Phoenix are  in Hong Kong from different areas, Kai from China, Phoenix from North Carolina. So although they meet in the same cafe in Hong Kong,  their worlds are so different. Like Angel there is no double suicide, however, what makes this so relevant and superior to R&J is the very real conflict of filial piety. The two teenagers can rebel to a point, but they are also held to family expectations in a way that non Asian communities may never understand. Asian dreams are caught in the web of expectations that affect the whole family and the whole community. That is what is so tragic about this love story. The ending is both haunting and hopeful. 

Publication Information:

Author: K.X. Song

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (June 20, 2023)

A Sky of Paper Stars

 

My Thoughts:

Yuna is having a middle school identity crisis. With her ultra Korean, conservative family, she does not get to go to sleepovers like her other friends. She also feels like she does not fit in with the other kids in her school because her mom makes her Asian lunch versus a "normal" American lunch. She remembers what her grandmother taught her in Korea about origami folding 1,000 stars to make a wish. But her wish, in a cruel jolt of irony, is granted and her family goes to Korea. The sad thing, though is that she does not fit in Korea either.  She is too Korean in America and too American in Korea.

Besides teaching readers how to fold the paper stars, this graphic novel is a bittersweet story about grief, acceptance, identity, and holding on to family. If readers find healing in this graphic novel, give them Sheets by Brenna Thummler, also a graphic novel around loss and grief. Or if they want to read a novel, give them the just released Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea, which is also about not fitting in, as well as the relationship between a grandmother and a granddaughter. 

From the Publisher:

All Yuna wants is to belong. She wants to go to sleepovers, have a smart phone, and go to summer camp―just like her friends in middle school.

Furious at her Umma for never packing her a “normal” American lunch, they get into yet another fight. Out of options and miserable, Yuna remembers a legend that her grandma, Halmoni, told her. If you fold 1,000 paper stars, you will be granted one wish.

When she reaches 1,000 paper stars, Yuna wishes for her family to move back to Korea, where she can finally be normal. Seconds later: a knock at her door. It’s her sister with devastating news. Halmoni has died and they must go back to Korea to attend the funeral.

Yuna knows this is all her fault. As her guilt builds, her body begins to turn into paper. Yuna realizes she must undo her wish and bring her Halmoni back―or turn into paper forever.

Wholly heartbreaking and with light touches of magic realism, A Sky of Paper Stars is a captivating graphic novel about identity, family, and the love that can bridge generations.

Publication Information:

Author/Ilustrator: Susie Yi

Publisher: Roaring Book Press (September 26, 2023)

Queens of New York

 

My Thoughts:

The newest Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Asian version (and without the pair of jeans). For Jia Lee, Ariel Kim, and Everett Hoang, this summer is supposed to be the first step to their future selves. Told in alternating first person narratives, each girl deals with secrets, heartbreaks and huge decisions. Although they are miles away from each other, their friendship, now mostly through group chat, weaves the solid bond between these girls from Queens, New York. 

This is not a fluffy summer read. Each character deals with very difficult issues alone: grief, racism, obligation, and heartbreak.  Although the three of them try to keep their struggles from each other and put up a cheerful front,  what they find in the end is that their bond is unbreakable and that even physical distance cannot break their system of support. They have different talents and dreams, they are from different ethnic groups, and they go to different schools, but their friendship is the strong rope that lets them drift away and pulls them back together. 

From the Publisher:

Best friends Jia Lee, Ariel Kim, and Everett Hoang are inseparable. But this summer, they won’t be together.

Everett, aspiring Broadway star, hopes to nab the lead role in an Ohio theater production, but soon realizes that talent and drive can only get her so far. Brainy Ariel is flying to San Francisco for a prestigious STEM scholarship, even though her heart is in South Korea, where her sister died last year. And stable, solid Jia will be home in Flushing, juggling her parents’ Chinatown restaurant, a cute new neighbor, and dreams for an uncertain future.

As the girls navigate heartbreaking surprises and shocking self-discoveries, they find that even though they’re physically apart, they are still mighty together.

Publication Information:

Author: E.L. Shen

Publisher: Quill Tree Books (June 6, 2023)

Multicultural Interest, Romance, Teens &YA