jude

In my Iron Widow review I talked about the issues with Comp Titles.

This one IIRC is Percy Jackson meets Yu-gi-oh. 

While it does not include playing children's card games for much of the plot (but AR headsets and games do fit in to the story) I have ZERO issues with this comp title.

Zachary's gaming headset is possessed by his ancestor Qin Shi Huang, and when Zachary's mother's soul is snatched, leaving her in a coma, Zachary must go to China and team up with a couple other children to reinforce a seal before Ghost Month, or it spells the end of China if not the world, and his mother of course.

What I really love about this book (other than everything) is that part of the conflict is how disconnected Zachary is as a Chinese diaspora to the mythos of Qin Shi Huang.  Also, I can't think of a single other book I've read that mentioned Hui Chinese people.  As such Zachary eats Halal (or Vegan if there are no other options). 

This is not a book that speaks of how great China is.  Zachary's father was executed years before the story started for standing up for Uyghur rights.  Occasionally, while in China, there are mentions of how in certain areas, the Chef's knives are chained to their kitchens, that sort of thing.

This book also lead me to learn the Chinese healthcare system (from the payment side) isn't friendly to chronic issues, and I have to admit I'd simply assumed that China had good state-paid healthcare because I'm in the US, known healthcare-insurance-hell-hole. Now I will say I tried to look into this more, and the articles on wikipedia don't seem to be up to date, and there doesn't seem to be much information in English (unless you are willing to trust random websites, and as an American, I've tried to be really careful to not believe random bullshit about China). Basically I'm saying, I know the author has done loads of research, I'm just going to trust them.

Anyway, while I suspect if you know your Chinese history and mythology, you have an upper hand in the twists of the book, but if you don't, everything gets explained pretty well without overwhelming you with information.

All in all this is great, I don't remember the last time I loved a Middle Grade book this much.
I'm gonna have to buy a hardcover copy of it (and Iron Widow) at some point.

For context for what I'm about to say: I checked this out on Libby only seeing the title, not the subtitle. So just the "How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay" part. So I assumed it'd be self-help along the lines of that tweet of "Water your plants or you'll have fascism AND dead plants". It is actually (obviously if you read the subtitle) about creativity while struggling with Mental Health issues like depression and anxiety and Neuro-divergence (ADHD specifically, I do not think Lawson is autistic, but there's a few parts of the book where she gives examples of how it might apply to someone who is a different flavor of Neurodivergent).

It's as breezy a read as you can get regarding the topic without it being fake stuff like "do yoga at sunrise to never feel sad 🤗" And also, while it can be read straight through in one sitting, it is designed so you can come back and reference it!

I'll be honest: I liked this book so much I plan on buying myself a copy for my shelves.

Comp Titles, if you don't know, are where you get that “X meets Y” and if you are like me, get you mad when you read a book because it was nothing like what you imagined when you smooshed those things together.

Comp titles are basically required to sell books. There's a lot of detail I could go into here, but it's better to think of them as “has elements of X” and “Has elements of Y”.

This, if you may not know, was at least pitched to ME as “Pacific Rim meets the Handmaid's Tale” I am sorry to say I have not seen Pacific Rim, but I know it's a mecha movie with kaiju and people liked it.

Okay. The problem is, if you're like me, you're a little Tired of the Handmaid's Tale.  Do not imagine the Handmaid's Tale.   This is a futuristic fiction (once again they have mechs) and is very clearly, NOT an analogue of the US.

Basically our Protagonist Wu Zetian, (yes named for that historical empress) has a problem for YA fiction.  She's very “unlikeable”. Not to say I DIDN'T LIKE HER. On the contrary, I LOVED her.  But basically in YA fiction (and I think elsewhere too, but this is the closest thing I have to expertise) you'll see in reviews “ugh this Bitch was so unlikeable because she did a bad thing that a male protagonist would have been allowed to do”.   

Let me be clear: Zetian does a LOT of fucked up shit in this book. That's partially the point, this is a fucked up system. It basically requires a fucked-up response (at least in this book).  But I personally quite liked Zetian once I understood her.

And let's talk for a moment. There is “technically” a love triangle, but as many of you probably know, this goes into poly territory. And while I at least don't Think I'm poly, I thought it was handled well, but ask someone with experience in those relationships.

Anyway if you need a con about this book, I can give you one (that is not the book's fault) 

The sequel is not out until 2023, and yes Xiran Jay Zhao is writing something else right now, entirely because they understandably want to be paid for their writing so they can, you know, eat:  ( https://nitter.net/XiranJayZhao/status/1511894731764109316#m ) 

I do encourage you to read it now anyway, because while it does end with a sequel in mind, it's a good ride, and I've honestly seen more pressing of cliff-hangers. 

I was reminded that I own this book (and should read it) because it came up in Jhumpa Lahiri's book about Italian, In Other Words.

This is really short, but you can see the inspiration for things like The Book of Lies trilogy and Yesterday and probably other stuff she wrote, but nothing else is in English other than possibly her plays. 

It's a powerful book, and you get the impression she really hated French compared to Hungarian.  I don't think it was just having to learn a new language as an adult, I think it was that she never felt comfortable expressing herself.

I know I feel like a different person in foreign languages, which is part of why I dropped French. I didn't like the person I became when I spoke it. 

I DO like this, but my kobo bricked and there's no way my new one will arrive with enough time to finish this or the other library books that have a million holds on them before my time is up