The Library of Legends

I really wanted to like this book! On paper, the premise of students fleeing with books containing ancient legends and myths from China during the second Sino-Japanese War sounded really appealing! I was intrigued by the inclusion of Historical Fantasy, in the form of these mythical creatures and people fleeing japan for the Kunlun Mountain, ostensibly because of the conflict. These immortal creatures (phoenixes, kirins, city gods, etc.) can only be seen by very few mortals, and the inclusion of their departures highlights the conflict that China underwent during this period. Essentially, the gods fled China during this period of war and conflict and left mortals to manage on their own.

Unfortunately, I thought the rest of the book was lackluster. The characters were a little flat, and there were romance elements I could have done without. There was also the brief inclusion of some political elements, where the main character, Lian, is coerced into spying on her fellow students for the government, but I never really felt drawn into hers or anyone else's story. I thought the ending was a nice period on a lukewarm story, but not enough for it to improve my feelings about the story any.

My overall feelings for this book are positive. The glimpses into the mythical beings were resplendent in their descriptions. Even if they were, for the most part, just a glimpse. The look into China before communism is very interesting. I enjoyed the secret meetings and the way the author displayed the difference in worldview among the characters. Also, the awakening of the Minghua 123's view of the societal differences between classes and the intense poverty of the refugees. I do have some questions though. Why did we just pass over the fact that Sparrow was a murderer? Was that a plot device to make us accept the fact that they don't end up together because we are now conflicted about her? What portion of the Library of Legends was Shao holding? In general, I wish that we could have gotten more of the other legends as they were traveling, especially the ones where we saw the beings on their way to Kunlun Mountain. I wanted to know more than just the one. As I said, my overall feelings were positive, but I feel like the ending of this book was put together with a bandaid. While I am happy with the outcome of the story, I wish the pieces fell together more organically. Instead of everything coming together perfectly in the last 20 pages.

This book has a lot going for it. It's a historical fiction, with elements of myth and magical realism, overarching the main plot of romance, with a minor side story skirting political thriller. However, it just doesn't go deep enough into any of these to give it 5 stars. The war is all around, but the characters move through it largely unaffected, which means it also doesn't touch the reader. While I could do without the fear and violence usually provoked from a war story, the lack of passion and depth in the romance is tragic and almost ruins the whole narrative. It was wanting to read more about the deities that really kept me reading, although I never quite got my fill of that either. I also wanted to hear more about the tensions between the two deeply patriotic but divisive political parties amidst a war. Although the book can be considered pretty shallow in those respects, I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word of it.