Book Review: Daughter of Xandu by Dori Jones Yang

Goodreads

Athletic and strong willed, Princess Emmajin's determined to do what no woman has done before: become a warrior in the army of her grandfather, the Great Khan Khubilai. In the Mongol world the only way to achieve respect is to show bravery and win glory on the battlefield. The last thing she wants is the distraction of the foreigner Marco Polo, who challenges her beliefs in the gardens of Xanadu. Marco has no skills in the "manly arts" of the Mongols: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Still, he charms the Khan with his wit and story-telling. Emmajin sees a different Marco as they travel across 13th-century China, hunting 'dragons' and fighting elephant-back warriors. Now she faces a different battle as she struggles with her attraction towards Marco and her incredible goal of winning fame as a soldier.

My thoughts

The reason that made me want to pick Daughter of Xandu up is although I'm an avid YA historical fiction reader- as many of you will know- I've never read something set in the Mongolian empire before because of the typical setting being the Tudor or Victorian eras. So something different and fresh sounded a lot of fun! 

The narrator is the beautiful and headstrong Princess Emmajin  who is determined to be just like her boy cousins and dreams of doing the impossible: serving her country in the Mongol army when no women has ever done so before. All through her childhood, she has heard stories of glory on the battlefield that her ancestors experienced that have been told from age to age. It is a life like this that she craves instead of the seemingly dull and pointless frivolities and pampering of court life or the duties that come from marriage and children.

I loved the character of Emmajin and really connected with her character early on her book because although she has  seemingly impossible aspirations, she is not afraid to pursue them but keeps herself grounded, with the realisation that she may have to accept the life she has been born into lo. On one hand she is strong and fierce when practising horse riding and archery but she is also shy around some people, making her realistically flawed. She endures tough times to try and achieve her dreams but throughout the book she really develops  as a young women and she begins to see the world through different eyes  as she gets to know the initially distrusted strange foreigner Marco Paolo.

Emmajin's relationship with Marco Paolo- the foreigner from far away Venice  in Christendom (Europe) she was asked to spy on by the Great Khan- was something that I really enjoyed seeing develop, grow and change during the course of the book. Their initial distrust of each other slowly changes and Emmajin is fascinated by his tales of Europe and his beloved Venice and he loyalty to her country is tested. It was lovely how they were from completely different backgrounds but they found so much in common and could really understood each other. The end to their story might not be all that realistic but for what was was described of the time before but it left me happy and that's what matters most. Before reading this book, I didn't know the first thing about Paolo apart from the fact he was a famous historical person so I'm happy to say I now know a lot more and it was really interesting to find out about his story! Oh, and did I mention he's handsome too?

The other characters in the story felt very real too and were well written even though there was quite a wide array. I really wish there could be a sequel to this book so I could read more about them!

The best historical fiction makes you feel like  the period the book is set in  so familiar and alive and that's what Daughter of Xandu succeeded in doing- excellently! Knowing nothing about the culture of the Mongol empire, I was fascinated to learn about the different traditions, the harsh life in army, the system of the royal family and the empire. Whilst the story was not loaded with description, the fact that Dori Jones Yang actually went to the places the book is set and hunted down the spot of the ancient site Xandu is clear. One part I especially enjoyed reading was the account of a ferocious battle between the Mongols and the Burmese, where they used elephants and other tactics. 


Verdict: Daughter of Xandu is an enthralling and fast paced tale that was special for me because of it's unique setting in Mongolia at the time of the great Kubai Khan featuring Marco Paolo, a strong willed heroine with a big dream, tons of adventure and of course romance. If you like historical fiction or even just a story with heart, then I'd definitely recommend it!


Rating: 5 stars

My Birthday Wishlist!

It's my birthday on Saturday so I thought I'd share some of the books that are on my wishlist for then  (descriptions from Goodreads):

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest. But there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

I featured this one on a Waiting on Wednesday post last year so I've been looking forward to reading it for a long time. I love fairy tale retellings and I just read another retelling of the same fairytale as Entwined called The Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. And that cover is gorgeous- it would look so pretty on my bookshelf!

Daughter Of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang

Athletiand strong willed, Princess Emmajin's determined to do what no woman has done before: become a warrior in the army of her grandfather, the Great Khan Khubilai. In the Mongol world the only way to achieve respect is to show bravery and win glory on the battlefield. The last thing she wants is the distraction of the foreigner Marco Polo, who challenges her beliefs in the gardens of Xanadu. Marco has no skills in the "manly arts" of the Mongols: horse racing, archery, and wrestling. Still, he charms the Khan with his wit and story-telling. Emmajin sees a different Marco as they travel across 13th-century China, hunting 'dragons' and fighting elephant-back warriors. Now she faces a different battle as she struggles with her attraction towards Marco and her incredible goal of winning fame as a soldier.

Dori came on the blog to do a guest post a few months ago so really want to finally be able to read her book! I love the sound of the setting of Daughter Of Xandu because it's unusual and different from many Tudor and Victorian set YA historicals.

Waterfall by Lisa T.Bergen

I've been wanting to read this ever since I read a glowing review over at Small Review because I've been meaning to read more time travels and this one sounds fantastic!

Lisa Tawn Bergren's new YA series, River of Time, is romantic, historical fiction in which the plucky heroine doesn't have to fear a vampire's bite but must still fight for her life.

In Waterfall, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties. Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archaeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds... until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves catapulted into the fourteenth-century—and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.
 

Emily And The Scot by Kathryn Smith

Jamie MacLaughlin knows his place in the world and he's happy there. His dreams are simple and obtainable. But when he crosses paths with an impertinent English lass, his reaction to her is anything but simple. Emily Fitzgerald left England to avoid scandal. All she wants is a little peace and perhaps a little adventure in Scotland. She never imagined she'd meet a man who makes her want to go against everything she's ever been taught.

Thia regency romance for teens is a sequel to Anna And The The Duke, which I read last year and really enjoyed.

Princess Of Glass by Jessica Day George

Hoping to escape the troubles in her kingdom, Princess Poppy reluctantly agrees to take part in a royal exchange program, whereby young princes and princesses travel to each other's countries in the name of better political alliances—and potential marriages. It's got the makings of a fairy tale—until a hapless servant named Eleanor is tricked by a vengeful fairy godmother into competing with Poppy for the eligible prince. Ballgowns, cinders, and enchanted glass slippers fly in this romantic and action-packed happily-ever-after quest from an author with a flair for embroidering tales in her own delightful way.

This is the sequel to Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George that I read last week and carries on the story of one of the characters from there. I really liked the first book so I'm looking forward to continuing the story of one of the Princesses sometime soon.

I'll be sharing the books I got for my birthday in this Sunday's In My Mailbox!



Book Review: The Legacy by Gemma Malley

Goodreads summary

When a Pincent Pharma lorry is ambushed by the Underground, its contents come as a huge surprise - not drugs, but corpses in a horrible state. It appears Longevity isn't working and the drugs promising eternal youth are failing to live up to their promises. A virus is sweeping the country, killing in its wake, and Longevity is powerless to fight it. When Richard Pincent of Pincent Pharma suggest that the Underground has released the virus, something has to be done to put the story straight and once and for all alert everyone to the truth.

My thoughts and review

Background to the series: It is set in a futuristic world where drugs have been developed where no one dies, gets ill, meaning that they can live forever. Ideal and perfect, right? The only catch is, for those who agree to take the drug and sign the Declaration, they can't ever have children because the world would be over-populated. The first two books focus on what happens to the children who are born illegally.

I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, The Declaration and The Resistance so I was very excited to see this come in at my school library and I reserved it straight away. The first series was the first dystopian I read and I really enjoyed it and the concept of a world where everyone can live forever. I hoped that I wouldn't be disappointed with the last installment about the world that I've come to know in the previous books so I was glad to find it wasn't a complete let down.

The Legacy is filled with bucket loads of action, suspense and lots of twists that really kept me on my toes. There was a major twist at the end and I really was shocked by it as I wasn't expecting it at all and usually I'm quite good at guessing what's going to happen next. Most of the plot is focused on what happens when nature starts to take over and the future of Longevity- the very drug that people depend on to keep alive- is thrown into confusion. People everywhere have to decide their judgements on circulating rumours and start questioning their existence and the world that they live in. All these philosophical questions that are raised got me thinking and one of the reasons why this series seems so realistic is because Malley's world seems almost plausible if medical technology keeps improving at its current rate. Although I certainly hope this won't happen by the time we reach 2140 after reading this series!

Despite the fast pace that often compromises the character development in some books, the main characters Peter, Anna and Sheila stay true to themselves as they were in previous books and rise to the challenges and anxieties that are placed before them with courage and bravery even though they are not at the forefront of the action or included as much. I liked how they were loyal to the cause they were fighting for whatever the costs and consequences that it might lead to for them and the ones they love. In The Legacy, secondary characters that were given more of a back-seat in the other books became more of the focus for example, Peter's half-brother Jude became one of the main narrators of the book and I got to know him much more of a person.

The story was told through multiple narrations, one chapter is narrated by one of the main characters and the next you find yourself in the head of a normal person who is being affected by the events for a few pages. Whilst I liked how this gave me a wider perception on the world and what is happening outside of the Underground, it sometimes felt a bit jumpy and disjointed so I was left feeling a little confused at times and found it harder to really get into the story, especially when reading it for short intervals.

One aspect that I would have liked to see more of is Peter and Anna's relationship because it almost felt as though they (especially Anna) were sidelined from the main action and didn't get very much page time when they were the original main characters.

Verdict: The combination of a brilliant plot and well rounded and developed characters is what makes this series finale so dramatic as well as thought provoking. I was left satisfied with the ending too but I did have some issues with parts of the book that affected my enjoyment slightly. Despite this I think that fans of the series should not be afraid to pick The Legacy up in case of disappointment and for I really recommend this series for anyone who likes dystopian novels but has yet to discover this trilogy!

Guest Post from Dori Jones Yang, author of Daughter of Xanadu

Today, I am very happy to welcome Dori Jones Yang to the blog, the author of the newly released YA historical Daughter of Xanadu. I haven't managed to get hold of a copy yet because it's not available in the UK but it's been on my TBR list for a while now and I'm really looking forward to reading it. I hope you enjoy finding out more about Daughter of Xanadu as much as I did!

Here is the link to Daughter of Xanadu's Goodreads page.

 Welcome Dori! :

Hi, Stephanie and friends! Greetings from Seattle.

The powerful and beautiful cover!



January 11 was a big day for me, the publication, by Random House, of my YA historical novel, Daughter of Xanadu. This is a book straight from my heart, and I worked on it for almost ten years. The story-behind-the-story is one of persistence, revision, reimagining, and more persistence. I got knocked down several times, stood back up, stuck to my dreams, and this beautiful book is the happy result. Hope you'll stick to the pursuit of your dreams, too!

Daughter of Xanadu is an adventure story about a 16-year-old girl, eldest granddaughter of the Great Khubilai Khan, who is eager to become the first woman to join the Mongol Army. She gets distracted when she meets a man from a distant, backward land: Marco Polo. Because of him, she begins to see her world from a new perspective. Like many of us today, she has to juggle family expectations, personal ambition, and the desires of her heart.

This novel has an unusual setting: the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. I chose this era because of my interest in Marco Polo, who was the first European to write about China. When he got there in 1275, Khubilai Khan was ruling the largest empire in history from a magnificent palace, wearing robes made of cloth of gold and drinking mare's milk from golden goblets. In just two generations, the Mongols had risen to this lavish lifestyle from their traditional nomadic ways as herders and raiders, living in tents. We think of the Mongols as barbarians, but after they conquered much of the world, they established peace over many lands. That peace allowed Europeans, including Marco Polo, to travel all the way to China and back for the first time. What they learned in China helped prepare Europe to surge ahead.
Researching the Mongol era was fascinating for me. I read a lot of old books, including the ultimate source book, The Secret History of the Mongols. The most fun was traveling to Mongolia, where I stayed in a ger (yurt), drank fermented mare's milk, rode camels, and watched Mongolia's national games of horse racing, archery, and wrestling. I also managed to locate the ruins of Xanadu, site of Khubilai Khan's summer palace ' an off-the-beaten-track discovery.


I hope you'll enjoy Daughter of Xanadu. It's available in North America only right now, but my agent is working on getting a UK publisher. To find out more about the book, please visit me at www.dorijonesyang.com. Thanks!

P.S. I love that 2011 YA Historical Fiction Challenge. Go for it!


Thank you Dori! Daughter of Xanadu would be perfect for participants of the YA Historical Fiction Challenge. The Mongol Empire setting sounds really fascinating, it and I think the originality of the setting will really appeal to fans of historical fiction.


If you're interested in Daughter of Xanadu, be sure to visit Dori's website HERE to find out more and I also really recommend that you take a look at the book's fantastic trailer HERE!

*Apologies for some earlier spelling mistakes- now corrected!