Title: Dragon pearl.
Author: Yoon Ha Lee.
Format: Hardcover.
Publisher: Rick Riordan Presents.
Page count: 310.
Release day: January 15th 2019.
Genre: Middle Grade, science-fiction.
Rating: 2 stars.
What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)
THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD MIN comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you’d never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times.
Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.
When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumoured to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.
Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.
Rating:
Characters: 4/10
Atmosphere: 5/10
Writing: 4/10
Plot: 4/10
Intrigue: 3/10
Logic: 5/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Average: 4.14 (which means 2 stars!)
My thoughts:
There are mainly two reasons why I picked this one up, one; it is a Rick Riordan Presents book, two; recently I found that I really enjoy books based on Korean mythology! But unfortunately this one did not do it for me..
I cannot really pin point why, but I was just not connecting with this story. I think this book was trying to do a little bit too much. This book is based on Korean mythology, but tbh I think it lacked a bit of explanation, there were some things mentioned of which I did not really know what they meant with. Of course things shouldn’t be over explained, but adding a sentence here and there would have helped for me. But the main story is her going to find her brother and the Dragon pearl. Along the way we also get to learn the world, new characters, ghosts, having to help those friends and ghosts, space, the ship, how to use this ship. It was just a bit too much, so it was all a bit done half in my opinion.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character, I feel like she felt a bit too full of herself, and some things she did went way too easily. What I really did like is that there was a non-binary side character, which was just shortly mentioned, and from there on is addressed with they/them! I really like that this is present in middle grade books!
Since I wasn’t liking the plot that much, I think this explains my rating for plot, enjoyment and intrigue. I just didn’t really feel like piking this one back up.
I can see why people like this book, but it was just not really for me. I guess that happens once in a while..!
I hope you enjoyed this messy review haah!
Sorry this one didn’t work for you, Evelyn! I still want to check out some of their work at some point (probably their adult SF series because I’ve heard good things. )
I’ve heard good things about that one as well, so that is still on my list!
I haven’t read this one yet, but I want to give all the Rick Riordan Presents books a try. What a shame that this one was a disappointment for you. I’ve noticed that some of these main characters are hit or miss for me, too, because of their personalities.
Me too, that’s why I read it haha! But I guess we can’t like them all! I haven’t read so many yet though! I hop you will like it better!
I haven’t read this series, but I very much want to!! Two stars isn’t very convincing though!!
I do feel like it might be a me thing, I just really did not connect with his writing..