Title:

Of Jade and Dragons

Author:

Amber Chen

Category:

Science Fiction / Fantasy

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

October 12, 2024

picked up Of Jade and Dragons from the library shelf because I was attracted to the cover. The cover artist is Kelly Chong, who has a website displaying her artwork. It looks like Chong has a done a lot of attractive illustrations for book covers. Despite the title, there are no real dragons and not much jade in this book. Of Jade and Dragons seems to be the first novel by Amber Chen. At times I was annoyed by the plot, which seemed to relying on coincidence rather frequenty. I did like characters, and cared enough about their fate that I finished all 466 pages in less than a week. The determined heroine, Aihue Ying, wants to attend the prestigious engineering academy, and follow in the footsteps of her genius father. I like Ying, and I liked the other major characters. I was a bit worried that this was yet another fantasy novel set at an academy for magic, but the book did not come across as stale or obviously derivative.

Ying's world has an oriental flavor - there are throwing stars, pagodas, lacquered wood floors in ornate palaces, and haughty courtiers clad in jeweled robes. The description of their writing implies something similar to Chinese characters created with careful brush strokes of black ink. The book uses words from a vocabulary: a-ma, e-niye, beilel, that are not defined but should clear from context. Some characters have similar names Ye-yang, Ye-kan, which makes me suspect that "Ye" is a honorific of some kind. Ying lives in the Nine Isles (all good fantasy novels should include a map, but unfortunately Chen does not include one), which face a formidable, more powerful foe in the Empire. The Antarans build flying air ships to sail into battle against these opponents; engineers are revered for constructing these ships and many other technological improvements.

The story begins with Ying entering her father's workshop only to find that an assassin is at work. Her father lies bleeding on the floor, and the assassin is ransacking the place, obviously looking for something. The assassin is masked, but Ying can see a telltale scar across his eye. After the assassin's escape, Ying's dying father tells her to burn his notebook, the contents must be destroyed. But Ying does not honor his request, she is intrigued by the plans for air cannons and air ships. Ying yearns for revenge, she wants to discover whomever sent the assassin to kill her father and have her revenge. But Ying's eldest brother, now the new head of the family, forbids her to investigate the crime. Ying ignores her brother's directive; she will go to the city and enter the Engineering Guild (where her father studied) and learn who his enemies were.

Unfortunately for Ying, the prestigious Engineering Guild only admits male students. So she disguises herself as her brother. A series of unlikely coincidences occur (this was my least favorite part of the book) that of course mean she does get into the school. Along the way, she meets Ye-yang, the fourth beile of the kingdom. Ye-yang realizes she is not a boy, but promises to keep her secret. Having Ye-yang as a sponsor means that Ying's admittance is guaranteed, but once in attendance, it will be up to Ying to prove she is the best of the candidates to become the top engineer.

The end of Of Jade and Dragons does resolve the major plot point of who killed Ying's father, and why. But it also obviously leaves room for a sequel. I am not sure I would read the next book or not. I wavered on awarding this book three or four stars, and ultimately decided to round up to four. Maybe if the second book has an equally eye-catching cover, then I will pick it up.