Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

 Introduction 

The story follows the 18 year old girl Ying, an engineering prodigy who sets off to the capital after her father is killed and she catches the assassin in the act. The world is East Asian inspired, and to many it is a retelling of Mulan as Ying has to disguise herself as a boy to get into the Engineering Guild where she hopes to learn more about her father's past and his killer. She is rescued and continuously supported by Ye-yang, one of the four beiles working under the High Commander, and they start catching feelings for one another as the story progresses. 

This is the initial setting for the story, but it quickly became clear to me that Ying didn't actually know what she wanted. In the beginning, she has her eyes set on catching the killer, but she quiet literally runs into him before even reaching the capital, but runs off since she hasn't planned what to do yet. And that is probably one of my biggest problems with the story: Ying doesn't really do much to catch the killer. She doesn't put any of her engineering skills to use to help gather information, she just occasionally ask different people about their relationship with her dad.

World building 

The story has a steam-punk, East Asian tone to it, as we are located in a country united under the High Commander, consisting of several islands, the main character being from the most remote one. In the beginning it is clear that Ying isn't use to the standard of living as the other islands, but she merely comments on it and nothing really seems to bother her besides having to sleep in the same room as smelly teenage boys. I would have expected a bigger culture shock on her end. But that's the thing, we don't really see much of the capital, or any other place outside of the Engineering Guild. I do appreciate that we didn't have to read through a long montage of her travels, but the world felt so small, where it should have been big, new and exciting. The only way to justify the lack of exploration is due to Ying's own personal lack of knowledge of the world, and how she cannot risk exposing herself by leaving the Guild unauthorised (even though that does not hold her back when she has to go confront Ye-yang one final time). I hope the sequel will explore the world further, as the setup is right there, up for grabs, the possibilities endless. 

The use of the steam-punk engineering elements where also not utilised to the extend that I had expected. The chimeras are introduced in the beginning but never discussed further and seems like a huge leap considering what type of engineering Ying sees otherwise. The mechanical bees in the final test also seems extremely delicate considering the big, bulky concepts that Ying and her fellow students come up with. However, I guess they are still students. 

The last world building aspect I want to comment on is the culture. It sounds like the High Commander only took power a little over a decade ago, yet Ying still knows exactly how the High Commander and his subordinates ought to be treated. And yet, she never does. Over and over and over again Ying fails to speak and behave properly in front of other beile and related family, and she is threated with beatings or even death (at least in her mind). But never once does she face any consequence to her actions in relation too the beiles. Even though it might sound brutal, I would have loved to see someone being punished for disrespecting the rules. (Yes, Ying gets one beating for something else, but it doesn't last long and doesn't seem to suffer from lasting pain for more than a couple of pages). To underline the point, I think it would have been smart to show this, but oh well.  

Characters 

Let me start by saying that anyone who said they loved the many characters in this book, are liars. From the people we meet, I only have anything to say about three of them: the remaining characters are empty shells with little to no purpose or personality. They simply exist so Ying isn't the only one attending the Engineering Guild. Anyway, let's start with Ying. She lacks any sense of good investigation skills as well as social awareness. She could have gained so much knowledge, so much more quickly, had she managed to be likable and take advantage of the people around her. She finds the secret garden (and the dragon motif) by chance since is clouded by negative emotions with Ye-yang suddenly gets engaged to Ying's sister. By chance she sees the statue of a dragon, and conveniently Ye-kan (the other important character besides Ying and lover boy), who Ying realises might actually have the answers she is seeking. And bam, out of no where, everything suddenly makes sense. Not because she put in the time and effort to figure out more, but rather due to chance... 

Next, our love interest and the fourth beile, Ye-yang. He is without a doubt a boy in shinning armour, who on several occasions catches Ying as she slips and falls. (One time is nice, three times is just dumb). I find his relationship with Ying hard to understand, especially why he would have any romantic feelings for her. When the plot twist is revelated, and it turns out that Ye-yang knew who the killer was all along (and that their relationship started based on lies), I find it even harder to see his appeal. Ying also pushes him away as she feels used which serves him right, but since no one was in the room to witness what happened when the High Commander was killed, I don't really see why Ying was needed. But maybe there is more to Ye-yang than his instance on that he is indeed... different. Perhaps, but he doesn't have any appeal and I would rather not think about the scene where he almost forces himself upon Ying. Let's just not. 

Lastly we have Ye-kan, the little brother who starts out as a real pain in the ass, but becomes important as the story progresses. Ying never uses him, which is nice, but at the same time I feel like she should have been tempted to do so. She knows two princes, and yet she barely takes advantage of this. She could have asked Ye-kan for so much, but she doesn't seem to be able to think that far ahead into the future. Ye-kan is an interesting character, but still young and inexperience, he has real potential of shinning more in the sequel. 

My thoughts on other people's thoughts

I didn't read as many reviews for this book as usually do, so this section will perhaps be a bit short. Either way, one aspect many people criticise is how Ying doesn't seem to use her knowledge or skills to help her investigation (as I mentioned myself). It seems a bit pointless to have her perform well within the Guild but at the same time she isn't any different from anyone else. She could have applied for a job as the janitor and it would have been the same - except for the final test. Which leads us to any point: are the tests really that difficult? I am no engineer myself, but the written test just seemed very ordinary. How was that challenging? Was any of the tests challenging? I didn't have the feeling that Ying improved much during her studies and her way of thinking was simply showing compassion. All of the tests were supposed to be so difficult and threating but it never felt that way. A written exam? Surely there would have been a more time efficient way to get rid of 50% of a cohort. 

Overall, I have found people cooperating my main areas of critique, from the lack of exploration to flat characters and no real focus and drive from Ying. But I will once again add that so much can be improved in sequel, and hopefully this was just the beginning. 

Overall rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐★★★★★

This book has potential, and it can make up for so much when the sequel is released. The story was interesting, but the execution lacked depth, the characters included. I fell over several sentences I had to re-read as they were convoluted and any good editor would have rejected it on the spot. The romance was mediocre, but I am still surprised by how Ying stood her ground and pushed Ye-yang away. She didn't know who to trust, not even herself, and removing herself from the situation was perhaps the most grown-up thing she did in the book. But I would still like to praise the book for being a lovely read, for at least trying to be different and saying no to sexism, and I will be picking up the sequel because I still have hope that this series can receive its own redemption arc. And let's hope Ye-yang gets one too - but only if he earns it, of course.