Author: Martin Chu Shui
ASIN: B00452VBAW
Synopsis
When East and West combine…
Half-Chinese, half-Australian, Liz is not interested in her father’s ancient Tao wisdom, or his cryptic tales. She is more concerned with environmental issues—particularly the plan to mine one of Australia’s great landmarks, Wave Rock. Her father’s latest gift, a Chinese calligraphy pen, seems set to take its place in her bottom drawer forever.
Then Wave Rock is blasted open by something more than a mining operation, and Liz finds that she must battle monsters from ancient times as well as creatures from other worlds, all intent on destroying Earth. She must call on all her powers, from both her Eastern heritage and her Western upbringing, to save her world. Her pen becomes her way into a new and magical world, and Liz discovers she has powers—and allies—that she never could have guessed.
My Review
I was contacted by the author and given a copy to read in exchange for an honest review.
I have a thing about dragon's, I love them, so the title alone was enough to pull me in, the beginning of the story really pulled me in and I loved the idea of a magic calligraphy pen that could bring drawings to life, I was instantly like, wow, this sounds great. Then we skip forward and meet Liz and Henry - twins living in Australia but with Chinese heritage. Strange things are happening around Australia, birds flocking together in mass numbers, mice running in hoards down the street, and many other strange occurrences. Henry and Liz are learning Tai Chi, and trying to stay connected to their Chinese heritage, their father is full of old stories and folk tales that he tells them. I actually really enjoyed the stories and found them a good insight into Chinese history. There were a lot of fight scenes in the book and they were well choreographed, lots of tricks and spins etc, but for me there were a few too many fights throughout, it took up a lot of the book.
Liz was a good character and embraced all challenges that were thrown at her, but I did find her disregard for her dad slightly annoying, I can understand how the constant stories can become annoying, like visiting a grandparent who doesn't remember they've told you something and proceed to tell it over and over, but even when she asked for his help she switched off, then wondered why she struggled to remember the facts.
I liked Henry as a character, he had a good head on him and thought things through, he was always willing to help his sister and had some good action.
Their friend Sue was a massive wimp in the start, screaming at everything, but you get to see her grow as a character throughout the book and I actually came to like her.
I enjoyed the book and the plot was exciting and fast moving, but I do wish the idea of the pen had been used a bit more throughout, I felt like it wasn't used as much as it could have been.
Overall a good fast paced read that opens up a new world of Chinese stories and fighting. Well researched and a easy read ( i read it in one sitting!)
My Rating
I would give this book 7.5/10, well researched and written, fast paced and exciting, but could be expanded more. Worth a read. :D
1 comment:
Sounds really good, great review! I have to pick this one up, the main characters hertiage sounds really intresting.
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