review: dragon pearl, by yoon ha lee

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
Published by Rick Riordan Presents on January 15, 2019
Pages: 304
Amazon||The Book Depository
Goodreads

Rick Riordan Presents Yoon Ha Lee’s space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who 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 rumored 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.

This sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.

hey everyone, it’s priscilla here with a review (FINALLY)! it’s been so long since i last reviewed a book (or since i posted anything oops, sorry for slacking ahhh). honestly, it’s been a while since i’ve read at all – i think i’m finally falling out of love with YA, my true love since middle school. i feel like we all get to this point eventually… it just doesn’t feel the same anymore; the excitement is gone, and the honeymoon stage has been over for a long, long time. there will be some books i love forever (tatbilb, the winner’s trilogy, etc), but i don’t know if the spark i used to feel will ever come back again. i had hoped that this wasn’t the end, but this reading slump has lasted over a year now, so i think it’s finally time to admit the truth. thank you, YA, for being my first love <3 (hahahah this is getting so cheesy)

i think percy jackson was what got me really into reading, so i guess it’s fitting that i’m ending with rick riordan. dragon pearl is part of a new disney-hyperion imprint called “rick riordan presents”, which is a carefully curated list of new mythology-based books! this will probably be my last book review, at least for a long time, but this doesn’t mean that i’ll stop blogging! one of my goals this year is to create more content this year and explore my passions (aka figuring out what i actually like). this also doesn’t mean i’ll stop reading; i want to get into more nonfiction (and maybe some adult fiction), so please give me recommendations!

anyway, let’s move on to the review!

when i first heard about dragon pearl, it immediately piqued my interest. the main thing that drew me to the book is that it’s inspired by ~korean mythology~!! i’m super into korean culture so i thought it’d be really interesting, and i wasn’t wrong at all! i loved all the korean names and items (except it was strange to me that kimbap was spelled “gimbap”?), and even though this is obviously fantasy, i still got a small taste of korean culture. i’m really loving how asian representation has been increasing in media especially throughout this past year, and this book is no exception! i feel like asian authors/cultures are particularly lacking in the fantasy genre, so that just makes dragon pearl even more awesome. it’s so cool to finally have an asian protagonist to identify with!

speaking of protagonists, i really loved the main character of dragon pearl! min is such a fun character, and although she definitely has her flaws, that’s what makes her so realistic. i honestly really liked the other characters too! one of the characters uses they/them pronouns, which was really interesting since i’ve never seen that in a book! i also really liked the world building; the thousand worlds definitely seems like an interesting place to live, especially with all the supernatural beings. i definitely would love to read more about the world this story is set in!

even though i don’t usually read middle grade, i liked dragon pearl because it was so easy to read! it was super engaging, and the plot kept my attention the whole way through, so i finished the book pretty quickly. i didn’t feel like there were many cliches, which i really liked. the ending was satisfying (THANK YOU FOR NOT ENDING ON A CLIFF HANGER), but i’m still curious to see what will happen next to min and the other characters! – JUST KIDDING, i just found out that it’s a standalone (as of now…), but i’m still hoping for a sequel haha.

overall, i’d definitely recommend dragon pearl if you’re a fan of percy jackson, or if you’re just looking for a fun, exciting read! thank you all for reading this review, and i hope to be back with another post soon! <3

-priscilla

[rating-report]