Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

Title: Of Jade and Dragons

Author: Amber Chen

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Fall of the Dragons # 1

Hardcover, 480 pages 

Publication: June 18, 2024 by Viking Books for Young Readers

Source: I received a review copy in exchange for a honest review.
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Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart. Left with only a journal of her father’s engineering secrets and a jade pendant snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father’s hidden past—determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately chose a quiet life over fame and fortune.

Disguised as her brother, Ying manages to infiltrate the guild’s male-only apprenticeship trial with the help of an unlikely ally—Aogiya Ye-yang, the taciturn eighth prince of the High Command. With her father’s renown placing a target firmly on her back, Ying must stay one step ahead of her fellow competitors, the jealous guild masters, and the killer still hunting for her father’s journal. Complicating everything is her increasingly tangled relationship with the prince, who may have mysterious plans of his own.

The secrets concealed within the guild can be as deadly as the weapons they build—and with her life and the future of her homeland at stake, Ying doesn’t know who to trust. Can she avenge her father even if it means going against everything he stood for, or will she be next in the mastermind’s line of fire?

MY THOUGHTS

Of Jade and Dragons was promoted as a Mulan retelling with a dash of Dystopian Steampunk. However, the only similarity to Mulan was when our heroine, Ying disguises herself as her older brother to be admitted to the Engineering Guild Trials; one to fulfill her father's legacy and secondly to find his murderer.

The world building was a little hard to understand. Of course, there's a hierarchy within the Kingdoms as well as the Engineering Guild. But there were too many characters with similar names, that left me confused most of the time.

Readers were told that only heirs of the aristocratic were allowed admittance into the prestigious guild. But thanks to happenstance Ying crosses path with a young prince who was able to nominate anyone and bypass registrations, earning her a one-way ticket into the trials. Now Ying's job is to find out why the assassin wanted Ying father's journal, stay alive, and pass the trials. 

Sadly, I didn't find myself connecting with Ying or the love interest, Prince Yang. Ying was supposed to be a prodigy, daughter of the most famous engineer the guild has ever seen, and yet she caused problems wherever she went. Also, the Mulan similarity and the aspect I loved the most was the hidden identiy and disguise trope but unfortunately, that fell to the way side and must've been pretty terrible to be discovered early on in barely chapter 4. 

Ying's relationship with the prince felt very two-dimensional and unbelievable. The two barely knew each other and perhaps spent less than a handful of times together. It was such a short amount of time that it was impossible that they felt as they did. At least, in my opinion. There was no chemistry, no spark, nada. The only saving grace were Ying's friends. One of the most memorable scenes and the best, actually, was during the second trial of hearts. Ying abandoned logic and risked everything to save her friends' lives. 

I thought the overall writing was just okay but most importantly it was easy to read. Nothing fancy or complicated. The pacing of the book was quite slow, which made getting into the book hard. It wasn't until I was 60% into the book that I felt more invested in the story. But the action and payoff didn't truly come until we were near the end, the last three chapters of the book. To be honest, if this wasn't a review book that I asked to read, I probably would've DNF it earlier on. 

In the end, Of Jade and Dragons didn't live up to my expectations or synopsis. I feel like within the last couple of years, there's been a ton of Asian-inspired Fantasy and Of Jade and Dragons just doesn't stand out in all that. The market has become so saturated and I'm here still trying to find that one book that stands out from all the rest. The one that has the spark. With that said, would I recommend Of Jade and Dragons? Sadly, no. And I will not be continuing with this series.