Sword

September 22, 2008
Chen (Wandering Warrior
) again mixes martial arts, Chinese lore and light romance with great success in another Forbidden Tales novel. His cunning heroine, Miu Miu, steps forward on her 15th birthday, determined to kill the emperor who murdered her father. Secretly trained in martial arts, Miu Miu repeatedly and narrowly evades misfortune and death. Her many near-misses keep readers hooked, while Chen, in a languid poetic voice, masterfully weaves in Miu Miu's thoughts about traditional Chinese ways (“She knew for certain that she did not want to be a human hen chore was merely to lay eggs and daily face the bullying of roosters”). After Miu Miu unknowingly challenges her betrothed to a kung fu duel—nearly killing him—the two pledge their love and team up to slay the evil emperor. Here Chen's story gets less grounded in reality, involving magical swords and other fantastic elements. In an unexpected twist, the tale ends with a satisfying look at family honor and the triumph of love. Atmospheric and exciting. Ages 10–up.

November 1, 2008
Gr 6 Up-In a short introduction, Chen describes an ex-convict who was both an outcast and a sage in the village in China where he grew up. It was from this man that the author first heard the story he tells here. That prologue is immediate and vivid, placing readers in the world where Chen was a child. Unfortunately, the style changes in the novel, and the story of Miu Miu, who must avenge her father's death at the hands of the emperor, is never as personal or vibrant as those initial pages. The 15-year-old martial artist leaves home, disguised as a boy, with the intent of killing the emperor. On the way she meets Tong Ting, another martial artist to whom she was promised in marriage as a baby, and they work together to face the emperor. When they are unable to overcome him, the destiny written for them is death, but Miu Miu believes that her father would want her to live. There is likely to be a cultural disconnect for American readers, as the novel features the traditions of warriors drinking each other's blood as a pledge and widows hanging themselves as honorable deaths. If the character development were deep and genuine, these cultural gaps would fill easily, but the people in this story never become more than folktale figures. For its folkloric quality, the novel is certainly worth reading, but students looking for tales of kung fu and magic might be better off with Lawrence Yep's "Tiger's Apprentice" series (HarperCollins)."Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2008
Chen retells a story he first heard from a political dissident, who also served as a sort of librarian to his village, during the Cultural Revolution. Miu Miu, a 15-year-old girl, inherits a pledge to avenge her fathers death. Her father, a master sword maker, had crafted a legendary sword for the emperor and was killed for his trouble, to ensure he would never again make its peer. While the plot to kill the emperor and a budding romance form the first half of the tale, the second half deals with Miu Mius return to her village to sort out what is truly worth dying for. Chen is especially adept at capturing in prose the physics-defying, graceful acrobatics and martial arts found in kung fu movies, but he isno less at home detailing the vivid imagery that seemslifted from an ancient poem, evocatively bringing to life a bygone era. Exciting, exotic, and thoughtful, this book will appeal to fans of high-class martial arts films in the vein of Ang Lees Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)