ARC Review: Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

Buckle up folks because Xiran Jay Zhao is back with another book, their middle grade debut, and they’re back with a bang! If Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor wasn’t on your radar before, make sure it’s there now. If you like books in the vein of Percy Jackson, this is one for you.

And don’t forget, you can follow Xiran on twitter.

Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers.

And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

Xiran Jay Zhao

Goodreads

Rep: Hui Chinese American Muslim gay mc
Release: 10th May 2022

Five Reasons to Read This Book

One. This is a book where it’s entirely incidental that the main character is gay. This sounds not that big a thing, I’ll grant, but I think, while books like this are growing more rapidly in young adult and adult lit, in middle grade they’re still less prevalent. So, to read this book, where a gay kid gets to go on the same adventures we’ve seen so many straight kids go on over the years, feels a little bit revolutionary.

Two. I’m biased here, but one of my favourite tropes in science fiction is when you have two consciousnesses sharing a body and this book sort of falls into that. Falls into it enough, at least. It’s just a very fun trope, especially when you add in a fair bit of bickering, reluctant allyship, and follow it up with an “oh shit we actually do like each other” right at the end.

Three. Zachary Ying. He gets a whole point of his very own. I don’t know how best to explain this really, so bear with. Basically what I want to say is that a) he’s fully realised and feels like the kind of kid you might meet in real life, and b) he doesn’t always do or think or want the “right” thing. Sometimes he is a little selfish, sometimes he puts his feelings first, but in a way that’s wholly understandable! You’re always rooting for him regardless, and I loved this about him.

Four. For a book that’s described as Yu-Gi-Oh! crossed with Percy Jackson, you want the book first and foremost to be fun. And this is a book that fulfils that remit to perfection. It’s so much fun, but it also knows when to slow down a bit and get emotional. Really it has the perfect balance between the two states!

Five. The final point here has to be about the ending. You know when you’re reading a book, happily chugging along through it, and then you’re hit with a plot twist or three out of nowhere? Well. WELL. I’m not gonna say another word, but this book has the kind of ending that makes you desperate for sequels immediately.

So, have we convinced you that you want to read this book?