A really great first book! I really loved how much it emphasized talking about Chinese history and culture. It was really neat! Although this was heavily influenced by "Yu-Gi-Oh!", I felt like I learned a lot more about the culture at the heart of the story than I did there. I also adore the cover art by Xiao Tong Kong, as ever. It's so gorgeous!

While the inspiration for this is kind of obvious even outside the acknowledgements, despite the fact that I never got into "Yu-Gi-Oh!", despite multiple attempts, I honestly really enjoyed it, possibly in part because it is very similar to "Percy Jackson & the Olympians", and I love that story universe. The characters were wonderful, the magic system is cool, and the story universe is really compelling. I love Zack and am looking forward to learning more about him in book 2. ( )

Xiran Jay Zhao’s Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor follows twelve-year-old Zachary, whose mother fled China after his father was arrested and executed for speaking out about Hui oppression. Growing up in the United States, he never learned much about Chinese history and felt pressured to assimilate. Unfortunately, he soon discovers how much he doesn’t know when confronted by spirits possessing people in his life in order to attack him. He learns that he is descended from Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, whose spirit needs Zack to work with other spirit emperors – Tang Taezong and Wu Zetian – who posses their own descendants – Simon and Melissa – in order to reseal a spirit plug that Emperor Qin placed in his tomb to lock away the spirit world. Otherwise, spirits will run amok in the mortal realm and one will devour Zach’s mother’s soul. Unlike Simon and Melissa, however, Zack is not fully bonded with Emperor Qin. Knowledge of the emperor’s legends helps to forge a connection though Zach’s ignorance about Chinese culture makes a full bond impossible. Instead, Emperor Qin communicates with Zack through his XY Technologies Portal-lens, an augmented-reality gaming headset created by Jason Xuan, a wealthy techno-industrialist who is aware of the sprits aids the Yellow Emperor, the enemy of the three protagonists’ imperial guides, but his high-profile means he cannot openly challenge them even as they use his technology. Now Zack, Simon, and Melissa travel to China to collect the magical items they will need in order to reseal the emperor’s tomb.

Drawing upon Yu-Gi-Oh!, Zhao describes a fictional augmented reality game called Mythrealm in which characters form teams, collect powers and creatures from the various world mythologies, and compete against each other in tournaments. XY Technologies’ Portal-lens is thus similar to the Duel Disk in Yu-Gi-Oh!, though resembling more recent technologies like Pokémon GO. Zhao uses the trope of legends conveying power to mystical beings, similar to what Neil Gaiman did in American Gods, Bill Willingham’s Fables, and David Duchovny’s Miss Subways. Unlike some of those stories in which gods and legendary people can actively shape their own myths, Zhao inverts the trope such that those from the spirit realm are powerless to control how their legends are reinterpreted or altered over time. Unfortunately for them, they must abide by the constraints of popular consciousness. Zhao’s best and funniest example of this is Emperor Qin being subject to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (p. 168). Zhao also works to distinguish the differences between the spirit and mortal planes when the emperors clarify that the Chinese people are not the Chinese government just as popular legends differ from official narratives; after all, legends may even have several alternate and contradictory versions themselves (p. 44). Zhao crafts characters with all the complexities of their first novel, Iron Widow, with each having their own agendas and most being “horrible in different ways” (p. 318). A great middle-grade adventure with a lot of depth and history! ( )

This book was a deep dive into identity and the meaning of being ‘good’, all wrapped up in a middle grade adventure story.
The plot is a bit standard. The main character gets an angry spirit stuck in his gaming headset and is sent on a magic adventure on the other side of the world.
I did like how the powers of these spirits are related to their legends. If a story or video game attributing them a certain power gets popular, they’ll actually get said power. What they truly were in their lifetimes is irrelevant.

I know like 3 things about video games and superpowers and -3 things about Chinese history, so that made the book highly confusing sometimes. There are a lot of characters, powers and magical objects which lead to a lot of exposition. It was rather annoying but, necessary to understand what is going on. And in a way, the exposition itself is a criticism of how Western audiences don’t have basic knowledge of China.

It’s clear that the author put all their thoughts and experiences into this.
The first chapter alone is a spot-on, painful and honest depiction of how elementary/middle schoolers look at the one or two Asian kids. Not intentionally hurtful, not bullying, but stinging everywhere nonetheless.
Because it’s everywhere in the book too.
Zack deals with the impossible split between the country he doesn’t know and the American world that resents him for looking like he does. He is careful with his mom, because they love each other and he wants to be a good son. He feels inept for not speaking Mandarin but would be made fun at school if he did speak it. He is curious about China, but negative feelings linger because his father was killed by the government.
Why does he know all the Western conquerors but not the one great Chinese one? Which is also a question for the audience, because I didn’t.

And it’s not only a criticism of the US, historical China was not that accepting either and the angry spirit guiding him on his adventure might actually be a supervillain. Zack struggles to find himself among all these different identities, and the book has no real resolution to this.

Xiran Jay Zhao is not here to mess around, they ate and left no crumbs. I can’t wait to read what they write next. ( )

Twelve-year-old Zack is recruited into helping the spirit hosts of ancient Chinese emperors in a dangerous mission.

Zack has always struggled with a sense of belonging. He is the only Asian kid in his mostly White town in Maine, and, as a Hui Muslim, he is also a minority among other Chinese and Muslims. His dissident father was executed by the Chinese government, and he faces Islamophobia in the U.S. Zack has made friends through playing Mythrealm, an augmented reality game that uses a wearable portal-lens that spawns mythical creatures from folktales and legends from around the world. When a real demon threatens Zack and his mom is attacked, ending up in a coma, he discovers a connection to the spirit of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, that gives him magical powers. Together with the spirit hosts of two other former emperors, Zack travels to China in an attempt to save his mother’s life and prevent an otherworldly disaster. This science-fiction/fantasy mashup incorporates Chinese history and mythology into relentless action. Thrilling battles and chase and heist scenes are balanced with a droll sense of humor and quieter moments that explore Zack’s complex relationship with his cultural identity, including criticism of Chinese government policies that oppress Muslims.

Levels up legendary Chinese heroes and folklore into a thrilling adventure with video game appeal. (Fantasy. 9-13)

-Kirkus Review

In this epic and wild adventure, 12-year-old Chinese-American Zachary Ying gets possessed by the spirit of the First Emperor of China and is tasked with stopping an invasion of ancient Chinese spirits in order to save his mom and the world. In a world where Chinese spirits derive their power from the people's beliefs in them, his disconnection from his own culture ironically protects him from being fully possessed. He befriends other kids like himself, and the story seamlessly blends Chinese history and politics with video gaming and virtual reality and swash-buckling, multinational, and realm-transversing adventure. ( )