Book ReviewAs World War 2 rages on, and Japanese forces force themselves farther into China, students from Minghua University are ordered to march across the country to a remote campus. Hu Lian and a convoy of fellow students and faculty must walk thousands of miles to safety while carrying one of Chin’as greated treasures: a 5,000 year old collection of myths and folklore called the Library of Legends. The travel brings friendship, budding romance, danger, and the realization the country’s immortals are also embarking on their own pilgrimage. This is not a novel I would typically pick out for myself. I am not a historical-anything person, let alone historical fantasy. But when my book bestie suggested we use this for our buddy read, I agreed, and I am so glad I did! Just another reminder to branch outside your normal genres because I finished this in three days, and it only took that long because I had to wait for our half way point discussion before finishing. I was hesitant about all the characters at the beginning of this book. I think it’s because its told in alternating limited third person POV, which was confusing at first. But now that the novel is finished, I want to stay with them, learn more about what happens next. The world building in this book is gorgeous; while it is historically based, the mythical aspects were well portrayed and now all I can do is imagine immortal gods and deities being visible from the skies as the pollution lowers. To be honest, I wanted more for the Library of Legends aspects, wanted more myths than we got. But what readers get is so well done, I can’t really complain (just beg for another book following different characters). The plot contains everything from love triangles, to murder, to deep family secrets as well hope and constructive criticism of classism and capitalism. While I feel like these idea of classism and capitalism fell off in the second half, the visuals and discussions in the first half really struck me (especially since we are going through a time when essential workers are making less than those on unemployment, where big companies are being saved before mom & pop shops, and generally the economy isn’t doing so hot). While I ended up really enjoying the way the story was told, originally the POV used was really confusing and off putting. The characters were hard to connect with at first, and I had to go back and reread a couple sections because I got confused on who was talking. Once you get about 70 pages in, though, you start to realize all the benefits of it and how amazing Chang is at pulling off multiple limited third person POVs. What I loved most about this book was how interested it made me in the history of Chinese students marching across the country during WW2. The author explains in her dedication this story is inspired by her father, who was one of those students. This was a piece of history I never knew existed and now I’m tracking down the references Chang lists at the end of the novel. Books that bring awareness to historical events I knew nothing about always end up getting my heart. The Library of Legends rating is ⭐️4/5 stars. This isn’t a story that will leave me any time soon, with its horrors of war, and hope found in education. Whether you’re someone who enjoys historical fantasy or not, I would definitely pick up a copy! Feminist AnalysisTo be honest, I’m having a hard time analyzing the feminist content of this novel. Namely because of cultural differences. This book is written with the early 1900s in mind, a time that itself can be called unfeminist, but also in set in China, a country whose feminist history I know very little about. It makes me feel inadequate to call any character feminist or not.
I will say that at the half way point, when doing my buddy read discussion, I noted that I didn’t find any of the characters particular feminist in nature. Though I had reason to believe there was a chance for growth (which is what I’m always hoping for!) Without giving out spoilers, the one character I believe had the real potential to be this overly feminist character was the least feminist. It was really disappointing, though “understandable” in context of the story.
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Hello, love! Please, don't mind the cat hair. I'm a lover of all genres (except romance, ironic, I know), and potentially --accidentally-- obsessed with feminist literary theory. Feel free to scroll around, hopefully see a few cats, and find a good new book or two!
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