Welcome back, ya'll! Mary Fan's Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon was published on Monday and you totally have to check it out. Especially if you're loving the recent surge of ownvoices YA & MG fantasy, with fantastic world building and writing.
IMHO: Stronger than a bronze dragon
Anlei is eager to defend her village, revel in the fighting, and avenger her father. But then she's traded away with a seemingly useless relic in exchange for protection from a iron-fisted man who only sees her as a pretty performer.
Anlei is dyslexic, reactive, quick to anger, and defensive. Which, I completely love. Some enjoy fighting, and it's not necessarily a bad or weird thing. Anger and conflict is human and needs to be expressed and owned, rather than suppressed or turned passive-aggressive. Give me the fellow blunt girls who don't get what the problem is and find the politics of social interaction annoying.
- Little sister inventor
- Street performing family
- Love the push-pull between family and home, and dreams of exploring
- Love Anlei's enthusiastic traveling experiences
- Back to back fighting!
- LI: Enemies to allies to friends
- Flying dragon ships!
- LI uses humor and flippancy as a defense mechanism.
- Which makes for great banter
- So glad to see the girl be the serious broody one!
- Their Yoda is a black woman monk.
- Journey to Hell, which was interesting and not what I expected. And I had no idea what was coming next.
- The! Reveals! Keep! Coming!
- Love the Warrioress mythology and the main character being a sidekick on a hero's journey
- Such an adorable and positive ending.
The only dragons are mechanical and while integral to the story, we don't get to be involved with them a lot. BUT there's plenty of day to day average teampunkiness, which is the best kind I think.
My first recommendation is for fans of Mulan and Legend by Marie Lu. But I really need to update my comp titles, so also: perfect for fans of For the Muse of Fire and The Dragon Pearl.
favorite Quotes:
But though he'd let a village die for his pride, for the sake of my home, I swallow mine.
Self-control is a gift for tomorrow. Be kind to your future self.
"Truce?"
"I accept your surrender."
"If we weren't already heading to Hell, I'd toss you in myself."
The dead are to be honored, but the living are to be cherished. Father's words, spoken years ago, echo through my mind. Many choices come down to love or hate. Chose love, every time.
About the Author:
Giveaway:
Prize: Win a copy of STRONGER THAN A BRONZE DRAGON by Mary Fan (US Only)
Stars: 11th June 2019
Ends: 25th June 2019
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This review was originally posted on The Layaway Dragon