Dragon Pearl

I loved this book! It is a lovely MG book focused on mythology and set in space. How wonderful does that sound?The characters were wonderful and Min as a heroine was delightful, especially given her awesome supernatural shapeshifting powers. She s feisty and string willed and just perfect for an adventure centred in space. I really enjoyed following her around as she uncovered secrets, traversed space and made new and very cool friends. I mean, I want the magical spork that can conjure food when I want!The plot itself was handled beautifully and was paced very well, the ending was fast paced and full of drama and the main body of the plot had enough challenges along the way to make it interesting, especially because I read this as part of a book club and we always somehow managed to stop at a dramatic point. I adored the mythological elements, especially as this mythology wasn't something that I had known abut before and I love learning new things!The writing too is simply superb, it was humorous and clever and just made the story sing! Yoon Ha Lee is an incredible author and I hope that he makes this into a series because I would simply love to read more about Min and her brother Jun.

The mix of Korean folklore and Sci-Fi was perfection. I am so excited for more of the folklore in the next book when we follow a different mythological character. This book was super fast paced and I was hooked from the start. However, I struggled to gel with the main character, Min, and I had to keep reminding myself that she is 13 whenever she made a dumb decision. I can't fault the book for that though as 13 year old will not make that decisions that I (a 23 year old) would.

RESENHA @BLOGTRIVIA"Ler a história da Min me trouxe aquela sensação nostálgica, aquele sentimento que só "Percy Jackson e os Olimpianos" me deu no passado. Passei por todos os capítulos querendo saber como ela ia escapar, como seus amigos iam se sentir se descobrirem quem ela era, se ia encontrar o irmão e a Dragon Pearl. O livro é extremamente fluido, nunca fica parado em uma missão ou tarefa, não me deixou cansada apesar das 320 páginas em um idioma não nativo.Confesso que eu leria muito mais do mundo que Yoon Ha Lee nos apresentou, e fiquei contente ao pesquisar e descobrir que terá mais um livro nesse universo extraordinário. Acredito que ainda tem muito suco nessa laranja. É um livro ótimo para todas as idades, principalmente para crianças que podem saber um pouco sobre as lendas coreanas, se divertir pelo espaço e pelas descrições de uma galáxia desconhecida, além de compreender e respeitar a identidade de gênero de cada um (que é de longe um tópico principal abordado, apenas existe assim como no nosso mundo, é introduzido da maneira natural da forma como deveria ser tratado).Se eu pudesse dar nota para esse livro seria 10/10, simplesmente por me transportar para uma época única da minha vida, a história não deixa a desejar (apesar de não se aprofundar na mitologia), cria um mundo vasto e instigante. Eu não sabia que necessitava ler algo leve até mergulhar de cabeça e sair chorando em algumas partes de puro amor fraterno (e olha que não tenho irmão), mas com coração quentinho e ansiosa por mais."

Yoon Ha Lees Ninefox - Gambit gehörte für mich zu den absolut besten SF-Romanen der letzten Jahre (zusammen mit Broken Earth). Da wollte ich auch einmal dieses Buch ausprobieren, auch wenn es "nur" ein Young-Adult-Roman ist. Aber na gut, dass sind Harry Potter und die Panem-Bücher auch und die habe ich auch gelesen.Entsprechend hat Dragon Pearl natürlich nicht die Tiefe eines Ninefox Gambits, sondern ist ein klassischer Abenteuer(jugend)roman: Die 13ährige Min läuft von zu Hause weg, um ihren Bruder zu finden. Dabei stürzt sie von einem Abenteuer ins nächste - und das ziemlich wortwörtlich. Das Ziel zwar irgendwie im Blick, verbringt die Protagonistin den größten Teil des Buches damit, sich aus unliebsamen Situationen zu befreien. Das ist nicht tiefgreifend, aber das muss es auch nicht immer sein: Das Buch hat unheimliches Tempo und ist fast durchgehend spannend.Originell ist das Setting: Zwar nominell ein SF-Roman, gibt es hier auch Magie und Geister und sowas, also eher Science Fantasy. Das ist schon ungewöhnlich, aber vor allem handelt es sich um koreanische Science Fantasy, das heißt das Pantheon richtet sich einmal nicht nach der westlichen Mythologie und das ist erfrischend. Auch die Familienstrukturen, Essen usw. sind klar diesem Kulturkreis entlehnt. Und das ist dadurch auf jeden Fall lesenswert mMn - wer "Disney" und "Rick Riordan" - Logos auf dem Cover ignorieren kann, findet hier eine schöne Ablenkung vom Alltag für zwischendurch!

Purchased for my 9 y/o with the hope to encourage her to read more. It has been difficult to find chapter books that appeal to her as she prefers graphic novels. She loves this book and hasn't been able to put it down. I wish there were more books in the series as she would likely read them all.