Dragon Pearl (Rick Riordan Presents) Kindle Edition

1.5 StarsI expected a lot from this book. Sadly I only got halfway through before I stopped. I really disliked the main character, Min. She lied and tricked and cheated her way into EVERYTHING. She completely abused her powers. She was did some other things that were disgusting too (SPOILER: she literally used her power to make herself look like a random guy who died to save her. then she stole his identity and led his friends to believe he was alive, when he was actually dead. so all his friends thought she was him. END SPOILER). Min was also unrealistic. She had only been allowed to use her powers a few times at home, and suddenly she can be using it almost constantly without getting tired? And lastly, she was just pretty dumb. A lot of decisions she made frustrated me so much. Like, turning into a table (in I think chapter one) in front of an authority dude who is AGAINST FOXES? I was wowed by her lack of discernment and compassion. Was she seriously willing to get her whole family into huge trouble just so she could... eavesdrop? Overall, Min was such a repulsive main character that I couldn't have kept reading. The plot wasn't very interesting anyway.

It was decent. Good, in fact. It just didn't really leave me really wanting more. I mean, I want to know what happens next, but not that urgent. The author is great with details, but maybe a little too much? Do we really have to know that Min DROPPED her chop 'o sticks, PICK the up, and bonk her head? Wouldn't it be easier to say 'I took some time to get my utensils' or something? Do we really need to know at all? Can we skip the conversation in the first place? The conversation was interesting enough, but I don't think we need THAT much information. For like, 75% of the book, Min is posing as a dead soldier still thought alive, for NO reason!! 'You sacrificed your life for me! I help you!' and the ghost of the dead soldier is like 'Ok! If you fail…I HAUGHT YOU FOREVER. MUAHAHA!' Ehm. Ok…(…(……)……)……(………(…………)…(………)…)… -_-I understand that Min was on the battle cruiser the Pale Lightining for a long time, but do we actually have to hear her talk about scrubbing toilets so precisely for like 10% of the book? I little bit easier on the side stuff and more on the juicy steak you know! I don't know why the ghosts didn't savagely attack Min, Hanuel, and the goblin (I can't remember her name! It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't remember!). Maybe because of Jun is with them? Maybe the ghosts sense something different? Maybe there is an aura that's different about Min than others? Will there be answers? Why am I so confused? I don't…know?(??(??(??)????)?)??(????)I loved the author's craft, however. It's a perfect blend of sci-fi, Korean mythology, and a young child's struggle against the world of the unknown. I would reccomend it, but it's sometimes reeeeeeeeeeeeeally slow, while such at times, it goes veeery quickly. It all comes together and it's all a happy ending. Meow!Peace out, and wear your seatbelt!-SeatbeltBoi123Yeet

DRAGON PEARL by Yoon Ha Lee is one of the new books on the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, but I’m here to tell you that even if you haven’t read or liked a single Rick Riordan book, you need to get your hands on this one when it releases.Now, the Rick Riordan name is strong and definitely conjures up some associations. I say this with all love, as I generally fill out his name under ‘favorite author’ when forced to choose. But, back to those associations. Generally, you’ll think of kids who are demigods that get prophecies of doom and go on quests to save the world, showering you in fun mythology of varying backgrounds all along the way. For some people, this isn’t interesting. I get it, we all have our genres. DRAGON PEARL is NOT this.The blurb I remember seeing for DRAGON PEARL was “space opera meets Korean mythology.” This encapsulates the book pretty perfectly. DRAGON PEARL is not the contemporary world meets ancient mythology - DRAGON PEARL is an entire Thousand Worlds crafted lovingly out of Korean mythological themes. The mythology is never othered in this compelling story. Rather, it is the foundation and lifeblood for the world and characters. I am not Korean and have no prior knowledge of Korean mythology (other than some commonalities that it has to other East Asian ideas, of course). Despite this, I found myself immersed seamlessly in this world.Thirteen-year-old Min comes from a long line of fox spirits, but her family avoids showing their identity to be supernatural because of prejudices against foxes. She has always lived at home on her impoverished, world of Jinju, but when word comes that her brother Jun is accused of deserting the Space Forces to search for the Dragon Pearl, Min sets off to find her brother and clear his name. Through the twists and turns of this adventure, she will find herself as well.The story is exciting from the start, and even the slower information-gathering sections of the book are still tense with the pressure of dangerous secrets. The ending was unexpected and sets up nicely for what I hope will be a series of stories, but even if this is the end, I’m very happy.Something DRAGON PEARL does well that I appreciate is that it sets up gender variance as an accepted fact of life. Characters wear pronoun pins that tell our protagonist how to refer to them, and that’s all we need. The ideas of prejudice and racism are also touched on in the tension between supernaturals (such as foxes, dragons, tigers, ghosts, and goblins) and humans. Ultimately, Min shows that ALL should be accepted and respected.

My granddaughter who lives 500 miles away, is a big book reader like me. During this pandemic we facetime frequently and look at books that I can order and send to her. I picked this one out for her while looking for another book in a series she was reading. I talked to her just last night and she was so excited! The book arrived last week as she was finishing another. She decided to start this one Monday and said, "Grandma! I couldn't put it down!! It was such a good book!! Look how much I read just in one night!!" The bookmark was halfway through the book. She began to tell me the whole story so far and I was amazed at how she was grasping concepts and drama! She's totally enthralled. I love her passion and excitement and hope this author continues to write excellent books that she can enjoy at such a young age.

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.

Arrived on time my daughter likes it.

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!

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."

this book is a grate blend of si fi migic and all arond grateness it definitely deserves its plase in ric reoden presentsi strongly recomend this book to all over the age of 10 or 9i hope that the auther will write a second book so we can all enjoy this series more from a fan