Cliste Bella: Blog Tour | Stronger Than A Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan

Stronger than a Bronze Dragon

Expected publication: June 11th 2019 by Page Street Kids

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3.5)

When a powerful viceroy arrives with a fleet of mechanical dragons and stops an attack on Anlei’s village, the villagers see him as a godsend. They agree to give him their sacred, enchanted River Pearl in exchange for permanent protection—if he’ll marry one of the village girls to solidify the alliance. Anlei is appalled when the viceroy selects her as a bride, but with the fate of her people at stake, she sees no choice but to consent. Anlei’s noble plans are sent into a tailspin, however, when a young thief steals the River Pearl for himself.

Knowing the viceroy won’t protect her village without the jewel, she takes matters into her own hands. But once she catches the thief, she discovers he needs the pearl just as much as she does. The two embark on an epic quest across the land and into the Courts of Hell, taking Anlei on a journey that reveals more is at stake than she could have ever imagined.

With incredibly vivid world building and fast-paced storytelling, Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon is great for readers who are looking for something fresh in epic fantasy. [n.01]

Meet the Author

Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now, she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil.

Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.

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REVIEW

Disclaimer: I received a Negalley e-ARC of this book from Rafael and Page Street Kids for the blog tour back in March (Please check out the buy links above). The review might contain spoilers, but since the book already came out 2 days ago it is up to you, my readers if you want to continue reading below.

This year I wanted to support Asian Authors as part of my self love/self care project. Supporting Asian authors means I support home grown talent of my country men as well as other Asians. It also means I support myself (and other book bloggers) as a minority in the international book blogging community.

I was really excited to read this book and I have read tons of great books in March. Stronger than a Bronze Dragon has the elements of Steampunk and Magic and what better way to have an adventure than to put those 2 in Qing Dynasty China. Add in a girl warrior and you have the best ingredients for a great read.

The book cover. Ok, so let just say that I love that cover. It looks so classy and it does show the cogs of steampunk plus a dragon that is one of the automatons used in the book. A hardbound copy of this book would look awesome in a bookshelf.

The Characters. I read about the story of Anlei, a 17 year old girl who helps guard her village against the Ligui - shadow monsters who took the life of her father. Anlei and her sister can perform acrobatic acts, passed on to them by their mother but that is where their similarities end. Anlei took after her father and has become a defender while her sister can work magic and bring small machines to life. Anlei's life changes forever when the Viceroy of their province picked her to be his bride in exchange for protection against the Ligui.

I have to be honest in saying that I do admire Anlei's spunk and stubborn spirit but she did not grow on me and I wasn't emotionally invested in her development. There were a lot of times where she was very whiny and it grated on me. Her sister acted more mature. It's almost the same with Tai, the thief who was on a mission to save his people and ended up being the Viceroy's son. It felt like he was a young child stuck in a man's body (from what I gather he's around 19 or 20 years old).

My favorite character would be Ibsituu. She's worldly and very wise. I loved how she said she followed her dreams and traveled. That's on of the things I'd want to do eventually

The word building. It's a relief when you read a book and the word building is at the level where it will transport me to the magical world of the story and this book certainly did that. Even if this is a fairly short read, the story does feel epic and the pacing was just about right. If I wasn't Asian, I might not completely appreciate the Chinese phrases (or curses?) spoken by Anlei and some of the other characters.

***

I hope no one get's mad at me for giving the book a 3.5 star rating. It did entertain me with the fantastical automatons and the magical race of the Yueshens (I wish their background story was told in more detail). I wish there was more to the character development of Anlei and Tai or a little bit more story about the River Pearl. It's still a good read especially if you like steampunk and Chinese history.