This was such an interesting concept and Davies did a wonderful job of taking such an interesting period in time and adding her own twist to it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which I received in return for an honest review.

Excellent book! Highly recommend this book to genre fans and those looking to expand their reading circle. Purchasing for library!

Daughter of the Yellow Dragon Review

“Everything about her was fearless. The set of her jaw, the way she held her chin high and proud. The crescent mark Manduul left on her face - which she had covered with powders earlier in the day - Mandukhai now wore like a badge of honor for all men present to see. Every time Unebold though he understood her, she surprised him again, revealing a new side to her complexity.”

Daughter of the Yellow Dragon by Star Z. Davies, tells the story of Mandukhai a young woman who is arranged in marriage as second wife to Manduul the descendant of Genghis Khan and the current Great Khan who rules over the lands. She has always seen herself as a fierce warrior, but her roll as second wife to a man who is a leader but appears to be gluttonness and lazy makes it hard for her to fulfill her dreams. She also becomes hopelessly drawn to his second in command Unebold, and as the two begin a doomed affair that puts both their lives in danger, their lives are further complicated by the arrival of another prince of Khan who seems to have Manduul’s favor above all others.

This book was so easy to sink into. The author has done a fantastic job with these characters and this world she has built, and readers will be haunted by this story long after they have finished reading it. The book did end somewhat abruptly though in a strange cliffhanger, so be aware of that. I definitely intend to continue reading the series and I give this installment 4.5 stars.

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Promising plot, mediocre execution.

Mongolia, in the second half of the 15th century, descendants of Genghis Khan fight each other for the leading role of Great Khan, to keep the empire together. Interesting time period, exotic venue, political games - everything is there for an exciting historical fiction. Yet, it took me ages to get through this book, and I keep wondering why.

Both the story and the characters have great potential but none of them are worked out properly. The storytelling is slow paced and often repetitive, events are mostly predictable.

I thank NetGalley and Pangea Books for this Advance Reading Copy.

*Trigger Warnings*
Sexual Slavery, Abuse, Rape, Miscarriage, Murder

Genghis Khan united a nation and created a vast empire for his heirs. But after 200 years of civil war, his empire has fallen into the dark ages.

Mandukhai dreams of being a fierce warrior woman, but her dreams are shattered when she is forced to become the second wife to the Great Khan. Unebolod spent his life in the Great Khan's shadow, preparing for a day when he can seize control of the empire. But when he forms a dangerous alliance with Mandukhai, it swiftly transforms into a passion that could destroy them both.

An amazing epic Mongolian tale steeped in history, I absolutely adored this book. The characters are fascinating and the intriguing politics and different alliances are so well thought out and portrayed. The writing is excellent and the integration of real historical fact beautifully done. I love Mandukhai, she is caring whilst being powerful even when she should not have power she establishes herself. She is the perfect embodiment of a female warrior her feminine side does not undermine her power at any time and I can't wait to see how her characters progress in the series. The other characters unfortunately were not as interesting as Mandukhai, however I am interested in how they will progress over the series, especially Yeke as she starts to make new alliances.

Over all I cant wait to read the next book in the series and see where the story will go!

An amazing look into a forgotten chapter of Mongol history! Mandukhai has won my heart and I can’t wait to read more about her and see how she becomes the warrior queen of the Mongol nation. Please hurry with the next book, I want more.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a really interesting premise, being a fantastical account of actual Mongolian history, but suffered from multiple issues with the writing, including "telling" instead of "showing" and info dumps. Probably could've used another few rounds of editing.

"Daughter of the Yellow Dragon" has interesting characters and a good plot, but it doesn't really manage to become a good story overall.

There is a lot of telling the reader how great, smart, strong the characters are without really proving it through their actions. The plot has a lot of potential but none of the conflicts and characters are really developed well enough to carry the story.

The final five to ten percent of the novel actually managed to drag the book down for me, just because they didn't really fit in with the rest of the novel.

I'm not actually sure whether I want to continue with this series.

This is a promising debut Mongolian historical fiction/fantasy. For all lovers of Outlander and Game of Thrones.

In this first book, we learn about the nation of Genghis Khan and the 200 years of civil war that lead to the dark ages of his empire. We follow Mandukhai who dreams of becoming a warrior, but her dreams are shattered when she is forced to become the second wife to the Great Khan. Mandukhai will try to form alliances to take control of the empire, but it might be dangerous...

I loved the maps and the tree of the royal lineage at the beginning of the book.
The description of nature is really well-written. We can see that the author knows a lot about the time period and depicts it very well. It is a very nice change of scenery from other fantasy books.
This book is the first one of the series so the world building is quite important but well done. The characters a loveable and don't lack personality.

Daughter of the Yellow Dragon plunges the reader into political games and passionate alliances.