e-arc provided by Netgalley (physical arc won in Goodreads giveaway)

I really liked this (i loved Iron Widow more) but this was great, and I loved the queer rep (feels like there isn't as much of that in middle grade) overall really fun read

Advertised by the author as Yugioh meets Percy Jackson, this middle grade book delivers that and more. Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor is a middle grade book following the title character’s adventure through China while essentially being an avatar of sorts for a legendary Chinese emperor.

Xiran ups the ante of your typical children’s book by creating well dimensioned characters, a plot that keeps you scurrying to read the next chapter and an ending that had me saying: “I need another book ASAP.”

I really enjoyed how Xiran incorporated Chinese artifacts, lore, along with a discussion about colonialism and oppression. I now want to brush up on my Chinese History.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC.

For me, this was a fun read. It went a different direction than I was expecting when it was marketed by the author as “Percy Jackson meets Yu-Gi-Oh”; I was expecting the powers, but I kind of expected a lot more focus on gameplay being part of the plot. Especially when we get introduced to Mythrealm, the video game Zach plays with guys at school, I thought Mythrealm would play a much bigger role than it did. But it still worked.

In part, I like that this book makes the information accessible and doesn’t unintentionally exclude readers who are unaware. It also provides a lot of opportunities to explore the moral of believing in your own power and being yourself rather than who you think the world wants you to be. And it’s told at a level that fits the middle grade approach Zhao is going for. And in many places, it was funny without being forced. It was the right type of middle school humor that worked for me.

There were two things that bothered me, and these iare purely cause of my own reading experiences that they stood out. The first is having characters in this book with the same names as characters in Iron Widow - Wu Zetian and Li Shimin - really threw me off and had me making connections to the wrong things. It took a bit for me to mentally disconnect the two, but once I did, I was able to keep them distinct. The second is I felt the contrast between the Iron Widow writing style and the Zachary Ying writing style, and I think I preferred her YA style to her middle grade style. This seemed a lot sillier more often than it needs to be in places that felt weird to me. Neither of these took away from the story which, at times, was a little slower paced than I wanted it to be, but nothing slogged to the point of being unbearable.

Overall, though, a solid read and certainly recommended for fans of Riordan!

The first half of this book was 3 stars for me, but it got really interesting as it went on. I picked this up because I loved Iron Widow so much, and the things I loved about Iron Widow are true about this one. It's a bit unpredictable. The good guys and bad guys are not clear from the beginning. It keeps you guessing. The main character was good and flawed and made lots of mistakes. And he ends up having a lot of grit by the end. I didn't realize that this would be the beginning of a series, but the story is not finished.

I love Yu-Gi-Oh, I’ve watched all the shows and still play the card game to this day, so when I saw Chinese Percy Jackson meet Yu-Gi-Oh! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Middle-grade age is when I got really obsessed with reading and plowed through just about anything I could get my hands on, until I ran out of things that were interesting or difficult enough. I was reading above my level but had no interest in teenage vampires or the cheating spouses over in adult fiction, but the books aimed at my age were all starting to seem childish after reading a couple hundred of them. Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor is exactly what 12 year old me would have wanted, because it is more advanced middle grade while still being clearly middle grade. I’d class this as action-adventure historical fiction with an emphasis on history, which I think is awesome since history courses in the United States scarcely touch on Chinese history. I have disliked some historical middle grade stories for just reading like textbooks but I believe the author’s intensive knowledge of Chinese history and experience growing up in China makes it just a fun historic adventure without feeling like a class. The characters are realistic and in their relationships with each other and their actions as 12 year olds. The battle scenes leap off the page with their excitement and seamless flows; I will be honest, I sometimes just skim fight scenes when they aren’t very interesting or don’t contribute much, the fights in Zachary Ying are a full immersion experience and actively contribute to the plot and move it right along. The plot left me guessing constantly, with many delightfully unpredictable twists and turns. I can’t wait for the next installment, even though it may be a little while considering how this isn’t even out yet. I think every age of reader would enjoy this book because I am raving and I don’t hardly read middle grade anymore

Thank you to the publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books for providing an ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

Well, Xiran Jay Zhao has proven to be much more successful in middle grade than YA for me. It’s always interesting to compare an author’s works when they pivot between genre or age demographic. And while I respected the project of her YA debut, something about the pacing and characters fell flat - like a story that had a lot to say that couldn’t find the right words to illustrate it. Her upcoming middle grade release, Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor does the exact opposite in its delivery. It’s a middle grade fantasy by all rights, but blends this almost perfectly with its exploration of Chinese-American culture through one boy’s journey back to the country of his ancestors to save his mother’s spirit.

Zachary Ying is a little bit fantasy, a little bit sci-fi and provides a familiar trio of protagonists (the classic two boys, one girl triad) that characterizes this type of fiction in middle grade. The dynamic of his friend group is hilariously complicated by the centuries-old spirits of Chinese royalty that occasionally possess his friends and try to kill him. It’s macabre but never too dark, even while the book tackles even more disheartening topics like the mistreatment of minority groups within China. Zhao was able to balance these two very different tones remarkably well, even if she does tend towards infodumping with her actual explanations of the spirit-based magic system. She doesn’t shy away from other topics that simply wouldn’t have been published in middle grade fiction even a few decades ago. Zachary himself is gay, which is never played as a reveal but just a part of him he recognizes - as much as he recognizes the world will not always accept him for it.

The more middle grade I read as an adult, the more I realize it may be the most important demographic in publishing out there. It’s targeting a group cognizant enough to recognize the significance of topics like race and representation in literature, without being bogged down by the expectations of the present day state of YA fiction. That being, it's full of books that are in theory written for teens but more often than not read like new adult romance novels instead. Middle grade speculative fiction is unabashedly pure fantastical whimsy at a first glance. But the best kind also carries a steady throughline that roots the story to our reality with real-world issues. And Zhao’s Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor is the best kind.

I think this book captures all the fast-paced hijinks the target demographic of middle-grade readers will most enjoy from the genre, while also exploring thematic material just as many adults will connect with. Be it the magic system or the message, Zachary Ying understands the assignment. And I’m so glad to see a new series that I think could easily find a place among the middle-grade greats like Percy Jackson.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc! This book really lives up to the hype! Percy Jackson vibes but with a dash of wuxia and Indiana Jones-level tomb breaking. Can't wait to see what happens in the next book, because the cliffhanger KILLED ME. I read this book before Iron Widow, but I'm definitely getting that one off my shelf next because I can't get enough of Xiran Jay Zhao's writing.

Question: What's a historical fact you wish people knew?

I don't read a ton of books in this targeted age range, even when I was that age. BUT when I saw Xiran Jay Zhao announced this book in full Seto Kaiba regalia I was in. Because I'm going to laugh, I'm going to enjoy the torrent of shade they throw, and I'm going to learn some history.

"Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor" follows a kid who is a descendant of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Well, his AR headset is. Oh and since he doesn't know anything about his Chinese heritage (world history is such a poorly taught class) the magic he needs to stop the ghost apocalypse of China isn't available. So we get treated to his journey of being exposed to artifacts and myths while the hosts of Wu Zetian and Tang Taizong help him cultivate power to seal the spirits away. But these were not great people so Yay morality shenanigans.

Reasons to read:
-Learn some history!
-Xiran does not pull punches when pointing out the wrongs being done in the past and present
-The MC is flabbergasted as the rest of us when they find out about the ludicrous things that there are historical records of
-Big anime battles with historical figures
-Dammit they did it again to me

Cons:
-Really was expecting a giant multi headed dragon to show up

Xiran Jay Zhao’s sophomore novel, Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor was certainly an interesting experience.

Coming into this novel from Iron Widow, Zhao’s debut, I was intrigued to see where they would go next. I can surely say, I wasn’t expecting what I read. The story involves a boy named Zack Ying, who discovers that he’s descended from Chinese royalty, the dead aren’t necessarily dead forever and he might just be the key to saving the world. Plus, ancient dark forces are on the rise and they’ve taken Zack’s mother. Embarking on a life changing adventure, for Zack, nothing will ever be the same.

From an interesting magic system to the “epic” battles, there’s a lot that happens in this book. With that said, I’m not certain that I enjoyed it all that much [edit: I didn’t]. I quoted and italicized epic because there was this feeling that the battles were supposed to feel [or maybe I’m just imposing from my time with Iron Widow] but honestly, they felt merely fine or maybe even a tad bit underwhelming at times. I truly hate to say this, because I absolutely loved Iron Widow, so I surely assumed that I would love this as well. Something I did thoroughly enjoy was all of the historical and mythical knowledge of China that was spread throughout the story.

Xiran Jay Zhao’s Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor earns a rating of 3/5. Although I didn’t enjoy this as much as I would’ve like to, I look forward to reading more from them.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Xiran Jay Zhao for the arc.

Twelve-year-old Zachary Ying wants a few things in life. He wants to stop being made fun of by his own friends, he wants his mom to have a good job, and he just wants to play videogames. Unfortunately, his family has more struggles than most. After his father was killed by the Chinese government, his mother had to flee to the United States. Zack is Chinese-American, but he certainly knows more about the American portion of himself than the Chinese. So when an ancient Chinese emperor possesses his gaming headset, he has no idea what he’s getting himself into. After vengeful spirits take his mother’s soul hostage, Zack has to pair up with two other kids who are hosting emperor spirits. They only have a few days to seal a portal, otherwise the world will be flooded by spirits and fall to chaos. And Zack’s mom will be gone for good.

I received an advanced reading copy of Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor in exchange for an honest review.

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor is a middle grade fantasy novel by Xiran Jay Zhao. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because they also wrote Iron Widow, which I read and absolutely loved. Of course I had to see how they wrote middle grade!

The action in this book starts from the very first chapter. Zack and his companions barely have any room to breathe as the plot pushes them forward, and they’re forced into battle after battle. I really appreciated how Zhao combined the new with the old in each of these, giving the reader important facts about Chinese history, and at the same time revealing it through the AR gaming headset that the First Emperor of China has possessed. It wasn’t just entertaining, but spoke to how a people’s history can still be reflected in their present. Or maybe I’m just making all that up, but I did love the combination!

But we don’t just get 100% factual history here. Zhao introduces myths and legends as well, bringing together a system that provides incredible value to stories and narratives, even more valuable when it’s told in a book format too! I loved learning about these stories, both the real and the imaginary, and seeing how Zack reacted to learning more about his culture at the same time the reader was learning about it. It allows for a pretty immediate connection to form between the reader and the main character, and I rooted for Zack the whole way through.

Zack definitely needs it. Zhao does not make it easy for him at all throughout the book. Every time I thought he might finally succeed at something, there was a curveball thrown in. The book was full of so many twists I never knew what was coming next, but I knew I was excited to find out what was coming around the corner! Speaking of, that ending! Obviously I won’t tell you what happens at the end, but I need a sequel already, please! I couldn’t find any information about it, so if you know anything about the second book, please leave it in my comments below?

The book was exciting and fast-paced, full of stories and magic, and perfect for any reader who enjoys seeing myths and legends come to life. I would recommend this to middle grade readers everywhere, or just anyone who enjoys a good fantasy adventure!

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor will be released on May 10. You can pre-order your copy from Margaret K. McElderberry Books here.

I don't tend to read a lot of middle grade, but this book was so so fun!

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor follows Zachary Ying as he discovers that he is the chosen host for the First Emperor of China's spirit. The initial spirit-binding goes awry, and the First Emperor ends up bound to Zack's AR headset instead. Zack is then flung headfirst into a magical world he didn't know existed to save China and the world.

I think this novel does a great job of dealing with and explaining important topics and themes in a way that a middle grade reader can digest and understand. Zack has always struggled with connecting to his Chinese heritage, and this becomes even more evident as he has to travel to China and understand a lot of Chinese legend and myth in order to save the country and the world. It also shows that nothing in life is inherently good or evil, and that it's okay to have complicated feelings about that.

This book was incredibly funny and I found myself literally laughing out loud at some parts! Xiran Jay Zhao excels at writing funny dialogue and that extends to this book. I also loved how each emperor/empress that chose a mortal host had their own type of magic and that it was based off of their legend and how strong their story has survived throughout time. The only thing that was slightly repetitive to me was when the characters taught Zack different Chinese legends and history he needed to know - it was a lot of "character A tells Zack a story". Overall I am looking forward to the next book in the series (especially after the ending!!).

Thank you so much, Netgalley, Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing and Margaret K. McElderry Books for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review!

After reading the plot and having loved Iron Widow, could I have possibly not read this book?

It was absolutely fantastic! A mix between magic, technology, myths, history with young people trying to save the world and, in the meantime, learning more about one's heritage and themselves.
Zachary is a great main character, relatable in his doubts, fears, finding himself involved in a fight between spirits, legends, dead emperors, demons, magical artifacts and determined to save his mother before he loses her forever.

The chapter titles and a bit of the story reminded me of Percy Jackson, but, aside from that, the story is original, fresh and funny, filled with action, plot twists, secrets, myths and it was such an emotional rollercoaster and I loved everything.

The writing style, the characterization, the mix between past and present, Xiran Jay Zhao did an outstanding job in this book and it's great!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an advanced review copy of this book!

Zachary Ying loves to play Mythrealm on his AR gaming headset—until it gets possessed by the spirit of an ancient Chinese tyrant emperor. To save the soul of his mother, Zachary and Qin Shi Huang, along with two other emperor-possessed kids, have to travel to China and stop ghosts from flooding the mortal realm.

This book was described as a Chinese Percy Jackson meets Yu-Gi-Oh, which I definitely see! Fans of ancient mythology, China, and video games-meet-real life stories will love this.

I found this book spends a lot more time explaining the cultural context than, say, Percy Jackson, for example. Maybe it is because I am not as familiar with Chinese myth as I am with other cultures, but it felt like these was a lot of background information, which might put-off some readers.

For the characters, I loved Zach and his relationship with Qin Shin Huang! Seeing them interact was the highlight of the book in my opinion. I also liked the other two emperors, too. They really stole the show with their big personalities and constant bickering.

This book is set up for a sequel, which I am looking forward to read. I am looking forward to spending more time with the characters and learning more both about the myths and legends as well as the human characters.

I loved this story so much. It had me hooked from the first chapter. Zach was such a relatable kid trying to fit in and I adored him. Simon and Melissa were also great characters. Also as someone who knows nothing about Chinese history, hearing the different legends was quite interesting. I am upset with things that happened in the end, so I am extremely ready for the next book.

Clearly written for the love of kids--a rare thing in kidlit, sadly. The writing is gorgeous, the characters are fascinating, and Zhao is as ever a master at their plot. I'm so glad this book exists, and I can't wait for more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Margaret K. McElderberry Books for allowing me early access to this eARC in exchange for a review.

I really had a lot of fun with this book! I read Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao last year and loved it so much. They became an auto-buy author super quick for me so when I heard that they were writing a middle-grade book that had “Percy Jackson” in the blurb I knew I had to read it. I’ve been pretty obsessed with Asian fantasy recently and as a PJO kid at heart this book definitely filled a void I didn’t know I had.

This book also was fairly education in terms of learning and seeing these Chinese myths and history fused throughout the story. I’m so glad this book exists and I’m so happy we are getting more cultural representation in middle grade outside of euro-centric fantasy and mythology. It hit pretty social issues that I think is imperative for kids to have an understanding of at that formative age range.

The book was a bit slow to get started but after I hit the 40% mark it just flew by. I loved how we really didn’t know which side was the “good side” for the longest time and we were questioning everyone and understood Zach’s distrust for pretty much everyone. (I will say I’m hoping for more dragons in the sequel 👀). It’s been a while since I picked up a middle grade book but I’m glad I did.

xiran jay zhao is ttruly one of the best new fantasy authors, since iron widow ive been a fan. even though i dont usually read middle grade, i enjoyed this book!

(4/5) I'm a firm believer that a Middle Grades book, when written well, can be relevant and enjoyable for all ages and even raise important questions and themes for further discussion. Xiran Jay Zhao's book did exactly that. I read their first novel, Iron Widow, at the beginning of the year and subsequently added Zhao to my "immediate add to TBR" list.

This book is billed as a cross between Percy Jackson and Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I can definitely see Zhao's inspiration from those two but also anime and clearly from Chinese culture and legends. I loved the action in this book and felt like it was well paced, with enough explanation and background given to connect the dots but not so much as to make it drag. I appreciated the diverse representation in the book, with a Chinese Muslim main character grappling with cultural identity in light of feeling like no matter where he is (whether his all-white classroom in Maine or being one of many Chinese minorities).

I always love books that incorporate legends and breathe new life into the old stories, and this one was no different. I think the concept Zhao used in this book was really cool where specific powers of emperors and legends rely on the social awareness of their stories and their strength in the cultural consciousness is what drives their strength as spirits. I definitely see the anime inspiration in the theme throughout the book of the complex histories of cultural legends -- there isn't a hero and villain in the traditional sense (very Naruto vibes), but each character has their own back stories and motivations and you, the consumer, have to wrestle with that complexity.

The cliffhanger at the end has me anxiously awaiting Zhao's next installment in this series!

I kind of had a hard time getting into the book, but I'm also not the targeted audience and I usually don't read much middle grade books. That being said, the story was great and the journey it takes us through will please many people. I would obviously recommend this book to any chinese-american kids looking for representation, because it is really good in that regard, and to anyone interested in chinese history. You can tell while reading that the author knows their stuffs !

It's a good book, even if I didn't enjoy it as much as I though I would!

I found Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor a touching and complex tale, although perhaps a bit much so for the intended audience. This review is going to waver back and forth because some of the things I loved were double-edged blades, prone to over-use and repetition in the plot. But overall, I think it merits a solid 4 from me, and is a book we need on shelves right now!

Zachary Ying is a reluctant
hero dealing with diasporic Chinese identity struggles, compounded by the fact he's of non-Han ethnicity, Muslim, gay, and only twelve. He's just trying to fit in at his American school, dumping lunches from his mom in the trash and dodging racist microaggressions. And then a haunted gaming headset sends him on a globe-hopping adventure with a couple other kids also possessed by long-dead emperors.

I was really into the magic system of the world - part Yugioh, part Daoist cultivation systems we've seen in Xianxia Cdramas, part airbender etc. The specific powers of the emperors hinged on...social awareness of their stories? It reminds me of urban legend or cryptid fantasies I've read, where belief = power. Neat.

There's a ton of action, loaded with lackeys and enemies from the emperors' history. At the same time, many unfamiliar historical figures showing up as bosses or helpful allies ran a risk of becoming Too Much, and it did at times, with some passages so dense I had to move on or get bogged down.

This ties into my main issue with the book - I can see the average reader overwhelmed by history and name dumps and political commentary. I mean, I was, even as a 30-something earnest reader with an idea of some of the cultural stuff. And then there's the Yugioh video game component - I watched a few episodes and had a deck like 18 years ago, so felt pretty lost during the game-inspired parts. This was really just way denser than any middle grade I've ever read; while reading I found myself thinking so hard to keep track of characters, powers and settings that I couldn't really summarize where we were in the plot the whole time. You just get pulled along.

As numerous as the name drops were, it was still a delight to see names familiar from Xiran's Iron Widow series, and the Detective Dee of popular movie fame. The emperors' bickering amongst themselves and their pop culture references were wildly entertaining, and some of the absurd metaphors went a long way in encapsulating moments of Chinese history. Much like the author's youtube, there's a lot to learn here, and it's presented in a largely fun way.