The Tiger's Apprentice, Laurence Yep (365 Books, Day 40)

First novel of a children's fantasy series by Laurence Yep that isn't either of the other two children's fantasy series by Laurence Yep of which I've read the first novel.

This would be because the second novel of the City of Fire books doesn't exist yet and I am having trouble finding the sequel to Dragon of the Lost Sea (the library has, of course, the first and fourth ones, as is ever the way of the world).

In this one, there is San Francisco's Chinatown (magical version), and a shapeshifting tiger, and a phoenix's egg, and Monkey again, and a great deal of pretty cool mythological this-and-that with which I am not familiar. It's a short, fast-paced book that works very well as travelogue, but which I would have liked to see at a somewhat greater length, as some of the emotional beats feel overly compressed and consequently spelled out more than they ought to be so that they go by more quickly. Yep's naturalistic fiction is pretty emotionally subtle, so this surprised me. Possibly the reason I still like City of Fire best of the fantasy I've read of his is that he got an extra hundred-and-fifty pages due to the way YA publishing works now. This could have used an extra hundred-and-fifty pages and then it would have been really awesome, as opposed to fun.

But it is fun. There's not a thing in it but plot, but the plot allows for, as I mentioned, several myths I have not remotely heard of and a lot of shapeshifting fighting and general badassery. It would make an extremely good animated series-- it has that art style, if you know what I mean. And it has a sly sense of humor. The sort of book where I might at some point take an afternoon and just sit down and read all the sequels, and it will be enjoyable, if not spectacular.

The Tiger's Apprentice, Laurence Yep (365 Books, Day 40)

First novel of a children's fantasy series by Laurence Yep that isn't either of the other two children's fantasy series by Laurence Yep of which I've read the first novel.

This would be because the second novel of the City of Fire books doesn't exist yet and I am having trouble finding the sequel to Dragon of the Lost Sea (the library has, of course, the first and fourth ones, as is ever the way of the world).

In this one, there is San Francisco's Chinatown (magical version), and a shapeshifting tiger, and a phoenix's egg, and Monkey again, and a great deal of pretty cool mythological this-and-that with which I am not familiar. It's a short, fast-paced book that works very well as travelogue, but which I would have liked to see at a somewhat greater length, as some of the emotional beats feel overly compressed and consequently spelled out more than they ought to be so that they go by more quickly. Yep's naturalistic fiction is pretty emotionally subtle, so this surprised me. Possibly the reason I still like City of Fire best of the fantasy I've read of his is that he got an extra hundred-and-fifty pages due to the way YA publishing works now. This could have used an extra hundred-and-fifty pages and then it would have been really awesome, as opposed to fun.

But it is fun. There's not a thing in it but plot, but the plot allows for, as I mentioned, several myths I have not remotely heard of and a lot of shapeshifting fighting and general badassery. It would make an extremely good animated series-- it has that art style, if you know what I mean. And it has a sly sense of humor. The sort of book where I might at some point take an afternoon and just sit down and read all the sequels, and it will be enjoyable, if not spectacular.

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