#zy wu zetian

[pulchrasilva]

Honestly rip to Tang Taizong he has the worst spirit weapons

Like Wu Zetian? She gets a flash bomb, charm eyes a whip, a hammer and a dagger??

Qin Shi Huang has a sword that he can only summon it if someone tells him to, sure, but he also has dope water powers, time slowing, and a pretty cool army he can summon in his tomb

Meanwhile what does Tang Taizong get? A bow that hurts him every time he hits anything! What's even the point of that??

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Chaotic reactions why I really frickin like “Zachary Ying & the Dragon Emperor” so far in the first 10 chapters:

- Humanizes a Chinese ethnic minority. Also disapora issues that I found relatable being a Chinese American. - Chinese history! Including historical figures & mythology that is not taught in the US. - Proudly age-appropriate political criticism of BOTH US and China (and European colonizers). Xiran Jay Zhao- never let yourself get censored! Ever! I personally think everything mentioned is totally fine for middle schoolers to find out about. The younger the age that kids know their country’s dirty history, the better. - I frickin LOVE the banter. And the world building has been very easy to pick up on. - So many video game references i LOVE it. “Ready Player One”, move aside. - It makes a big difference, but I like third person POV narration significantly more than 1st person. - I love me some Percy Jackson, but most of my problems with it… literally squashed within these first 10 chapters of Zachary Ying (see below cut).

Spoilers!

-Surprise age appropriate queer rep! Zack clearly likes boys and he doesn’t know it yet (in the first 10 chapters). And its not a 1 line sentence type thing- oh no its everywhere in the subtext so much that you’d be blind to not realize it. One thing white writers, even queer writers, forget is that a queer BIPOC person is not gonna experience queerness the same way- any stigma against their cultural background & physical appearance is irreplaceable in their experience. -Speaking of which, I am very very very happy that Xiran does not market any possible queerness the same way as Iron Widow. I think this should be one of those series that are casual rep.  - Also even if you’re not Chinese, I feel like queer kids could realize “hang on. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with me and these ‘different’ feelings i had as a kid are not bad.” -Melissa is feminine power?!? No “not like other girls” and can still kick ass. -I like Wu Zetian in Zachary Ying more than in Iron Widow. -Nice way of sneaking in history lessons- between bantery conversations, Mythrealm “cards” (ie Pokemon/Yugioh cards), and dreams/flashbacks/visions. That one card that was like “Americans stole these horses. BRING THEM BACK TO CHINA.” A+ chefs kiss.

Ok now my problems with Percy Jackson that this book does better in the first 10 chapters: - Diversity! But like well-rounded and researched diversity thats also seems to be based on personal experiences, rather than checkbox diversity. It also addresses stereotypes. Some of which I can relate to myself. - Unsupervisored 12year olds running around: They kind of have a brainwashed adult chaperone. Kind of. They still do dangerous magic things that no 12yearolds should be doing, Chinese or western lol. - Mist inconsistency: instead it’s a active spray of soup that erases people’s memories. I like Harry Potter’s version of muggle view blinding best though. I can see this soup becoming a bit of an issue if they ever run out. Who makes the soup anyways?  -Cell phones & tech: Part of the premise is that there’s tech eeeverywhere and I’m always worried about a writer not being able to balance hiding supernatural stuff amidst tons of surveillance. PJO doesn’t make sense bc somehow the kids are able to keep up with pop culture, even the ones that live year round a camp with no technology that we see. Due to the video game premise, ZY is full of it and it balances it well so far. I’m awaiting for a truly chaotic event that goes viral/problematic on the internet tho xD Also THANK YOU for introducing non-US internet!  - Pop culture references: Riordan’s references were reeeally cringey, especially in Trials of Apollo. I like the references here, even though I’m sure they’ll be outdated in 10 years. (Unless ATLA references manage to stick around!) - “Being different.” Ok Zack and Percy have very different personalities. Some people may like Percy’s personality. I kind of like Zack’s approach to “being different” bc he’s more subtle about it- Zack’s internal “I’m different” thoughts are not in your face. It’s more assimilation, although I can predict that by the end of his character arc, he’s gonna accept his differences. (And I like it better than Iron Widow’s “I’M DIFFERENT!!!” thing). - The historical/supernatural beings are not good: The gods in PJO start out being black&white good and bad, and we don’t start seeing the bad sides to the “good” gods until later. Here, we get the “that historical figure possessing you is terrible” right away in the first 10 chapters. - We all know Riordan’s various plotholes- heck he literally admitted to it publicly: There’s only 1 Zachary Ying book so far, but the world building seems consistent and like it makes sense. Xiran’s still a newly published writer tho, and hopefully they don’t accidentally retcon/make plotholes in sequels. - Multiple cultures/pantheons co-existing: MCGA & Trials of Apollo kinda made things muddy. However, Xiran addresses multiple pantheons early on in a way that is culturally sensitive. - The gods & DNA: OH BOY. I’m just bring this up cause none of the mortal human main characters are biologically related so if any romances happen, not gonna run into that weird “Gods dont got DNA” problem lol. I do look forward to see if any slowburn romances happen eventually. - Prose: This is only a personal preference. Original PJO was written in first person so everything sounded like a childish 12-15 year old boy because he is a child. Zack is in 3rd person and that allows the prose to be eloquent, even for a 12yo. It’ll be enjoyable for a teen/young adult/adult to read. I’m not sure a really young kid would be able to read it, but if a really young kid can read Harry Potter, they’ll be more than fine with this.

My favorite use of historical figures in modern day fiction is still Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott. But I still find this enjoy and look forward to finish Zachary Ying and