For those of you looking for a (almost fully) clean ya general market book, this is a great one. It got a bit heavy on history at times but it was still well worth my time. ( )

Oh my dear reading friends. Mulan has always held a special place in my heart. Fierce capable warrior who defies tradition to protect her family and country? Sign me up.

And as a fan of Mulan, its been a bountiful (if mixed) decade of books, live action news (both the Chinese Mulan and the forthcoming Disney movie) and discourse over the original Disney animated film.

None of which I can speak to as anything but a fan of the Ballad and film since it doesn't effect me racially or culturally.

This book was one that I wanted from the moment I saw the author post that she was doing it. I enjoy Sherry Thomas' historical romances and knew deep in my reader's soul that she was an awesome choice.

Here is Hua Mulan, 19 and having spent her entire life being told she must uphold the family name and honor against an opponent she would not meet until the day of their duel.

Here is Yuan Kai, not much older than Hua Mulan and spent his entire life being told he must avenge their family and bring honor back to their name in a duel to the death with an opponent he would not see until the duel

While the book is from Mulan's POV, Thomas gives us an understanding of Yuan Kai through Mulan's observations as they fight to aid the empire. Indeed Mulan spends much of the book making observations that make sense in hindsight more often than not.

The first half of this book, is at times more poetic and thoughtful than strategic and eventful. Its only with the unveiling of a spy that the action kicks into gear and even then there is a lot of contemplation about some weighty ideas.

One such recurring question plagues Mulan throughout the rest of the book - if there are two sides to every conflict, why is one venerated above the other? She learned her father's version of the duel that paralyzed him left out A LOT of details. Details that from the one side, Yuan Kai's family's side, made her father out to be dishonorable, murderous and underhanded. How could she trust her father that she MUST fight Yuan Kai to the death?

She spends the latter half of the book struggling to piece together who Hua Mulan was outside of her father's expectations of her, society's expectations of a female, Yuan Kai's family's view of her and her own confused sense of self.

Thomas did a lot of research for this book (some of which she discusses at the end of the book and some I've seen her discuss online) and as someone more familiar with latter dynasties than this early one, I feel I need to do some more reading. The political landscape of the era is treated as a matter of course, debated by many of the characters and considered in almost every decision. Some of it is barely touched on (Mulan mentions briefly the problems of the South) and some there's a lot of detail thrown in. It all boils down to a tale as old as time - someone wants more power, someone wants more glory and someone wants what is right for the country despite the instability at the moment.

All in all, rec it 100% and gosh I want more like it. ( )

I loved the final few chapters of this book!!! The rest of the book is solid but the end becomes a meditation on forgiveness and self-acceptance. The characters are all really well drawn and there is such a strong sense of place. Love the choice of first-person narration (it's what I prefer writing) and enjoyed our heroine's journey so much! So happy to have read it. ( )

I think I may have hit a few wrong buttons in my frustration with this book. I read it last night and was determined to do so in one sitting, but kept getting up to do stuff. I had to remind myself to finish this. My reactions were huge letdowns to myself--I had looked so forward to reading this, expecting the pages to just fly by, that I had set it specially aside and planned a whole day to dedicate to it. I had even checked out other works by Sherry Thomas to get myself really looking forward to this one. She has the same name as a romance author, i think, so my reading choices were broader than I anticipated due to a library catalogue entry. I didn't like the romances either, and was disappointed in myself. The book is as promised--a Mulan retelling. A medium-paced military drama with a romance firmly planted inside, and examinations of what happens when an army overtakes another nation throughout. I'm not sure if colonialism is the correct term here. I really liked those parts of the book, though, that examined changes to society, last names, and languages. My reaction is absolutely a me thing, not a reflection on the author or her work at all. I hope this will be made into a movie; I think the actions and descriptions would lend themselves quite well to a screen. I found it such an interesting character choice to have the prince suffer anxiety, and I related to his anxiety a lot. I thought the part about the wolf cub was stupid and thought a lion cub would be more likely to climb, whereas a wolf cub would jump. A lion cub would be more likely to scratch enough for forehead scars, whereas a wolf cub would be more likely to bite and leave distinctive scars. And--if my only nitpick is "you picked the wrong wild animal for your romantic interest's mysterious scars," then that's good. I wasn't wild about the casual homophobia in here leading to "oh, but the character is totes gay and hiding it" leading to matchmaking that made me curse for a bit and roll my eyes, but it was there. And the feeling was mutual, and I was really annoyed. I liked the acknowledgments and the afterward about language and research methods. I'm glad I got to read this even if my reaction wasn't what I expected. ( )

Putting this down for now. I have no desire to keep reading this at the moment