Mythology meets technology in this amusing and action-packed middle-grade novel. Twelve-year-old Zachary (“Zack”) Ying is Chinese-American, but doesn’t really know much about his Chinese heritage. After his father was killed by the Chinese government for speaking up in support of Uighhur Muslims, his mom fled with Zack to the U.S., where he’s now growing up in Maine as the only Asian kid in his small school. He’s targeted with microaggressions about the “weird” food his mom packs for his lunch—but also knows that his Chinese Muslim family is not always welcomed by other Chinese people. Zack finds escape in Mythrealm, an augmented reality (AR) game that (like Pokémon GO), projects images of mythical creatures for players to capture and battle.
When a new Chinese student shows up at school, Zack is cautiously friendly, since they’re both Mythrealm players—but then his life is turned upside down when the spirit of China’s First Emperor tries to possess Zack’s body. The possession doesn’t go quite as the emperor planned, however, and the ancient leader ends up binding to Zack’s AR headset. Then demons take his mother’s soul and leave her in a coma, for reasons Zack doesn’t yet understand, and Zack is forced to flee to China. He reluctantly teams up with two other 12-year-olds (one boy and one girl) who also have other ancient emperors coming and going in their psyches, and learns about their mission to plug a leaking portal to the underworld and save China from disaster. Zack must start to control his newfound powers by learning all he can about Chinese myths and legends, decide who to trust (three different emperors with tyrannical tendencies can lead to some … interpersonal conflicts), and save both his mother and the world from disaster.
Author Xiran Jay Zhao (who also wrote the bestselling young adult book Iron Widow (Bookshop; Amazon)) creates a richly imagined world with action aplenty from heists, battles, chase scenes, and showdowns. In more reflective moments, Zack ponders his intersecting identities and his place among them, and begins to figure out what his values are and how he wants to live them. There are also hints that he is gay—he says at one point that he doesn’t like girls, and seems to have a crush on one of the other characters, although this is not a focus. We learn a lot about Chinese mythology and a little about its history, all within a novel that realizes how much fun this mashup all is. (Chapter titles include “How to Get Superpowers by Reading Wikipedia” and “How to Scam the Ancient Chinese Justice League.”) It ends with a clear hook for a sequel, which is a delightful thing to look forward to.
