Universities in China performed mass evacuations of entire campuses in 1937 to escape Japanese bombing raids. These students were forced to walk 1,000 miles across China to reach safety while protecting a library of books. They each carried a volume to spread out the weight and were responsible for keeping it safe. This is a fascinating tale of strength, endurance, and love all mixed up with ancient folklore. It’s a great read for anyone who likes historical fiction.

The hardships the characters faced were evident throughout the book and described so well. They snippets that focused on the gods and mythical characters were so enchanting, especially when the mortals in the story got glimpses of them. The descriptions were so vivid I could easily picture how they were being seen.

Great book about a historical event i wasn't even aware of. Beautiful and captivating from beginning to end.

3.5 out of 5 🌟Magical realism meets historical fiction

'Library of Legends' tells a real but little known story of the Chinese-Japanse war. In 1937, a group of students traveled across China flying the Japanese army while also carrying ancient tomes of the Library of Legends. The volumes, describing Chinese mythology, was a national treasury and needed to be hidden away inland China. As a part of magical realism, during that danger quest, they have unbeknown encountered mythical beings who followed the students along their journey.

'Library of Legends' is full of history mixed up with magical experiences. And Janie Chang did a great job including testimonies of the survivors alongside enhanced Chinese mythology and bringing them together on historical background. That's the best side of this title but even if I love books with a historical setting depicting factual events, I had a hard time reading this one. I enjoy Lian, one of the main characters of the book, and her story but she was the only enjoyable person in the book. Shao, her peer, was quite superficial and even if that was a part of his role, his character didn't convince me. Neither I like any of the side characters in the story. They were undeveloped and their backstories were either flat or non-existent.

Also, the writing itself was quite off. I cannot stay focus on the book and kept spacing out. Normally, I love stories about journeys as I feel traveling myself along with the characters but here that wasn't a case. The journey lacks time consistency and it's too strongly character-driven for me to enjoy the story.

<i>Thank you Netgalley and the publisher William Morrow Paperbacks for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own.</i>

I loved this book! So fascinating to learn about how the universities in China picked up and moved during WWII to protect not only their students but their libraries. This story is well told, through the eyes of three characters: Lian, a young student with secrets to keep; Shao, an older student Lian has a crush on; and Professor Kang, who leads the expedition to carry the precious Library of Legends to safety. There is also Sparrow, a servant to Shao, who is much more than she appears.

As with Chang’s other books, this one brings in a touch of the supernatural. Spirits roam the earth, their stories outlined in The Library of Legends. I enjoyed how the author weaved in a side plot of the movement of spirits as the war heightens and sweeps through China.

I’ve read Chang’s other books, Dragon Springs Road and Three Souls, and enjoyed them too. This one, however, is my favorite. Although the author leaves a couple of loose plot points open, which is why I marked it down a star, I give it a hearty recommendation. A very enjoyable read.

I was provided an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
China, 1937: When Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, nineteen-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian and a convoy of more than a hundred students, faculty, and staff must walk a thousand miles to the safety of China’s western provinces, a journey marred by hunger, cold, and the constant threat of aerial attack. And it is not just the student refugees who are at risk: Lian and her classmates have been entrusted with a priceless treasure, a 500-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.

The Library of Legends focuses mostly on three characters: Lian, whose family has a secret that could jeopardize her and her mother; Shao, the youngest son of a very wealthy family, who is looking for a purpose in his life; and Sparrow, the servant who has been with Shao’s family for most of his life. And without whom he would be lost.

The relationships between the three characters and their stories are complex and richly told within the backdrop of China’s war with Japan and it’s own internal war between the Nationalist and Communist groups as Communism begins to take hold. . I found the story’s setting very interesting as I have little knowledge about China’s history. I struggled a little at first with the pronunciation of names and places but it did not detract from the story. What I liked best about this book was the interweaving of the human condition during challenging times, with the culture and history of China. This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys historical fiction and being steeped in a country’s culture and history.

First and foremost, how gorgeous is this cover?

Secondly, I requested this NetGalley read solely based on the fact that it takes place in China. There’s nothing quite like taking the occasional jump into historical fiction and basking in a tale rich with culture.

Set in China, 1937 during the Sino-Japanese war, students of Minghua University are evacuating to the West.
On their trek to safety, they are instructed to carry and protect the highly treasured, Library of Legends; volumes of China’s ancient myths and folklore.

Delicately interwoven between these pages is an exquisite and magical tale of love and legend.

Thank you #NetGgalley for the eARC read in exchange for an honest review.
#thelibraryoflegends publish date: 5.12.20

The Library of Legends: Janie Chang

4 Stars.

I LOVE reading historical fiction about times and places that I know nothing of. The Library of Legends begins in 1937; the official start of the second Sino-Japanese War in which China ordered the evacuation of all middle schools and Universities. This is the story of one University and the students who will travel a thousand miles to China's interior, and each student carries one volume of a library collection, the Library of Legends.

A rare moment in history that many of us are unaware about, is beautifully portrayed, along with all the magical realism that weaves this tale through and through. I loved this book. I loved the history and I loved that magic. Thank you so much for taking me on this beautiful journey while our own world is struggling. Its moments like these where I am forever grateful to the authors, publishers, and everyone in between that make it possible to escape in books like The Library of Legends.

Janie Chang’s “The Library of Legends” is like if Neil Gaiman’s “Stardust” and “American Gods” were steeped in Chinese mythology and folklore, rather than Western or Norse ones, and then mixed with a bit of largely forgotten Chinese wartime history.

In Chang’s richly immersive book, China’s spirits, gods and guardians quietly coincide with humans on earth, answering people’s prayers. Their brilliant, hopeful and sometimes tragic stories were inscribed and collected as part of the Jingtai Encyclopedia in 147 volumes known as the “Library of Legends.”

A group of 123 nomadic university students, professors and staff, including literature students Hu Lian and Liu Shaoming (the family surname comes first in Chinese), are tasked with studying, protecting, transporting and preserving these tomes of ancient Chinese history as they flee Japanese invasion, airstrikes and bombs in 1937, Nanking, to continue their studies in the much less coastal city of Chengtu. This historical fantasy was partly inspired by Chang’s father and uncle’s own journey across China as “refugees in their own country, walking more than a thousand miles to safety with their university” during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Chang’s book contains the horrors of war — like infant daughters abandoned by their parents or children who grew up too soon — but it also contains hope and magic, preserved in the stories in “The Library of Legends. ”

Lian’s tasked with studying the “Tales of Celestial Deities,” which contains the legend of Willow Star and the Prince. As the story goes, a star of a maidservant who fell in love with a human prince agrees to a Faustian bargain to reunite with each of the prince’s reincarnations on earth. The only catch: The prince can never remember anything from his past lives and she can never tell him. Still, each lifetime is another chance to defy the impossible odds. If the prince can ever romantically love the star, the two ill-fated lovers will be reunited for eternity in heaven. It hasn’t happened yet. But during her heroic journey to preserve literature, Lian realizes that she’s met the reincarnated prince in her handsome and wealthy classmate Shaoming, and the star in his maidservant Sparrow.

In "The Library of Legends," Chang deftly weaves hope and horror, magical realism with research, and fiction with politics, creating a fantastical love story set in a backdrop of war.

Disclaimer: I received a free eARC of “The Library of Legends” from NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks in exchange for this honest review.

LOVED this book! Great premise, fantastic writing. I had to read it in one sitting it was just so good. Absolutely couldn't recommend this more. It's wonderful.

Beautiful and utterly captivating. I loved its focus on a side of WWII that we don’t often see (when was the last time you read anything about China during the war?), the use of magical realism, and the deft gentleness with which it handled difficult subjects. I found myself falling in love with the world and characters, especially during the Journey to the East segment (I did NOT see that twist coming, y’all!).

Also. I just have to say that this book’s love triangle is a masterclass in how to do love triangles that don’t suck.

Lian is a regular college student in China, 1937. But when war reaches her college and she and all the other students are forced to flee and move further into China, running from the bombs attacking the borders. On their way, they have to protect the Library of Legends, the last existing copies of China’s oldest myths and legends. What they don’t know is that there’s legends existing closer to them than they think.

I got an advanced reading copy of The Library of Legends in exchange for an honest review.

The Library of Legends is a historical fiction novel by Janie Chang. It’s historical but it’s also magical realism, which I really enjoyed. I’ve recently been reading a few magical realism novels, so when I got an ARC of this I was very pleased.

The main plot of this story is the migration of students, which includes Lian, our main character, as well as Shao, Sparrow, and Professor Kang, all of whom are also supporting main characters. The POV is narrated in third person and switches between them, and, I’m going to be completely honest here, I couldn’t always tell whose head I was in. The POV was a little distant from the characters, occasionally delving in to give us deeper thoughts, but mostly, it told us what was happening in their lives and around them. It worked well for the style of narration though. Chang writes with a distinctive and descriptive style, effortlessly combining supernatural and natural even as she narrates a harrowing journey inspired on that her own father had to do. She also managed to interweave so many other plot threads into the main story: we get connections to politics, personal plots especially for Shao and Lian, and some magical stories in there as well. I thought the supernatural was done very well. It lingered in the background, never overwhelming the historical story, but adding elements that gave it more life and color. As well as a wonderfully realistic ending. It was so bittersweet, but I can’t say much more about it since I really don’t want to spoil it for you.

Despite everything that’s happening, I’d actually call this more of a quiet story. I don’t know if I’ve been reading too much fast-paced fantasy lately, but reading this felt very different from the other books I’ve been reading. It was a pause, almost a moment of peace as I shared time with the traveling characters. Maybe it’s because they spend so much time on the road, heading from X to Y, struggling for their every step. The hardships told in this tale do stand out, but they’re not overwhelming. Instead, they’re sort of hopeful, and they made me feel positive, almost as if the book was whispering to me right now “there is light at the end of this tunnel.”

While the magical portions of this book were my favorites, I also really enjoyed the personal trajectories of every character I read about. They were all profoundly flawed, and while they grew and evolved throughout the story, they also continually surprised me. Near the end I especially got a few surprises, but I will say they were all enjoyable, if that helps.

The Library of Legends was a fascinating combination of historical fiction and magical realism, and I swear I will always be amazed at Chang’s ability to weave so many plots together, keep them straight, and resolve them by the end. I really enjoyed this book, and I learned something new about Chinese history too!

The Library of Legends was released on May 12 by HarperCollins. You can buy your copy now at this link.

The Library of Legends covers a piece of Chinese history that I, as an American, have not previously been educated on in any depth: the occupation of China by Japan in the 1930's. It's absolutely stunning to me, every time I read about an era of human history and even more so, human atrocities that I wasn't aware of before. I very much appreciated learning about that piece of history and what some of the citizens under occupation went through. She framed the story around the movement of ancient texts from a university that could potentially have been destroyed.

The texts contain the mythological legends of China which we find out pretty early, turn out to be true stories. The historical fiction adds magical realism similar to The Water Dancer or the Underground Railroad, in which one of the characters is actually an immortal being.  Generally, I love this combo of history and fantasy weaving together but this time I struggled a little. I think I wanted either more magic or none at all. Not sure why that bit didn't work for me though.

The story jumps POVs a lot as well which I found jarring, I think I would have preferred staying with one character all along but I understand why it was used to convey the different experiences.  All that said, I feel it's an important 'ownvoices' read.

I had never heard about this Chinese-Japanese conflict in the 1930s. The history was very interesting. The stories of students trekking hundreds and hundreds of miles while also continuing their education was just so inspiring.

However, I truly expected to like this book so much more than I did. It started off so great but about halfway through it just slowed down so much. The second half was not nearly as engaging and I lost interest in the story. I really wished I had liked this more.

"If each of us could make a difference to just one person." The Library of Legends transcends reality and into myths, mystics and magic. Blending historical fiction with storytelling, Janie Chang pens a novel chronicling the exodus of Chinese universities commencing in 1937 with students charged with preserving ancient texts and ways of life.

Weaving the Willow Star myth in with the modern-day world, #TheLibraryofLegends is brought to life. Lian's quiet strength, Shao's entitled yet erroneous naivete mixed with Sparrow's undying devotion takes readers along on their journey to finding themselves.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the enchanting text in exchange for an honest review. While fantasy/mysticism isn't my go-to-genre, I appreciate the author's tale and was swept along by the adventure.

I rooted for Sparrow and Shao while at the time, for him to find happiness with Lian. By the end, I realized that the real venture was making a difference in people's lives and forging the right path. Like the old adage and song lyrics, "Que Sera, Sera, whatever will be, will be, the future is not ours to see."

Unfortunately this book was a DNF for me. I loved the concept, but I couldn't connect with the book. I'm not sure if it's the book, or the current covid climate that means I need something lighter.

What a delightful read! I actually received this in my BOTM box. The world building is amazing. The characters are so dynamic. I was looking for a story that didn’t have a Eurocentric story. I’m so happy I picked this book up!

The Library of Legends • Janie Chang

⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

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“I’ve lived among mortals for hundreds of years but still find your obstinacy hard to fathom. I used to think you were stubborn because of your tendency to hope.”
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👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Thumbs Up:
Very unique story that focused on a place/time in history I don’t know much about! The interweaving of the historical story with the cultural legends also made it very intriguing.
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👎🏻Thumbs Down:
This story dragged a bit for me in the middle.
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🤓For readers WHO:
-Like folklore/HF
-Are interested in a unique period in Chinese history
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👉🏼This is what’s WHAT:
The breakout of war in China means that universities must evacuate to preserve their ability to educate in hopes of having students ready to step up and lead China at wars end. The students and teachers must walk across the country to preserve not only their education but also one of their nations greatest treasures... the Library of Legends, which cannot fall into enemy hands. A special immortal helps guide them on their journey as friends work together to stay alive on a dangerous journey.
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⏳WHEN I read this book:
I was amazed at never having heard about these refugee universities before.
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🚨WHERE you should watch out:
-war, violence, murder, mention of suicide
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📍WHY you should read this one:
A very unique/mystical HF read!
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📚HOW I read it:
eARC

I love historical fiction, but find that most of what I have read is the European perspective of WWII. I was so excited to see a different perspective and learn about Chinese history and culture, and this book did not disappoint!

Library of Legends follows Lian, a university student in the 1930s China. Lian and her fellow students have to evacuate their beloved university to avoid Japanese bomb attacks, and they are tasked with protecting a precious collection of Chinese history and mythology called the Library of Legends and transporting it to safety. Along the journey, Lian learns about the magic in the world around her, and the struggles that her classmates and professors face as everyone adapts to losing their home and beloved country as they know it. I liked that even though Chang was describing some heavy times, the book was well-paced and didn’t feel overwhelming at any point. It’s a fairly easy read and I was able to finish it over the course of the weekend.

The book has magical realism, a light touch of romance, and a lot of interesting historical perspective. If you liked series like Magic Tree House, are into historical fiction, and like a lighter touch on heavy topics, this one is for you!

This is a gorgeous Historical Fiction novel (based on a true tale of the Second-Sino Japanese war), with mysticism and folklore.
The storytelling is both enchanting and heartbreaking.

I’m a Janie Chang fan!!! I love reading her books.
This is my third.
“Three Souls” was magical ... beautiful....
“Dragon Spring Road” was equally beautiful and brilliant as “Three Souls”.

“The Library of Legends” has a slightly different feeling than Janie Chang’s other two books.
It was more political and even has a murder mystery..... which her first two books don’t have....
but the tragedy in this novel triggered parallel thoughts with our current coronavirus unsettling days.

Japanese bombs were falling on Nanking in 1937.
Students who were attending Minghua University walked thousand of miles across China, to the safety of the western province.
123 students, and professors walked and even studied together along their journey. They while starving, exhausted, and aching to see their families, while fearing being attacked before reaching safety.

We are transported back to wartime evaluation days. The atmosphere was vivid.
The students were instructed to each carry a ‘treasured’ ancient - highly valued- library book - [The Library of Legends], and protect it as they would their own life.... with the purpose of keeping the knowledge, mystic legends, and the gods protected.

Friendships develop, romance develops, ( characters become real), legend Chinese cultural stories are learned.
All the while we are anxious about safety.... and hoping the students will re-unite with their families again.

I love both Chinese and Japanese stories -
I’ve read other books that take place in 1937 ... when the Japanese was bombing Nanking. The history is important- but often forgotten... ( in the shadow of Pearl Harbor).... so I love when books honor stories during this time period.
I especially enjoyed learning about the historical legends of the treasured ancient library texts—the spiritual meaning and power they had on people and their beliefs.

Janie Chang is a gifted atmospheric storyteller. Readers are put at ease with her lovely prose and intimacy.

This is a great choice pick for
“Quarantine Comfort” reading!!!

Beautiful book!!!!

This is an extremely compelling book that transported me to 1930’s China, under the threat of Japanese invasion and on the brink of a world war. Besides the history of that time, I was entrenched in Chinese customs, politics and legends, as well as a bit of magic. I was caught up in the lives of these students as they evacuated their university, facing hardship and challenges—as well as the threat of enemy planes.

When the Japanese begin bombing their university in Nanking, China, the faculty organizes an evacuation to China's western provinces, moving not only the students but also the Library of Legends, an ancient set of books that record Chinese folklore and mythology. I enjoy historical fiction where I learn about lesser known historical facts, and while this book covered the second Sino-Japanese War and the student evacuations, overall, I found it disappointing. Too much time is spent on the flirtations between the students and too little time is spent on the library itself. The author devotes many pages to emphasizing how wealthy the male character's family is and describing his elegant clothes (yes, we get it, there is the same class structure as in the West, with a wide gap between rich and poor). A lot of pages are spent on walking and bombing and hiding in ditches, and then spending the night at a temple, a monastery, a village, then another temple, then a warehouse, then another village, etc. A good editor could have whacked out about 100 pages and made this a better book. Not sure if I'll be recommending this one to readers of historical fiction. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review.