I was so excited for this book, just based off premise and cover alone. Mulan, but make it silkpunk? Sign me up!

First up, I liked Ying as a main character. Sure, she’s a teenager and makes teenage mistakes, but I like she has strong morals and rarely compromises them. I did have an issue with her ending, but I will wait until the sequel to see what happens to her.

The author’s descriptive writing helped me immerse in the setting, but I wish there was a little more world building, especially because of the political conflict. A lot of the conflict happed off page, so we only have characters talking about it.

In addition, I wish other characters were built up a little more. We spend a lot of time on Ying so the side characters don’t really shine. I wish we spent a little more time with Ye-Yang, the MMC, to build him up outside of being noble and her love interest. He has some interesting plot points, I just wish to know more.

The pacing wasn’t consistent- there were points that it slowed down a lot and other parts felt rushed in comparison. I wish the ending had an extra chapter or two to build it out a little better.

I know this was sort of a murder mystery but it wasn’t terribly hard to guess. It wasn’t a huge focus (though Ying says herself she hasn’t been able to make much headway). It becomes a B-plot, which is fine, but if you were hoping for more of a mystery, you may be disappointed.

My biggest gripe is with the ending. It made me question some of Ying’s motives, and I wish it was built up a little more. I’ll avoid saying more as it would all be spoilers.

Overall, this was an enjoyable debut and I will definitely read the sequel. I would love to see this world built out more and need to know what happens next!

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Teen for this ARC for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

When I read the synopsis of the book, I was immensely looking forward to getting the chance to read it. Unfortunately, Of Jade and Dragons wasn’t for me. I did end up DNF’ing it at the 37% mark.

We start the story off strong as our main character Ying discovers that her father has been murdered. I will say, Chen wastes no time getting to the inciting incident. Although, after that point I did find myself bored and having a hard time getting immersed into the story.

One of my favorite things is the incredible world that she has created. The concept of the Engineers Guild was truly one of a kind. With that being said, I felt as if the the wold building was a bit rushed, making it challenging to be able to fully grasp everything that was happening.

Lastly, as much as I appreciated Yings fun and vibrant personality, I wasn’t able to form any type of attachment to the characters.

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers Group, and Viking Books for Young Readers for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This was a little disappointing, not going to lie. There are multiple reasons for this, but I do want to say that I think the story had real promise. A large part of that was due to the world-building. I thought the world was really cool and interesting. I loved the steampunk/silkpunk elements (I'd love if this were more common in books, but I recognize that it's not all that popular) and I thought the base story "Girl disguises herself to join prestigious inventors' guild to solve her father's murder" is interesting. Unfortunately, nothing else about this story really hit the mark for me.

Firstly, the pacing felt... off. This is a pretty chunky book and while right off the bat, Ying sees her father being murdered, the bulk of the book felt a bit of a slog at times. The ending, too, felt far too rushed for all of the build-up up to that point. There's another issue I have with the pacing that ties into the ending, but I'll get there (because it is a bit of a spoiler).

As the main character, I feel like Ying could've been really interesting. I never really connected with her, though. Part of that was because there was a lot of telling rather than showing in regards to Ying's thoughts and emotions. That, and it seemed like her character was stretched into too many different paths and never really committed too hard to any of them. At least, not in a way that felt satisfying to me.

As for the characters, they all had some of the same problem that Ying did, in that they were largely just imprints of characters rather than people I rooted for or hated. I feel like where it struggled the most was with Ye-yang (Ying's "love interest") and her father. Considering her father is such a looming presence over the entirety of the book, I thought he didn't play enough into the story in a way that felt like it mattered. And Ye-yang was... there. Again, he felt like a mirage of a character. His "romance" with Ying felt forced and boring to me. I couldn't figure out what, exactly, he saw in her and vice-versa. Plus, there's the fact that some of the power dynamics there were a little off from the beginning, which meant that I never really rooted for them. Point is, I never fully cared about Ying or Ye-yang as individuals, so trying to put them together was essentially pointless in my head.

Now, for the spoilers. I usually try to avoid doing this, but unfortunately, the ending really soured the entire book for me and I don't think I can explain why without spoiling just a little bit. So please avoid this part of the review if you don't want that.

The ending felt a bit like a slap in the face. This really ties into the pacing issue, mostly, because I feel like in another book this ending could have been very poignant and bittersweet. If the book had, honestly, avoided the Trials portion of the Guild stuff and relegated that to the background and focused more on Ying's father and her attempting to solve his murder, I think this could've worked. But a lot of the book was focused on the intricacies of the Guild, the other Trial-goers she makes friends with, her relationship with Ye-yang.... By the time the ending rolled around, it turned out that none of that stuff mattered. Her goal of being a Guildmaster as a woman and continuing her father's research was just thrown out the window. Again, this would've been a good reason, if we hadn't spent the majority of the book getting to know her competitors, having her make friends with them, getting to know the other Guildmasters... like, it all just felt pointless, in the end. And that frustrated me. I feel like it just could have been done so much better than it was.

I recognize that this is probably going to work for a lot of people. It does read like a C-drama and it has cool world-building. It just didn't work for me and left me frustrated at the end of it.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for a review

I am having very mixed feeling about this read. Knowing the story was about a girl trying to solve her father’s murder, I expected the plot to be heavily filled with putting clues together. Instead it was mentioned a lot as to why Ying was traveling to Fei but when it came to actually solving the murder I felt like that was lacking.

I think if the book was marketed about a girl wanting to follow her fathers footsteps and join the Engineers Guild and then stumbled on everything regarding her fathers murder that would have been more appropriate.

As for the characters, I felt like it was written in a way we were supposed to have a strong connection but the relationship building throughout the book just wasn’t there for me. Ying and Ye-Yang seen each other on a handful of occasions and I’m supposed to believe they fell in love and that there was such a deep betrayal at the end. Also why weren’t any of the others in the engineers guild questioning where she was running off to or an even bigger less serious topic, why didn’t she ever take baths when they did.

I did enjoy Yings strong and determined personality. She has a good moral compass and never let that sway. I also enjoyed at the end she stuck to her beliefs on letting Ye-Yang go when I feel like most of the time it would have been written in a way the girl would go running into the guys open arms.

Despite it not being my particular cup of tea, I can certainly see this book being popular. The writing style was not for me, though I know similar styles have been trending lately with the emergence of “TikTok readers”. I think this book has a neat story to tell, and is fairly strong for a debut novel. A good murder mystery coupled with a strong capable female main character are both good selling points. Personally I feel there’s a lot of room for improvement within the writing itself, and I hope we see more from this author as she grows and develops as a writer.

3.5⭐️

For my first fantasy I very much enjoyed this book.

But also for it being my first fantasy there is a lot that I didn’t understand, world building and things like that.

I was attracted to this book because of the dragon on the cover and in the title, and I'm sure that some dragon enthusiasts will cry bait-n-switch since there are no dragon riders or even live dragons or wyverns, but I for one, quite enjoyed the book regardless. What I did find was a young woman looking to avenge her beloved father and make her way in a world where women aren't allowed. I like the spotlight on girls in STEM (science-technology-engineering-math) because even in our non-fictional world girls and women are often pushed aside and must be better for a fraction of the recognition of their male counterparts in these fields. I also enjoy the nice flow of the story, acquainting the reader with the world and characters through the eyes of the protagonist, thereby making the worldbuilding and character development more seamless and less info deposits. There is a bit of palace politics, some light romance (zero spice, YA appropriate), some mystery/who-dun-it, a spunky female main character, and a lot of steampunk--or is it silkpunk since it is Asian culture inspired, and there are dragons, just not exactly the ones some readers expected. The amalgamation of all of these things made Of Jade and Dragons an enjoyable complete story but also the first part in a series of stories of some very interesting characters that I am looking forward to reading soon.
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin Young Readers Group, Viking Books for Young Readers) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

This book was so fun, and I’m at a somewhat in between rating. If I had to settle on it, I’d say 3.75. It had some flaws for me (mostly pacing in the middle), but it also has so many fresh ideas, as well as a strong writing style for YA, and a great cliffhanger that will definitely have me picking up book two. And I know I will absolutely be reading more from Amber Chen if this is her debut!

First, I have to say the writing style really worked for me here and that’s huge. It’s such solid story writing that moves the plot forward and describes enough without going fully purple prose.

I also really enjoyed the plot. The “Mulan” of it all is I assume from the publishers perspective, a nod to aging disgusting herself as a boy in order to enter the engineer’s guild and find out her father’s secrets. The rest of the plot doesn’t necessarily resemble Mulan, but I was also fine with this. The story is well constructed. My only criticism is just that the pacing drags a tiny bit in the middle as the players move toward the climax of the story, which started to feel inevitable at a certain point.

Finally, I appreciated the characters. Their arcs are complex and engaging and left me wanting more at the end of the book.

This book was such a pleasant surprise because I hadn’t seen it advertised yet and I really enjoyed it.

This book is an auto-read for me based on the cover and the tropes alone. I love the trope where a girl disguises herself as a boy, so I knew I'd really enjoy Of Jade and Dragons and I was right. This book was so much fun! I loved following Ying and the fact that our female MC was an engineer. It felt fresh and exciting, which is something I look for when I'm picking up young adult fantasy novels. I think the thing I liked best about the book was the characters (Ye-Kan!) and I'm dying to see where they will end up in the sequel.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was drawn to this book because of the cover and dragons in the title. While there were no real dragons in the book I am still go had that I received an arc! I enjoyed the story although there were moments where it felt like it lagged in the middle, but it quickly picked up again for me!

This book was PHENOMENAL!
I was grabbed just by the first chapter and I didn’t want to stop reading.

*This review is spoiler free*

Typically a harsh reader but this is 5/5⭐️ book. Every about this book is amazing. The characters, the guilds, the plot twists and those crushing moments between characters.
The book just have some grammar and issues when converting over to kindle, but other than that amazing!

If you like mulan, you will definitely love this book. You follow the main character called Ying. She doesn’t really fit along the other females in her village. All the girls are supposed to marry and build a loving family and that’s it. Well, Ying is just like her father and likes to build gadgets. She was so proud of her experiment and she wanted to tell her father, only to find him dying. She instantly once revenge.

With the Mulan aspect, she disguise herself as a male to go to the guild her father use to go and find who murdered her father.

During this adventure to find the murder, she faces many trials, heartbreaks, and punishments.

The start of OF JADE AND DRAGONS made me feel nostalgic. It reminded me of Mulan (I know this comparison gets made a lot but it fits) with a girl disguising herself as a boy to enter the Engineer's Guild and seek revenge for the death of her father. I appreciated that while our heroine was headstrong and stubborn she was never obnoxious. The world was interesting and I enjoyed what I saw of it, though I'd be curious to see more of it. But that's what sequels are for. I definitely plan on continuing this series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

This book was every bit as amazing as the cover (also on that note, LOOK AT HOW PRETTY THE COVER IS!!)

I loved the MC so much ahhhh, her perseverance and her thought processes were just >>>>

Also please that ending?? Heartbreak?? I know there's a sequel coming up, but honestly this ending stands on its own, it's written perfectly.


(Also also, I really wanna see Ye-Kan as an MC or as the main friend or love interest in the next book!! And Nian as well! I'm so concerned about their fates, please 🥲)

TWs - murder of parent, violence, war, betrayal

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

Overall: 2.75/5
Characters: 2.5/5
Plotline: 3/5
World-Building: 2.5/5

Romance: 3/5
Spice Factor:0
Themes: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Enjoyment Factor: 3/5

Review: The Mulan-esque revenge plotline was an exciting premise, but it never came to fruition. I feel like we forgot about the revenge until the very end. Ying was a compelling character, wickedly smart, and a talented engineer. However, her character never had any actual development. If anything, she became a spoiled, whiny brat when her 'love interest' got put into a forced engagement. Speaking of romance, it was highly toxic and non-believable. Lastly, the world-building felt non-existent, and there were no real dragons as I anticipated. I wanted to like this but could never be immersed in the story.

Steampunk x Mulan x Murder Mystery. There were twists and turns in this book that I had anticipated and some that I didn't. There were no large info-dumps, plot holes (ones that I had were subsequently answered), and the world building was really well done.

I want to read the next novel ASAP to see where this story takes me.

I loved the engineering and STEM focus in this book, it felt really unique and fresh! Overall this was a fun and quick read, but I didn't feel like I could really connect with the characters. It felt very YA to me, which it is... but I still would have loved to have the MC feel a bit more "real" and fleshed out.

Of Jade and Dragons is a YA Fantasy Mulan reimagining following a young woman who travels to enter a competition to join the Engineers' Guild, in order to discover the truth behind her beloved father's assassination. The book includes an M/F relationship, women in STEM rep, war, betrayal, and secrets all set in a steampunk infused East Asian world. If you like Chinese Dramas, this might be up your alley!

I am really impressed by Amber Chen's choice to make the central conflict revolve around engineering, and in particular, the weapons that are created during wartime. The book shows the repercussions and consequences of ambition, which Ying has in spades, and what people will do for power.

I liked Ying a lot, and I have a soft spot for a fellow woman in STEM. She's bold, brave, stubborn, and has strong morals. She is naive, but not afraid to embark on her journey. She does make some typical YA protagonist dumb decisions, but they weren't egregiously off the mark of what a naive person would do.

I appreciated that there wasn't too much info dumping from the beginning, and the book does not take long before you get right into the action. My issue was mainly with character building. It's common in a lot of YA books, but I found a lot of the characters besides Ying extremely forgettable or uninteresting. The characters we are supposed to care about have no flavor for me, so I hope they get fleshed out.

The story was easy enough to read, writing style wise, but I did not feel moved by the story. I see what Amber Chen was trying to do, but I think improvement needs to be placed towards fleshing out the characters, both main and side. The ending was also a bit confusing in the direction the story would go in regards to Ying's path. Overall, a decent read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for graciously letting me read the ARC in exchange for a review!

Honestly could not put this book down. Everything about it, from the story to the characters, is so immediately engaging that I needed to devour the story immediately. I couldn’t get enough of Ying’s experiences as she struggles to join the engineering guild. The ending made my heart ache. I cannot wait to see what comes next in this saga. Also, I adore Ye-Kan so much!

Steampunk meets Ancient China in this stunning debut from Amber Chen.

After witnessing her father’s murder Ying decides to travel to the capital city to join the Engineering Guild in order to find the perpetrators and continue his work. Along the way she finds an ally in the Eighth Prince. But girls are forbidden from entering the Guild and if found out both of them could be killed. As her lessons progress and her investigation deepens, Ying learns things about her father’s past and that the reasons for his abandoning his prestigious position were darker than she could have ever imagined.

I absolutely adored this creative Mulan retelling. My favorite parts had to be the steampunk elements: airships, chimera, steam powered cars, and more! The opening scene with Ying testing her wings was the perfect introduction to her character and you cannot help but fall for her creativity and ambition. The hardships she faces and being torn between her passion for engineering and her growing feelings for Ye-Yang really help her depth of character. You find yourself torn between which you think would make her happy (and secretly hoping it will be both).

The romance was a bit of slow burn, especially as he falls first and she finds herself fighting her feelings, first for the mission of discovering her father’s murderer and bringing him to justice, then their huge gap in social status, and finally her desire to be accepted into the Guild rather than be someone’s wife. I was pretty sure he knew a lot more than he was telling about her father’s murder (just because he was so nonchalant about the pendant when it would have been a major scandal for an enemy empire to sneak past their borders to murder one of the country’s foremost weapons designer and engineering expert). That reveal hurt. A lot. And I completely agree with Ying for refusing to forgive him for lying despite her romantic feelings for him.

The secondary characters were really well done, a mixture between friendly academic rivals and even more haughty bullies who eventually come around once they realized Ying’s talents (jealousy is more of a common trope but I was glad the ribbing was more good natured than malicious). I was pleased that Ying was able to make some true friends at the Guild lessons, even the young Fourteenth Prince who ends up more as a loyal younger brother. (Halfway convinced myself he has a crush on her once he realized she was a girl).

The ending was such a twist, although it wrapped up a lot more quickly than I was expecting. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am hoping there will be a sequel!

I like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a chance at reading this.

I was really excited to read this, but I made it to 60% of the book before DNF'ing it.

To me, this feels in some aspects like Harry Potter, but with a lowkey romance, asian setting and a plot that just kind of trods along. It feels rather juvenile at times, and the girl IS a teenager, but the book just has a very care-free attitude about it. Girl watched her father die in the first chapter, her brother didn't want her to look into it, but there doesn't seem to be much agency or understanding about magic and or the airships to get me to really care about what's going on.

So I blame it on the world building. When you read a Brandon Sanderson book, even if you don't like the story, the world building is top-notch. You just feel let down because this could be really good book, but when it's full of things you've seen in other stories, you want a world that makes it stand out more. To me this doesn't have it.