This book took me some time to get into, but once the story really got rolling I found it hard to put down. I really enjoyed Ying as a main character, and am hoping for some more romance in the next book because I’m a sucker for that. This book was so close to a 5 star, but I feel Ying just running away like her father did solves nothing and it was a little frustrating.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC even though it took me forever to get to this one 😂 Super excited for the next installment.

When Ying's father is brutally murdered in front of her by a mysterious cloaked stranger, she decides the only way to find justice is to disguise herself as a boy and discover when he fled from the prestigious Engineer's Guild into obscurity on their island home. This book is full of twists and turns and surprises, which made it a great read. Every time I thought we had fallen into a predictable pattern, Chen veers (slightly or significantly!) from the standard path and tropes. Ying is a great, likeable character and the worldbuilding was fantastic. Overall, a great read.

Of Jade and Dragons

4.5/5 Stars


Of Jade and Dragons felt like a Mulan retelling, but had additional elements that allow it to have an identity that is more than that. I felt like there could have been a bit more attention given to worldbuilding, as I found myself very interested in the asian fantasy setting, with elements of steampunk. I was also sad that there were no dragons, but am hopeful for future books ;)


I loved Of Jade and Dragons, and cannot wait to see more of Ying, Ye-Yang and Ye-Kan in the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Of Jade and Dragons" by Amber Chen is a mesmerizing fantasy that immerses readers in a world of rich cultural mythology and intricate magic. Its vivid world-building and captivating characters make it an enchanting and memorable read.

Not only did I receive an ARC copy through NetGalley but I also received an exclusive signed edition in my owlcrate subscription!!! Love this book so much!!! Cannot wait to read more from this author!!

I could not get through this. I tried multiple times but just couldn't do it. I didn't connect with the characters.

Jade and Dragons tried to be a take of revenge in a steampunk-inspired world, but its execution leaves much to be desired. Instead of being action-packed, it’s boring, flat, and often forgets the plot’s purpose.

Aihui Ying, who aspires to be a brilliant engineer like her father, is devastated when she arrives too late to prevent his murder and loses the killer. Determined to find her father’s killer and learn about his past, Ying sneaks into the Engineers Guild, disguised as her brother. As she navigates politics and challenges, Ying must grapple with her quest for revenge and decide if her vengeance is worth the cost.

I did enjoy the slight taste of world-building. Steam-punk-inspired fantasy should be a mainstream genre. Unfortunately (for all the reasons listed below) the world-building is sparse and couldn’t make up for the meandering plot and lackluster characters

Ahui is hard to read about. Her reactions to mundane things or slight offenses are childish and go against the “strong female surviving in a man’s world”. I was told she's intelligent, but it’s not shown on the page. Her wit and cleverness are only mentioned and seem implausible when displayed. Her lack of focus on her father’s death is so odd considering it’s supposed to be the overarching plot in the book, yet it’s rarely mentioned and she seems to recover from the trauma completely off-page. I could have handled the lack of focus if the book had Ahui struggling with bigger problems than a crush (more on that later). For example, most of the story is set in the Royal Court and Engineer’s Guild. Yet, she never actively has to fight against gender roles or societal oppression that exist in these environments. Yes, she is disguised as a boy, but the themes are rarely brought up, or at least discussed somewhat thoroughly. It felt like a Disney movie the way societal barriers and sexism are underplayed.

The romance (which took up more page time than the actual plot) was cliche and trope. Ahui seems to find a very feminist Prince despite being raised in an environment where the patriarchy is standard. It’s never explained why he accepts women's empowerment. Their relationship is built on tropes and shallow interactions. The repeated instances where the Ahui “trips” and falls into the prince’s arms had me fighting several eye rolls. These moments and other quirky interactions highlighted the lack of anything meaningful between her and the prince, which made the love declarations even more silly.

The pacing suffers due to significant periods passing off which could have been used to build the world, develop characters, or advance the actual plot. Combining this with the problems above makes for an incredibly boring read.

Overall, Jade and Dragons is a book with an intriguing premise undermined by cringey dialogue, shallow character development, and a lack of meaningful engagement with its themes.

Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I was so excited for this one. I love fantasy and flying pirate ships. So cool! It was so fun to read its captivating world mixed with steam punk and Asian mythology. Even though I predicted some of the twists, my jaw still dropped at some points of the emotional journey. I can’t wait for the next book.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this arc.

First, thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy to review!

It reminded me a bit of a mix of Treasure Planet and Mulan, with the punk atmosphere of the mechanical dragons, ships, and animals. I thought the idea for the story was so unique and I think I would have LOVED this if I was younger. I feel as if the writing was very middle grade surprisingly so I did not connect with it as much as I was hoping to. I even felt as if I was being spoon fed information instead of just watching how the story was being played out. I struggled a great deal in connecting with the characters of this book as well. I loved Ying’s dedication to her family and her father’s legacy but other than that the characters felt so dimensional to me. I would have loved to see them expanded beyond just their one plot point & connection to each other. This is right up my alley, it just didn’t hit like I thought it would.

After much deliberation, I’d rate this book 2.5 stars.

Es un buen libro tiene buenos personajes tiene buenos giros inesperados.
Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of the book.

This book was described as Mulan meets Iron Widow, two things I love, so I was excited to read it. Iron Widow is probably one of my favorite books, that being said, I don’t really see much of the iron widow similarities in it. Ying is not as ruthless as Zetian, but she is as driven. She does what she needs to do in the end to achieve her goals, but where Zetian had no remorse really for that, Ying does. I don’t think this is a fault by any means. I really love both FMCs. Ying is a well rounded character and I can understand her motivations and empathize with her.

I enjoyed the characters and the pacing was really good. This is a great set up for more books, and I’m very interested to see how the next book will play out.

thank you to penguin teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

i worry i may feel a ton more neutral about this book than most seem to be. there were a ton of things i loved and a ton of things that i thought should’ve been executed differently. and all together it put this as a middle of the road debut, for me personally. however, up front i want to say that i’d absolutely want to continue in this series. while i don’t fully have ideas of where this will go (as i felt it wrapped up in a way that totally could’ve been considered the true end point), i will stick around. i think amber chen has incredible potential to expand on this story, with the greater universe becoming involved.

i think, for me, personally it was the toughest for me to get along with the fact that everyone BUT the love interest believed in her disguise. i still don’t understand how he was able to clock her literally right away. but over the course of multiple months not another person discovered her out (of course not including ye-kan). but also, with him knowing about her kind of fueled an insta-love type romance. i do wish we had more of a chance to see them interact before developing their relationship. and yes, this might just be me, but i really really wish that we could’ve had a queer sub-context story in true mulan retelling fashion. but! we persist.

i do think the story was interesting, even if i felt like ying’s story essentially strayed a tad from her original goal (find her father’s killer). but i think chen did a fairly good job weaving that story with the apprentice path she pursued. it was definitely an interesting take on one of these kind of, sort of chosen one stories. and of course, with it centering around her experience as a women, facing very misogynistic thoughts, i think it was handled fairly well. ying experienced a lot of second hand misogynistic comments from her fellow competitors and from the guild members. and she never let that stop her from working hard and essentially proving them wrong (even if they didn’t directly know).

overall, while this wasn’t a personal fave for me, i truly adored the characters. and i will be eagerly waiting to see more, especially from ye-yang’s story. i would love to see us in his mind in the next book, even if i know we’ll likely continue to follow ying. ye-yang was truly as stand-out for me. ever the graceful, his deadly instincts but quiet demeanor truly were so fun to read about. color me intrigued.

This was a fun read! I really enjoyed reading Chen's debut set in a prestigious engineering guild. The main character Ying was super determined, but at times super reckless which caused me a bit of frustration but I loved how the story played out. I can see where the criticism of the romance comes from because it didn't seem totally necessary but I'm hopeful in future installments it won't play such a large role. The ending was perfect and I look forward to reading the next as soon as I can.

DNF after a third of this book hoping for better development of the protagonist and for more show-don't-tell writing. Pretty great worldbuilding though, I loved the steampunk fantasy aesthetic and definitely would recommend this to YA fantasy lovers.

Thank you net gallery for the advanced copy of this book; this is a fantasy set in a steampunk world engineers are valued. A girl goes undercover as a boy to solve and avenge her father's murder. I enjoyed the world building, not the ending. I hope there are more books that have her explore the other lands as I hate that she gave up her career to be at home with her siblings who have essentially betrayed and left her.

This book definitely has some Mulan vibes. It reminded me a bit of Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, especially in the first quarter. (Girl goes to a big city and attempts to enter an elite, male-only guild.) I liked the relationships Ying cultivates with the other guild hopefuls, especially a younger one who becomes a close ally. (I hope book two includes this character.)

When I first saw this book, for some reason, I thought it was a middle grade book. It’s not. It’s clearly intended for a young adult audience. Sometimes, the writing and the way the characters related to one another felt more in line with a middle grade story. That isn’t to say anything is wrong with the writing or character relationships. It’s possible I felt that way because I had the other age group stuck in my head already.

There is a romantic subplot in the story, too. I love that the author doesn’t follow every expectation readers might have with a romance story. Ying is a strong character and has a deep commitment to her mission. She doesn’t want anything to distract her from finding out who had her father killed. She wants entry into the engineers’ guild to finish his work.

I love that this book includes so much about engineering as a field of study. A lot of the lessons and tests shown in the story involve defensive or offensive vehicles and weaponry, but some characters mention other kinds of engineering. I would have enjoyed seeing more of a spectrum of engineering projects, but I can see why those focuses would fit better in the story because of the push toward war.

On the whole, I enjoyed this one. It looks like the start of a series, so I’m curious to see where the story goes from here.

I DNF this novel because I wasn’t in the right mind set. But from what I did read it was enjoyable. I will pick it up again. I blame my TBR list.

DNF a few chapters in.

I can tell from the writing style and the very fast pace that this is too YA for me, sadly. Beautiful cover though.

Transparently, I wanted to DNF a fifth of the way through. If it hadn’t been a #fantasyfrenemies selection and gifted to me by Penguin Teen, I probably would have. See that four-star rating, though? Guess what? I ended up truly enjoying the novel, and I'm happy that I saw it through! I agree with the reviews that didn’t care for the romance. More and more, it feels like romance is added to increase marketability, but this story had so much strength without it. Ye-yang gave off a lot of red flags, and it was challenging to understand the why behind his and Ying's mutual attraction. That said, I wouldn’t mind a friends-to-lovers arc with Ye-kan later. OF JADE AND DRAGONS offers a combination of unique elements culminating in a fun experience that left me wanting the next installment immediately.

Many thanks to Penguin Teen for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart. Left with only a journal of her father's engineering secrets and a jade pendant snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father's hidden past-determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately chose a quiet life over fame and fortune.
This book for me was a pretty solid read. I liked the character development and Ying’s clumsy journey of blending in as a boy to find out who had her father killed. The romance aspect was kind of meh. He seemed like a character that didn’t care about anyone’s choices except for his own and just expected everyone to fall in line with what he wanted. Which made me not really care for him. But I did like how the author was able to to show how that at a young age, when you have all the worlds weight on your shoulders, how it can turn you into a hardened young adult.
The storyline was interesting. I liked the characters want to go against the grain of society and pursue something that meant a lot to her. While trying to solve who killed her father and learn more about his past.
Overall I liked this book. It wasn’t a favorite but it’s floating around a 3.7 star read.
Would I recommend this book? Sure if you like fiery main character a story line about fighting for what you want no matter what society tries to tell you.

Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for an ARC of this book. My review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.