Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Summary from Goodreads:

To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.

Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.

Review:

I loved this one. I’m finally getting back into the swing of things on my reading schedule. That, or all the books I’ve been reading as of late are just exceptionally good. This is definitely my favorite book so far in the “Rick Riordan Presents” series. And it’s my favorite middle grade book I’ve read this year so far.

I became a little fascinated by Korean culture when I took a Korean class in my senior year of high school. I discovered Korean food, Korean tv shows, and I learned that my brain is hardwired to learn languages. I’m relatively good at learning languages (a skill I forget). So, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a book was coming out about Korean mythology. I was even more impressed to see the story take place in space.

There are so many things that could have gone wrong with this story because there were so many things going on, but it actually almost seemed to improve the further I got into it, and the more levels of the plot there became. I loved that the main character wasn’t perfect. I loved her Gryffindor level bravery and that the love she has for her brother is what drives her. I love her powers and that as the book goes along, the stronger/more skilled she becomes at using them. I love her sense of loyalty and when she makes deals with someone (from shady bar owners, to ghosts, to fake friends, to annoying cousins) she always honors them.

The book expands worlds. There’s gambling dens, lots of mythological characters, space travel, epic space battles, ghosts, magical items, military school (that resembled Jedi training, kind of), and there really wasn’t ever a boring moment. The crazy plot always held my interest. And it’s the first book in the “Rick Riordan Presents” series that doesn’t read just like a Rick Riordan book. It doesn’t have his formula. Or if it does, there’s so many other interesting elements that blind me to the formula.

The characters were amazing. It was nice to see more representation in Middle Grade with a nonbinary character. I also loved the complexities of the good and bad characters. They all came off as believable and possible. Plus, it was great to learn about Korean mythology, and it was so cool to have characters that were both human and animal (or dragon). The world building was so cool too. I loved learning about the setups for the different planets, particularly the ghost one. I found the whole ghost element of the story to be really cool. And I can’t wait to see where the author takes this next in a book 2.

All in all, I was really impressed. I loved the characters, the story, and the setting. There’s not much I can say against this book. Maybe it was a little too predictable, but most Middle Grade books are for me. I still give it a 10/10.