Where The Mountain Meets the Moon Spoiler-Free Book Review
This is a middle grade fantasy novel inspired largely by Chinese folklore, The story is about a girl named Minli who's family is very poor, and she wishes to change her family's fortune. After hearing stories her father tells her about the Old Man of the Moon (and an encounter with a talking goldfish), she decides to go on a quest to meet the Old Man to ask him for help to make her family wealthy. Along the way up the mountains, Minli makes many new friends (including a talking dragon!) that help her along her journey to get to to the moon.
I love the way this book was written. It read just like a fairy tale or a myth from ancient times. Even though I read it for the first time as an adult, it felt like I was a kid again reading all sorts of fairy tales and myths. The author did a great job crafting a magical atmosphere, journey and just the overall world Minli lives in.
All the characters were great, too. Even thought their personalities were simple and their overall goals and motivations were simple, I loved how almost all of them were so compassionate and kind towards each other, and it made me want to root for them. I just like stories were almost everyone is likable.
I say almost because there are only two antagonistic (well, one of them is a group) characters in this story. One is a group of monkeys and the other one is a single tiger. But they are defeated really easily in the chapters they appear.
Lastly, one thing that I thought was really neat about this book was how throughout Minli's journey, the story would be briefly interrupted by a character to tell a story about someone or something in the world they live in. What's even more interesting was that the little stories that were interwoven in the text would actually have something to do with Minli's journey! Everything that sounded like just some story was actually real in their would (whether it was a person, place, or creature, or object), and was all connected to each other and the overall journey for Minli. I can't get into any examples here because it would go into spoilers, but just know every story break that is told contains foreshadowing for the overall plot, and it's all tied neatly together at the end.
I don't know what else to say asides from this was such a magical and sweet book! If you're in the mood for a middle grade book inspired by Chinese folklore, a hero's quest, and lots of descriptions of the magical and natural world, I recommend Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Also a great pick if you're a parent/teacher to recommend to your kids/students! I will definitely be reading more from Grace Lin.
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