Thursday 24 March 2016

Shadow of the Yangtze by Julian Sedgwick

Synopsis (from Goodreads

Pages: 320
Publisher: Hatchette Children's Books 
Released: 7th of April 2016 
Other Books in the Series: Ghosts of Shanghai

Ruby - a Western girl who feels more Chinese than English - and her friend Charlie must follow the Yangtze hundreds of miles upriver, travelling by Chinese junk and rogue steamer, through bandit and ghost haunted countryside - doggedly tracking Moonface as he spirits Charlie's sister Fei off to his home village. Everything is in flux around them: civil war pulsing, with Nationalists, Communists and warlord bandits struggling for control. The river rises and falls, villages spring up and are gone again. 

Ruby and Charlie brave a shipwreck and a gunbattle and then take a perilous cliff path to Moonface's lair

What I Have to Say 

I think it's safe to say that my love for this series hasn't gone away. As soon as I got this book, I couldn't wait to read it. I was so excited to get back into Ruby and Charlie's world and find out what was next for them. 

Going back to the world felt like I'd hardly left it, although I always find it hard to remember where the last book left off. But Ruby is the same brave, determined girl that I remember and it was really interesting seeing her and Charlie growing apart. The racism that happens towards her in the latter part of the book shows how easily she can be offset as China changes and foreigners find they are no long welcome there. 

The mystery and tension in this book is spot on. Near the end, when certain things (which shall remain vague because of spoilers) were coming to a conclusion, it was hard to look away. It is always a sign of something truly special when a book can keep you transfixed like Shadow of the Yangtze did. 

I cannot /wait/ for the next book. Is anyone else reading this series? 


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