thelittlebookowl

 

Title / The Crystal Ribbon

Author / Celeste Lim

Publication Date / 2017

Page no. / 352

Overall Rating / ★★★★

Set in medieval China, this is a middle grade historical fantasy book that follows a twelve year girl called Li Jing, who must adapt to a new life when she is sold as a bride to the the three year old son of the Koh family. This is the author’s debut book.

 

Firstly, I loved setting of this book. Not only is it set in medieval Chinese, but I loved that folklore is woven into the story. I don’t know anything about medieval China so I can’t comment on accuracy, but in my opinion the world building was really well done. It felt vivid and I found myself immersed in it from early on.

 

Ji Ling is a fantastic protagonist and I loved her development through the book. This is very much a coming of age story and I really enjoyed Ji Ling’s progression. The secondary characters are also well written. The plot was compelling throughout and the pacing was good. This was a pretty fast read for me and I enjoyed every second of reading it. It was such an enjoyable read. I would love to see more books set in this world.

 

Overall this is a fantastic book and well worth checking out, especially if you enjoy historical fantasy and/or middle grade books. I know this is quite a short review but I just wanted to express my love for this book, since I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about it. Have you guys read it? I’d love to know what you thought. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.

 

 

Pippa