BOOK REVIEW: THE LIBRARY OF LEGENDS BY JANIE CHANG
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Number Of Pages: 600 (E-book)
“But war threatens not just people and places. It destroys knowledge, culture, and history.”
The story is based on the Second Sino-Japanese war which was a military conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, it is also disputed as the beginning of World War II.
In the book, the war has just begun and the government of China has decided to safeguard the students of all the universities to make/re-make a better country after the war. In order to do that, an interim campus has been formed where all the students of the country have to arrive. The book focuses on the journey of one group of students travelling from Nanking to Chengtu, which is a thousand miles on foot. This group of students is special because they carry the library of legends, which is essentially an encyclopaedia of 147 volumes commissioned by the Jingtai emperor during the Ming dynasty, five hundred years ago.
There are immortal beings and Gods living among the mortals, protecting them but with the onset of this war the immortals are fleeing because they are unable to protect the mortals from the latest technology advancements in warfare.
Another fantasy element incorporated is, 'The Legend of The Willow Star and The Prince.' According to this legend, a Star, an immortal maidservant fell in love with a mortal prince. The Star begged the Queen to let her reunite with her lover in each of his reincarnations, but she could not tell him about their past and if the prince remembered it himself then she could bring him to heaven with her.
There are so many lines which are quite subtly said by the characters but have a huge impact. My favourite is this:
“It’s not easy to reestablish yourself when you’re a refugee,” Dr. Mao said. “I see this with some of my patients. Carpenters, bookkeepers, artists. People with skills, educated people. Now it’s as though they’ve been stripped of those qualifications. Reduced to the category of 'refugee' and treated as members of a needy multitude.”
Each character has so much depth, and a detailed back story that I could hardly find any fault in them. The only thing which I disliked was the fact that the historical events were overshadowed by the fantasy aspects of the book, the ratio of fantasy to history was 2:1, I would have preferred it to be the other way around.
I have so much more to say about this book, but all I will say is this:
Yes, you will get to know about historical events. Yes, you won't get any detailed gruesome event about the war which might be too much for some people. Yes, it is a very different book about WWII (in a good way) than what I usually read. Yes, I recommend this book to those who like reading historical fiction, and fantasy.
My Verdict: 4/5
Buy the book: India | Other Country
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