The City of Sand

October 1, 2017

Gr 6-9-Tianyi and his friend Kai are gold hunters who embark on the gentlemanly pursuit of locating ancient tombs and liberating the contents. They search for ancient graves in hopes of finding artifacts they can sell to supplement their families' meager earnings. Tianyi learned the trade from his grandfather and hones his skills with a tattered book the old man gave him: The Sixteen Mysteries of Yin-Yang Feng Shui. After a harrowing escape from zombie corpses, giant bats, and killer sloths, the pair head for Beijing to sell their wares. In the city, they meet Professor Chen and Julie, a Chinese American photographer, who are mounting an expedition to find the fabled lost city of Jingjue where Julie's father disappeared. The team hires Tianyi and Kai to lead the expedition and guide them through the Taklimakan Desert with Tianyi's feng shui skills. Translated from Chinese, this rollicking adventure rarely pauses. Tianyi is reminiscent of Indiana Jones, escaping from one cursed trap after another utilizing feng shui, quick thinking, and plain old luck. He is an engaging narrator. However, the frenetic pacing makes it difficult to keep track of the plot, and by the end of the book, the group's harrowing escapades seem to take over the story. VERDICT A secondary purchase; buy where action/adventure tales are popular.-Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor School District, Lancaster, PA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 9, 2017
Seventeen-year-old Hu Tianyi has spent years studying the ancient art of feng shui. He and his best friend Kai plan to strike it rich by using his knowledge to locate and plunder the hidden tombs of nobles—a practice known as gold hunting. When Tianyi’s father kicks him out of the house for eschewing college to dabble in supernatural nonsense, Tianyi and Kai travel to Beijing, where they’re hired by legendary archaeologist Professor Chen and an American millionaire, Julie Yang. Julie and the professor need Tianyi’s expertise to help them find the lost city of Jingjue. While crossing the Taklimakan Desert, the group encounters everything from sandstorms to carnivorous ants, but those tribulations are nothing compared to what awaits them in Jingjue. Chinese author Tianxia’s English-language debut is a richly imagined and artfully translated tale of history, adventure, and magic. Coincidences power the plot, but they’re offset by a strong sense of place and a wealth of information about Chinese myth and legend. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates.

October 15, 2017
"Gold hunting is no picnic" in this adventure set in a mythical Chinese desert. By exaggerating his feng shui expertise and lying about his age, 17-year-old Tianyi, along with his childhood friend and fellow grave robber, Kai, is hired to lead a group of scholars and adventurers across the Black Desert. There is no shortage of fantasy-archaeology material, as our heroes tangle with hairy corpses that come to life, vicious sloths with sharp fangs, blinding sandstorms, and flesh-eating ants. What begins as an intrepid expedition to find the lost city of Jingjue quickly descends into labyrinthine, implausible plot twists. The story may appeal to those who appreciate fast-paced excavation thrillers, complete with a "family heirloom medallion" that can be used to unlock treasure, but by the time a member of the expedition suggests extraterrestrial beings, readers may be well and truly exasperated. Perhaps due to the translation of this story from its original Mandarin, there is a fair amount of awkward moments. It is often difficult to discern whether the author is actually aiming for humor. When defending himself, Tianyi laments, "Kai and I have a good reputation. Just ask anyone in our home village! I once was voted student of the month at my school." The audience is unclear: older readers may not tolerate the immature feel of the story, but younger readers will struggle with the reading level. Give this a miss. (Adventure. 10-14)

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November 1, 2017
Grades 7-10 After he is left a mysterious half book of feng shui principles by his grave-robbing grandfather, Tianyi is determined to find something interesting in his mundane world. But he gets more than he bargains for when he and his friend Kai encounter a demonic spirit in a tomb in a forgotten valley. Though they manage one very narrow escape, there are plenty of other buried dangers. When they surface from the crypt, there are more adventures waiting, in the form of a quest for a legendary queen's burial site. Accompanied by a professor of archaeology, a desert guide, and a rich American girl, Tianyi and Kai lead the way to the lost city of Jingjue, where still more fearsome things lurk. Whether these adventurers will find the treasure they seek or be buried with the long dead is up to Tianyi. Filled to the brim with ancient and modern Chinese history, this translation is a fun and spooky ride. It's not hard to see how Bachang became a best-seller in his home country.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
Chinese teens Tianyi and Kai team up with other treasure hunters to find lost riches in a (fictional) desert. The group must work together against enemies both natural and supernatural in order to survive their ordeals. Unusual for the genre of adventure/survival thriller, the supernatural elements are incorporated matter-of-factly. Lots of action and intrigue make for an entertaining read.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)