Title: Before the Sword
Author: Grace Lin
Publisher: Disney Press
Pages: 384
Availability: On shelves now
Review copy: Digital ARC via Netgalley
Summary: A novel filled with adventure and wonder set before the upcoming Walt Disney Studios Mulan film.
Review: What prepared Mulan to be a mighty warrior as she is seen in the many stories about her? Grace Lin has offered an exciting and adventurous tale that shows how Mulan discovered her strengths. It's a book about identity and figuring out the balance of honoring family and yet also being true to one's own needs and dreams.
Mulan knows how a young woman is expected to think and behave according to her mother and others in her community, but she also knows that her instincts and wishes don't always match up with that.
Grace Lin is a storyteller and she is able to include stories within stories again as she did in her Where the Mountain Meets the Moon books. There are often stories to explain the current predicament that Mulan is facing or to explain who it is she must face or beseech. I love this aspect of the book. The author is great at including little clues here and there that can enable the reader to have moments of realization when they can see the connections between characters and stories.
For fans of Grace's earlier works, this book will be a delight. For those unfamiliar with her books, this will be a fun adventure to give Mulan a little back story. I know I'll be purchasing it for my school library.
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