“A Chinese saying goes: ‘In good fortune is always some misfortune, and in misfortune, always some good fortune.’ Maybe they’re right. After losing both my parents at twenty-eight, I was abandoned – penniless – into this treacherous Ten Thousand Miles of Red Dust. Or so I had thought.”

Song of the Silk Road by Mingmei Yip

Lily Lin has just received a letter informing her that she’s to receive three million dollars from a benefactress she’s never heard of. Of course the money won’t come to her without some conditions met first.

She has to travel the silk road, retrieve something buried in a ruined town, meet a blind fortune-teller, and even seduce a monk. Lily sets off on her adventure, nothing can keep her back in New York, not even her married lover.

Doesn’t this sound like a good adventure tale? Almost like a fairy tale what with the godmother enabling the adventure and promising riches in the end. Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I could never feel the tone of the book. One moment there is a pretty description of a village and next sentence Lily is being rude and a bit obnoxious. Will she change in the end? I don’t know but this made it hard for me to get into the story.

I wanted to finish this but in the end other books were vying for my attention. I’d love to pass this on though because I do think it has potential and perhaps it just needs to find the right audience. So if you are interested in the book leave me a comment. I’ll draw names and announce a winner at the end of the week.

Source: Advance Review Copy

This entry was posted on Monday, April 25th, 2011 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Nightstand.