“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
I’m sorry to hear this book was a DNF for you. I almost picked this up when I visited the bookstore last week. Let’s hope the next book will be better.
I enjoy world fiction so I’d like to give it a shot. Thanks for the giveaway.
Oh, and the excerpt sounds so good! Sometimes, though, certain books are just not for us or for us at the time.
I read the first chapter on my Kindle and it sounded like my kind of book. I would love to get it. I just couldn’t afford to buy it now. 🙂
I love books about China, so please consider me.
Sorry to hear it didn’t capture your attention. Thats nice of you to raffle it off 😉 Please include me.
Too bad about this book. It sounds pretty interesting but the writing has to be really special to keep going when you don’t care for the main character. I hope your next read is much better.
Good that you abandoned it There are too many wonderful books out there to capture your attention to waste time on one that you are not enjoying.