Book Review: The Emperor’s Seal by Amanda Roberts

Title: The Emperor’s Seal

Author: Amanda Roberts

Rating: 4/5 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This is a spoiler free review

Summary

Jiayi has a strange ability, when she touches an item, she is immediately transported back to the time period of the item. With this power, she falls into the hands of the Empress, who uses her and keeps her tightly locked up. Zhihao is a historian whose goal is to preserve China’s artifacts. The Empress brings Zhihao and Jiayi together to search for an artifact that has a major impact on the future of China and the Qing Dynasty. Will the unlikely duo be able to find that artifact or will unsuspecting bumps in the road stop them from completing their mission?

Review

Disclaimer: I am not a part of the Chinese culture so I am not an authority on whether or not this book is an accurate portrayal.

I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent reading this book. I did not have any knowledge of this book coming into it and I was pleasantly surprised. The writing is engaging and the descriptions were well done. The world building is incredibly intricate and paints a beautiful picture for the reader. Throughout the entire story, I was fully engaged. From the start to the finish, I was interested in what was happening and I never encountered any slow parts of the story.

The characters in this story were all very interesting. Zhihao was a rebellious scholar who has a secret past (that I am hoping to learn more about in the next installment in this series). Jiayi is a quiet but fierce character that has a deep desire to learn. One character that I have trouble deciphering is Eunuch Lo. I thought I liked him, and then I didn’t, and then I did, and now I have no idea. He is just a big question mark in my mind. But, I don’t mind that, I just wish we got more information on him. The story is told in duel perspectives, which allows more information about each character, Zhihao and Jiayi.

The one aspect of this book that I did not enjoy was the portrayal of women. Women are not painted as strong characters in this story. They are usually sitting around while the men take the lead and there is the belief that the men need to protect the women and do all of the “dirty” work. But I am also conflicted because the person that has the most power in the country at the moment is the Empress, a woman. I also understand that this time period holds different values about women and I wasn’t as bothered about this being in the story as I was when Jiayi would accept that Zhihao had to do the work because she was “incapable” even though the reader knows that she is capable.

This story plays with some incredibly interesting topics. One is that history is wrong and it comes with different biases and viewpoints. This is also where there is a hint that Jiayi might have more power than she knows. The novel also plays with the idea of stealing other cultures and profiting from them (cultural appropriation). I think this is a really important topic right now and it is interesting hearing it discussed in the time period of the 1900s.

This is a perfect story for anyone looking for an action/adventure story about treasure hunting and history. The characters are fun to read and the story is fast-paced.

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