#mythrealm

[mortifiedpod]

Mortified! Episode 142: Friendship — From Legend to Mythrealm (Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor)

This week, Aaron and Leyla take a day-long immortality pill to talk about Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor! Join us for the normalization of anime merch, some pretty direct Yu-Gi-Oh comparisons (including this episode title, if ya nasty), and a sidebar about William Henry Harrison.

Mortified! The Friendship Quest is a podcast where two long-distance friends exchange media recommendations and take a dive into things like the Artemis Fowl-to-Sasuke pipeline, making catboys mainstream with James Cameron, and occasionally invite some friends to play TTRPGs or talk about how Yugi Muto inherited male-pattern baldness from Yami Yugi.

YouTube | Spotify | iTunes | Twitter | Newsletter

#zachary ying and the dragon emperor #zachary ying #mortifiedpod #Youtube

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Chaotic reactions why I really frickin like “Zachary Ying & the Dragon Emperor” so far in the first 10 chapters:

- Humanizes a Chinese ethnic minority. Also disapora issues that I found relatable being a Chinese American. - Chinese history! Including historical figures & mythology that is not taught in the US. - Proudly age-appropriate political criticism of BOTH US and China (and European colonizers). Xiran Jay Zhao- never let yourself get censored! Ever! I personally think everything mentioned is totally fine for middle schoolers to find out about. The younger the age that kids know their country’s dirty history, the better. - I frickin LOVE the banter. And the world building has been very easy to pick up on. - So many video game references i LOVE it. “Ready Player One”, move aside. - It makes a big difference, but I like third person POV narration significantly more than 1st person. - I love me some Percy Jackson, but most of my problems with it… literally squashed within these first 10 chapters of Zachary Ying (see below cut).

Spoilers!

-Surprise age appropriate queer rep! Zack clearly likes boys and he doesn’t know it yet (in the first 10 chapters). And its not a 1 line sentence type thing- oh no its everywhere in the subtext so much that you’d be blind to not realize it. One thing white writers, even queer writers, forget is that a queer BIPOC person is not gonna experience queerness the same way- any stigma against their cultural background & physical appearance is irreplaceable in their experience. -Speaking of which, I am very very very happy that Xiran does not market any possible queerness the same way as Iron Widow. I think this should be one of those series that are casual rep.  - Also even if you’re not Chinese, I feel like queer kids could realize “hang on. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with me and these ‘different’ feelings i had as a kid are not bad.” -Melissa is feminine power?!? No “not like other girls” and can still kick ass. -I like Wu Zetian in Zachary Ying more than in Iron Widow. -Nice way of sneaking in history lessons- between bantery conversations, Mythrealm “cards” (ie Pokemon/Yugioh cards), and dreams/flashbacks/visions. That one card that was like “Americans stole these horses. BRING THEM BACK TO CHINA.” A+ chefs kiss.

Ok now my problems with Percy Jackson that this book does better in the first 10 chapters: - Diversity! But like well-rounded and researched diversity thats also seems to be based on personal experiences, rather than checkbox diversity. It also addresses stereotypes. Some of which I can relate to myself. - Unsupervisored 12year olds running around: They kind of have a brainwashed adult chaperone. Kind of. They still do dangerous magic things that no 12yearolds should be doing, Chinese or western lol. - Mist inconsistency: instead it’s a active spray of soup that erases people’s memories. I like Harry Potter’s version of muggle view blinding best though. I can see this soup becoming a bit of an issue if they ever run out. Who makes the soup anyways?  -Cell phones & tech: Part of the premise is that there’s tech eeeverywhere and I’m always worried about a writer not being able to balance hiding supernatural stuff amidst tons of surveillance. PJO doesn’t make sense bc somehow the kids are able to keep up with pop culture, even the ones that live year round a camp with no technology that we see. Due to the video game premise, ZY is full of it and it balances it well so far. I’m awaiting for a truly chaotic event that goes viral/problematic on the internet tho xD Also THANK YOU for introducing non-US internet!  - Pop culture references: Riordan’s references were reeeally cringey, especially in Trials of Apollo. I like the references here, even though I’m sure they’ll be outdated in 10 years. (Unless ATLA references manage to stick around!) - “Being different.” Ok Zack and Percy have very different personalities. Some people may like Percy’s personality. I kind of like Zack’s approach to “being different” bc he’s more subtle about it- Zack’s internal “I’m different” thoughts are not in your face. It’s more assimilation, although I can predict that by the end of his character arc, he’s gonna accept his differences. (And I like it better than Iron Widow’s “I’M DIFFERENT!!!” thing). - The historical/supernatural beings are not good: The gods in PJO start out being black&white good and bad, and we don’t start seeing the bad sides to the “good” gods until later. Here, we get the “that historical figure possessing you is terrible” right away in the first 10 chapters. - We all know Riordan’s various plotholes- heck he literally admitted to it publicly: There’s only 1 Zachary Ying book so far, but the world building seems consistent and like it makes sense. Xiran’s still a newly published writer tho, and hopefully they don’t accidentally retcon/make plotholes in sequels. - Multiple cultures/pantheons co-existing: MCGA & Trials of Apollo kinda made things muddy. However, Xiran addresses multiple pantheons early on in a way that is culturally sensitive. - The gods & DNA: OH BOY. I’m just bring this up cause none of the mortal human main characters are biologically related so if any romances happen, not gonna run into that weird “Gods dont got DNA” problem lol. I do look forward to see if any slowburn romances happen eventually. - Prose: This is only a personal preference. Original PJO was written in first person so everything sounded like a childish 12-15 year old boy because he is a child. Zack is in 3rd person and that allows the prose to be eloquent, even for a 12yo. It’ll be enjoyable for a teen/young adult/adult to read. I’m not sure a really young kid would be able to read it, but if a really young kid can read Harry Potter, they’ll be more than fine with this.

My favorite use of historical figures in modern day fiction is still Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott. But I still find this enjoy and look forward to finish Zachary Ying and

#zachary ying and the dragon emperor #zachary ying #xiran jay zhao #personal #book #review #reactions

[olivias-shelf]

This is the book that I needed when I was younger.

Zachary Ying hasn't really learned about the stories related to his Chinese heritage. He's busy trying to survive middle school, somewhere he already feels out of place as one of the few Asian Americans there, and playing Mythrealm, a game on his AR headset. However, when the First Emperor of China possesses his AR headset and Zack's mom's soul gets taken by demons, Zack has to journey across China to save his mom and prevent all the spirits from the underworld from flooding the mortal realm.

The way that Chinese historical events and Chinese mythology blended together with the sci-fi aspect of AR technology was really well done. I enjoyed reading about references to stories and other small pieces of Chinese culture that I grew up with - Sun Wukong, Nezha, the poems of Li Bai, the dragon boat festival - on and on, this book made me smile at all the pieces of familiarity brought to life in a new adventure.

Since the basis of this story includes a few famous emperors throughout Chinese history (as revived by legends of their lives), there's a lot of great commentary on what it means to be good versus bad, especially as a leader. All of these leaders did terrible and great things, all in different ways, and I'm glad that there was plenty of exploration on that front.

And the cliffhanger! I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

A thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books, and NetGalley for the ARC.

#arcs #middle grade #zachary ying and the dragon emperor #bookblr #book review #five star review #xiran jay zhao

[godzilla-reads]

I’m guessing Qin Shi Huang is still bitter about the mercury poisoning.

📖 Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao

#godzilla reads #qin shi huang #ying Zheng #zachary ying and the dragon emperor #Zachary ying #xiran jay zhao #mythrealm #reading #reads #book excerpts #mythrealm tag #booklr #bookworm #books #bookish #booklover #book blog #book blurb #bibliophile

[mythrealm]

Kayla Aesthetic ~ 🐻🌸🍃

#KaylaTheBear #pink aesthetic #floral aesthetic #floral #pink #aesthetic #MythRealm #ShortyStuff

[mythrealm]

Meet Shorty!

There isn’t much to know about me really, I’m the shortest of the four admins and have always been considered short (hence my name). My personal accounts are @shortygrass and @herbabrevis the first being more active. You can find more information on me there if you are curious or you can just shoot me an ask on my personal, or here using the hashtag #ForShorty ! I have waaay too many characters that I adore and love with all my soul and I hope to write some little shorts with them to post here. Wow you read all this? You deserve all the love and support in the world, live beautifully!

#MythicalAdmins #MythRealm #myths #nature #aesthetic #forest #woods #ForShorty

[mythrealm]

Hello!

Welcome to the Myth Realm! This is our little space off the internet! There are four admins here, Shorty, Mac, Mike, and Code. We are all close friends who have known each other for years. On here we post character aesthetics and our account follows a fantasy and nature aesthetic. Our ask box is always open and we may occasionally do aesthetic requests.

#MythRealm #welcome #introduction #intro #fantasy #nature #aesthetic #aesthetics #forest #woods #witch #dark nature #natural #plants #animals #vampires #MythicalAdmins