This is all backwards! This young adult book has a MONGOLIAN HEROINE who kills people. Usually, it's the Mongolians who are the bad guy and it's a male swinging those swords as the hero. Emmajin wants to be a solider and win glory on the battlefield. Instead she gets a mission to spy on a foreigner, Marco Polo....

The writing style felt more geared to a younger young adult (maybe 12?). The subject matter maybe not. Nothing too graphic. I've read a lot of reviews here and disagree ... the characters didn't have much depth and was more of a romance novel with an undercurrent of a sword and board story.




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This novel is an insightful and intriguing tale of a thirteenth-century princess who gave up her privileged lifestyle to become a brave, respected Mongol war - rior who traveled through China with Marco Polo

I really wanted to like this book more, especially given the reviews I've seen, which were very positive. There were parts of this book I really enjoyed, which elevated it to four stars rather than three.

About the parts I enjoyed, the writing is very good, the historical and cultural information was intriguing. In particular, the descriptions of war were really gripping. I read a lot of historical fiction and this book really made me feel like I was truly there, experiencing those gruesome, morbidly fascinating things. All of these parts of the book? Excellent.

Unfortunately, a lot of that is overshadowed by the two things about this book that really bothered me:

1) The contrived "romance" between Emmajin and Marco. I understand it was used as a vessel for us to learn cultural information, but I felt like Emmajin and Marco could have learned these things from each other (and so could we) without it. In fact, I would have vastly preferred it that way. It just... didn't feel natural to me. Their "feelings" for each other felt forced and unrealistic. It wasn't essential to the plot, and I feel like it would have been more realistic if they had admired each other in a more platonic, less bizarrely codependent way, a way that was actually closer to the courtly love that Marco was always spouting on about. (Honestly, I felt like Marco telling Emmajin about that became a little creepy. At first, I thought it was sweet, but later, as Emmajin clung to this idea and the farther from true courtly love their interactions went, I felt more like Marco was an older man in his early 20s telling this naive, unworldly girl who is barely 16 about this to justify his lusty feelings for her, particularly when he started talking about "courtly love" on, like, on the SECOND DAY. Really?? I just. Ugh.) And Marco kept comparing them to Tristan and Isolde and I'm like, "NO. NO NO NONO." Their "love" isn't timeless, Marco is in no way, shape, or form knight-like (or really even attractive or desirable, as far as I'm concerned), and Emmajin is not a princess--or even a woman--that I admire. I wasn't rooting them for as a couple, and every time one of them talked about the other in that pathetically lovesick, flowery way, I just wanted to throw the book across the room.

2) The endless, ENDLESS waffling and inconsistencies. In one sentence, Emmajin says one thing. Then, in the next breath, Marco comes into the room and she changes her mind. Then he leaves and she changes her mind again. This happened over and over and over and over and over... I wanted to scream at Emmajin, "MY GOD JUST MAKE A DECISION AND STICK WITH IT FOR CRIPE'S SAKE!" Keep in mind, sometimes these are decisions about her entire identity that she's changing willy nilly. "I LOVE MY MONGOL HERITAGE WE ARE THE WISEST AND BEST AT EVERYTHING!" *three sentences later* "HOW COULD I HAVE EVER THOUGHT MONGOLS ARE AWESOME LOOK AT HOW TERRIBLE WE ARE I AM ASHAMED!" I realize she's trying to find herself, but the author made it seem like the only way to do that is to be completely unable to make any decision ever and, if you make a decision, to change your mind about it immediately, and, if you don't change your mind immediately, to then instantly regret it after you realize that *gasp* decisions have consequences and it doesn't always mean you made a bad decision it just means that ALL decisions have consequences, good or bad. The author also made it feel like any decisions Emmajin made depended on Marco. Hardly a way to create a strong female character. There are ways to have her try to decide her future, and whether it includes Marco, without morphing the female into a tiresome, personality-less, direction-less, indecisive bore.

While writing this, I almost brought this book back down to three stars, but I'll stick with my four because, like I said, the parts that didn't involve romance or decision-making were very good.

I am moving on to the sequel because I want to know what happens, but I don't imagine it will get any better. ( )

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang is the fictional story of Emmajin, a granddaughter of Khubilai Khan. She was raised with her male cousins and allowed to partake in activities such as archery, horse-back riding, racing and wrestling. She had decided that she did not wish to marry and would rather be trained to serve the Khan in his army. All she had to do was convince her grandfather of this.

At first her grandfather was not receptive to her wishes, but did decide to use her as a spy, assigning her the youngest of the Polo’s, a family of merchants from the far city of Venice. Marco Polo was a young man of nineteen and when the two young people starting spending time together at the Khan’s summer palace of Xanadu, they formed both a friendship and a bond. But Emmajin did not forget her mission and her information was so well received that she was allowed to join a military expedition to the far south as a soldier. She was there when the King of Burma invaded and took part in the bloody battle to overcome the invaders. This battle showed her that she really didn’t have the stomach to be a soldier but she also did not want to settle into a woman’s traditional role so she had to once again convince her grandfather to allow her to become an emissary and travel to far lands for him.

This is a YA historical novel that was interesting, fully researched and well written. There is a sequel about Emmajin’s travels to Christendom with Marco Polo and I am looking forward to continuing on with this story. ( )

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang is a historical fiction young adult book that has been well researched. Even though the main character, Emmajin is fictional the place, Xanadu did exist.

Emmajin was inspired by the Chinese legendary female warrior Mulan. The author made her a granddaughter of the Kublai Khan. She was allowed to learn archery, horse riding and loved to be outdoors. She aspired to be a great warrior and bring honor on her family.
By the time that Marco Polo arrived, there had already been many changes to the traditional life of the Mongols. Changes in their housing, food and some of their traditions had already taken place.

The author's characterization of Marco Polo makes me want to learn more about him. He seems to be a learner and a peacemaker. The culture and history of Venice where he came from was vastly different.

The author cleverly teaches about the contrasting cultures by a semi romance between Emmajin and Marco Polo. Emmajin is perplexed by her feelings for Marco Polo, on one hand she was attracted by him physically and by his strangeness but on the other hand so knew it would never work.

I would recommend this book highly for young adults interested in Chinese history. There is another book by the author solely about Marco Polo. ( )