pretty good. definitely interesting ( )

Missy Masters has the power to control shadows and uses this power to play a role as the vigilante superhero, Mr. Mystic. When a magical barrier suddenly appears around all of China and all of the official China towns of the world, it's up to her to find a way to take down the barrier — a challenge that leads her back into the past she left behind.

The book mixes up superhero novel with martial arts movies and dragon mythology in a fun, action packed urban fantasy. Where it differs from similar action titles is the structure, with each chapter alternating between the past and the present — a structure that was at times frustrating for me because every time I was getting used to a time period (either past or present), it would cut right in the middle of the action to the other period. However, this structure was vital to the heart of the story, unveiling her past and refocusing on a story of love, family bonds, and the way those bonds can be broken apart. It was this connection to Missy's past that made the novel more than just an action-adventure story and it's what makes me want to keep reading more. ( )

I loved the heck out of this. I've read over a hundred urban fantasy novels and it's so easy for me to pick one up now and think, "I think I've read something really close to this before." Not so with The Dragons of Heaven. It feels like a combination of martial arts movie and superhero tale and urban fantasy, and that blend works very well.

Missy Masters is a superhero on the streets of San Francisco. Her heroic alter-ego is actually the hero Mr. Mystic--the persona created by her grandfather. She's quite familiar with Chinatown and its denizens (human and spiritual), but also has intimate knowledge of the spiritual plain in China. That's because she went there to seek out the master who trained her grandfather--and life became a whole lot more complicated as a result.

The full novel hops between Then and Now; Then being her training in China, and Now being the new worldwide peril that is a consequence of her actions. Right at beginning, the switches jarred me, but I was soon engaged by the twining plot lines. There were plenty of surprises along the way. There were some major details Missy never thought on in the Now plot that struck me as odd when the reveals finally came in the end; she was a more unreliable narrator than I expected.

Overall, though, it was great fun. With the stress of the past week, I really needed a book that I could drop into like a nice hot bubble bath. The Dragons of Heaven was perfect. ( )

I received this as an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4/10

Overall Impression: It could have been much better.

Recommended for: Those who enjoy fantasy with a smattering of Chinese culture. That's who it's written for but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

As I said above, this book could have been so much better. It had the bones for something really great, but the presentation wasn't quite up to par. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't particularly enjoy it.

It's hard to talk about some of the issues with the book without spoilers, but I will do my very best. The main issue is that it should have been two books. It switches between the present and the past, with about equal page time for both. Oftentimes when this happens, I end up feeling more attached to one story line than the other, and this is what happened here. I was much more interested in the past story than the present one.

This could also be because much of what is happening in the present is directly affected by what happened in the past, and the information that you need to know to make the present sections more impactful/make sense isn't revealed until later. It wasn't very effectively done. However, I think the story would have been great had it been in two books.

Secondly, Missy's character didn't feel real to me. It took me forever to place how old she was. In fact, I didn't know exactly how old until about the last 30 pages of the book. I believe this was due to her voice. She talks like someone in their early-twenties rather than someone who is 33 and has been through...stuff. (Curse spoilers!)

While I enjoyed some of the references—I'm looking at you Princess Bride references—I did sometimes find them either unnecessary or inappropriate for her age and supposed maturity level. Basically, the present sections were not reflecting her past, and considering what her past was, I would think that she would be greatly affected by it. However, it doesn't seem that she is, which makes the character seem rather flat and unrealistic.

There were also a few unanswered questions that kept popping up in my mind. Why does she seem to dislike her grandfather so much? What really happened to him? What exactly is going on with all of these superheros? Is it like something from The Incredibles where there is a governing body that that regulates them? Has this been around forever (kind of like an alternate reality thing) or have they just discovered them and now everyone knows and likes them? And why did here grandfather dislike the governing body so much? What makes them corrupt? The world building was a little lacking, so I was often bogged down with questions trying to figure out how everything worked.

Sadly, this book didn't work for me despite its potential. If these types of things don't bother you, than go for it. Otherwise, I would suggest going to read The Waterborne Blade. It's from the same publisher and it's really great! ( )