Jiuzhaigou, the Gem of China

In traveling China, a lot of it can begin to feel monotonous: the same kinds of dramatic mountains, the same preserved traditional villages, the same death-to-architectural-style Soviet-like concrete blocks in the cities. Jiuzhaigou, located in a fairly isolated spot in northern Sichuan Province, stands apart from all that. I spent two days there, and would gladly pay the ridiculous entrance fee every few months to see how the gorgeous scenery there changes with each season.

Jiuzhaigou (simplified: 九寨沟, traditional: 九寨溝) means "Nine Villages Gully" or "Nine Villages Valley," named after the minority villagers that used to live off the land here before it was turned into a national park. The accessible park area consists of three valleys that join together like a capital "Y". It's beautiful year-round, but most popular in the summer and autumn, when the water level is high and the colors at their fullest.

Early April meant fewer crowds, but it also meant that most things were not in bloom yet. However, the spotted effect is quite magnificent, in its own way:

Here's a closer-up look at Five Flower Lake, considered by many to be the most stunning lake in the park:

Many of the lakes in Jiuzhaigou are this impossibly turquoise color, the happy result of first being carved by glaciers, then mostly filled by slow-moving water seeping out of the ground that allows the water to be both clear and have a high concentration of calcium carbonate, travertine (limestone) formations, and ages-old natural debris.

Besides for crystal-clear turquoise lakes, there are also large and deep lakes, still clear, but darker blue. April also blesses visitors with snow-covered mountains in the background. Here is Long Lake, the largest, highest, and deepest lake in the park:

Besides for marvelous lakes, Jiuzhaigou also has a lot of WATERFALLS!

Arrow Bamboo Waterfall

Me by a random waterfall among the Shuzheng Lakes, with Shuzheng Village, one of the few inhabited villages allowed in the park, in the background

This last waterfall just might be my favorite spot in the whole park. It's an anonymous one within the Shuzheng Lakes, and hardly anyone was there because it was in between stops on the scenic bus. The water confidently surging over moss-covered rocks and into the pure turquoise lake was heaven.

Jiuzhaigou is for those who want to add some natural amazement to an otherwise history-laden China tour. It is so worth the effort it takes to get there. (More tips on how to get the most out of your Jiuzhaigou trip will follow in a separate post.)

And just because, here are some photos from the eight-hour bus ride from Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu as we left for the next leg of our journey (post to come). It had snowed the night before, and--well, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

Sichuan is gorgeous, the people are friendly, and the food is delicious. I would happily go back and spend more time in that province.

Until next time!

Review: Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

Lumatere Chronicles, Book 3
Book 1: Finnikin of the Rock
Book 2: Froi of the Exiles review

Tags: YA, fantasy

Summary

Princess Quintana, carrying the child that prophecy predicts will be the one to break Charyn’s 18-year curse of barrenness, is in hiding. Numerous groups are trying to seek her out, whether it’s to kill her or take her unborn child in the power struggle for Charyn’s throne. But no one is looking for her more desperately than Froi, father of Quintana’s child, and whose recent discoveries about his own family history make him more confused than ever about his loyalties toward Lumatere, Charyn, and Quintana.

Review

How do you follow up perfection? It’s usually impossible—but this is Melina Marchetta we’re talking about, and she can do anything she wants to when it comes to writing. Still, when she actually managed to write a second book in a trilogy that was so astoundingly amazing, it was going to be a hard one to follow up for sure. While QUINTANA OF CHARYN didn’t do it for me as Froi of the Exiles did, it was still an overall satisfying ending to one of the most emotionally draining and ambitious YA fantasy series in recent publishing history.

QUINTANA OF CHARYN made me think for the first time in this series of why I like these characters when most of them can be so horrible, to themselves and to one another. Because in this installment, I think I was removed enough from their situations to be appalled at how they talked to and treated one another. If they were real, they’d be given restraining orders. We’d think they are off their rockers. We’d hiss in their faces about how they should be ashamed of themselves, about how saying you’d be willing to destroy yourself and others out of your love for her is more scary than romantic. Marchetta’s characters often seem like they’re acting out a dangerous dramatization of romance, one that borders on mentally abusive.

So how come Marchetta gets away with writing arguably abusive characters that we (hopefully) intelligent readers support fiercely, when we’re the ones who skewer portrayals of abusive characters as love interests in YA fiction? I don’t know. I’ve been turning this over and over in my head ever since I finished reading, and I still haven’t figured out why I’m okay with loving Froi, Quintana, Lucian, Isaboe, and the others, when in any other circumstance I would’ve condemned the sympathetic portrayal of such characters. Is it because I sympathize with their horrifying childhoods and feel that their experiences explain the way they interact with one another? (But the children of abusive upbringings can grow up to be positive role models.) Is it because they are good with no one except the few that they love with all their broken hearts? Possibly. Quite possibly that.

Reading what I’ve written, this probably doesn’t qualify as an actual review, more like my musings on my confusion over my feelings for the book. Stylistically and emotionally, QUINTANA was a lot like Froi of the Exiles for me: in the beginning I was frustrated with how unlikable so many of the characters were, and in the last hundred pages I was tearing up at every sentence on the page. While it didn’t have that Punch for me as Froi did, it’s still Melina Marchetta. It’s still the Lumatere Chronicles. It is so worth reading and falling for.

Cover discussion: I like the Australian cover a lot more than the US one. This is a pretty, calm, bashful model pretending to have the eerily raw fierceness that Quintana possesses. It's Quintana's strength that makes her alluring, not her outward appearances. And the Australian cover gets that.

Candlewick / April 23, 2013 / Hardcover / 528pp. / $18.99

e-galley received from publisher and NetGalley for review.

Reading for Solace or Escape?

This weeks' events have been, objectively speaking, horrifying. Boston, the failed Senate vote for gun control, Texas, and now another earthquake in China... and these are just the events that I've heard of. Who knows how many countless other tragedies less public have occurred?

For sure, times like these are not meant to be borne alone. The blogging community is just one of the many communities each of us belongs to that can help us bear the weight of knowing how much evil or senseless wrongdoing there is in the world at times. But, being the bookworms that we are, we also know how comforting a good book can be when the world makes you want to cry.

Books serve many purposes. They can entertain. They can educate. They can comfort us and make us feel less alone by sharing with us characters who we relate to, who have gotten through the situations that we're currently struggling with with wisdom to share. And they can take us away when our lives, our emotions, our problems are a little too overwhelming for us to deal with for the moment.

Yesterday, while I continuously refreshed Reddit to check on the latest updates about the manhunt for the Boston marathon bombers, I kept one hand firmly on the comforting cover of my Kindle, glad to know that, at any time of day, there were always books for me to turn to. And that made me wonder the question that I'd love you to answer as well: In hard times, do you tend to read books for solace or for escape?

Me, I think I'm an escape kind of reader. In particular, when the world is going crazy and I need to take a break from it, I devour fantasies like no one's business. The more intricate the world-building--the more characters whose unusual names and social positions I have to remember--the better. (The Song of Ice and Fire books are great for this task.) The time I can take away from the world refreshes and energizes me for when I return to deal with it.

It's your turn now, because I'm curious. How do books help you through your tough times? Are they dispensers of advice through relatable characters and their situations, or are they a temporary refuge so that you can recharge? Does it differ according to the scenario?

Review: The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker

The Emperor's Edge, Book 1

Tags: fantasy, assassins

Summary

Amaranthe Lokdon is one of the few female enforcers working for her emperor, but when she gets in the middle of a sinister plot that threatens the emperor’s life, she’s forced to drop everything from her old life in order to save herself—and possibly save the emperor. Amaranthe amasses a ragtag team, including Sicarius, a lethal assassin, to execute her crazy plan. But what if she can’t trust even her own team to have her back?

Review

To give credit where credit’s due, I kept on returning to this book after every time I decided to put it down because I found problems with the writing. So as far as self-published books go, this is a real nice free find. It has some of the problems that I’ve experienced in other self-published books—notably in pacing, world-building, and plot—but at its heart is a very delightfully strong protagonist and some chuckle-inducing dialogue.

Amaranthe is the type of woman that many protagonists think they are but aren’t really. With her enforcer training, she’s more than physically and intellectually competent. She’s also capable of getting herself out of sticky predicaments with creative thinking. Instead of saying all the time that she’s resourceful and smart and badass, she actually IS. Whenever I thought I was done with this because of some writing weaknesses, Amaranthe comes out with something that impresses me.

About those writing weaknesses… Well, it’s just the stuff that I’ve generally found to appear in self-published books. As in, the world makes sense in the author’s mind, but somewhere down the line, the author’s intended world doesn’t align with the words that actually end up on the page. THE EMPEROR’S EDGE claims to be a fantasy with steampunk elements, but besides for a few mentions of engines and mages and whatnot, it was difficult to distinguish what made this world so different than a medieval/contemporary mashup of our own. (At one point one of the characters calls out, “Yo!” I facepalmed like it was the end of the world.)

I also haven’t warmed up to the Amaranthe-Sicarius romance yet, primarily because Sicarius himself doesn’t demonstrate even a HINT of romantic gestures throughout the whole novel. Amaranthe, girl, you are really deluded if you’ve spotted anything even remotely resembling him caring for you in this episode of your life. However, I believe that the potential for romance is there, and it can pay off in the end, if that’s something that motivates your reading.

Nevertheless, THE EMPEROR’S EDGE exceeded my expectations for a free self-published novel. It’s got its flaws, but they’re not deal-breakers, not with great characters and an admirable female protagonist leading the charge. I may even consider reading on in the series sometime in the future. Snap up this free e-book and be prepared to be impressed with how much heart it’s got.

I got this e-book free on Amazon.