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A Different View of Mulan: Reflection by Elizabeth Lim

11 Nov

In the Young Adult Department, we have an excellent young adult book called Reflection by Elizabeth Lim that is part of the Disney Twisted Tales Series. The story takes off as if you were channeling into the middle of an action-packed movie. You are thrown into battle with Mulan against Shan Yu’s Han Army at the snowy banks on a Mountain of the Tung-Shao Pass. Like the movie, Shan Yu pursues Mulan as she points the rocket towards the mountain’s peak. You, the reader, are put in her shoes as she can’t help feeling obligated to do her duty to save her fellow soldiers and China. But there’s a twist; just as Mulan was about to set the rocket towards the mountain, General Li Shang jumps into action to protect Mulan from Shan Yu’s lethal attack and is wounded instead of Mulan. The Hun Army is destroyed but at the cost of a gravely injured Li Shang.  

Here’s where the book takes off in a different direction than what we as Mulan fans are used to. Because of Li Shang’s declining health, Mulan is desperate to find a way of keeping him alive. When night falls, she’s approached by the spirit of Shang’s recently deceased father, General Li! General Li has Mulan agree to go into the underworld of Diya to ask King Yama to spare Li Shang’s soul from being reincarnated. This book pays respect to the Mulan movie while giving it an incredible twist. The reader gets to explore a new side of Mulan’s narrative, as well as learn about Chinese mythology through Mulan’s quest to save Li Shang’s spirit in a world of monsters, ghosts, and demons, oh my!

Besides print, you can also check out an ebook from Hoopla or eBCCLS/Overdrive and even come inside the library to check out some other Mulan oriented materials including the animated film.

Written by:
Elbie Love

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A Chilling Halloween Read: Mexican Gothic

28 Oct

So with Halloween close upon us, it’s about the time that many of us start seeking out reads that will send a chill up our spines, something that makes us stay up at night or look over our shoulder. There are quite a few different types of horror one can explore and for many, they may want something with a gothic, creepy feel rather than something that’s filled with gore.

That’s where Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia comes in. After receiving a desperate letter from her newly wed cousin, Catalina, Naomi Taboada heads out to High Place, an ancient English Mansion in the center of the Mexican countryside to investigate and bring Catalina home. From the moment she arrives, everything about High Place unsettles her, from the manor itself to the members of the Doyle family that live within, save one, the gentle and shy Francis Doyle, brother to Catalina’s husband.

Through the book, we are woven a narrative of dark family secrets, ghosts that roam the halls, and everything one would look for in a gothic-horror novel. The fear factor slowly creeps in on you with well crafted prose and pulls you into a world that keeps you looking over your shoulder. While a good chunk of the novel is spent focused on the creepier side of things, there are parts that will bring in blood, its handled in a way that doesn’t come of as merely shock factor.

So if you’re looking for something spooky to read to put you in the mood for Halloween or the Mexican holiday Día de Muertos, Mexican Gothic is one that is highly recommended. It is available as ebooks and digital audiobooks from eLibraryNJ and eBCCLS!

Written By:
Lauren Lapinski
Circulation Assistant

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