Emperor's Shadow

I was given an e-version of Emperor's Shadow by Yi Zhu for review.

Author Yi Zhu has written a fascinating book in Emperor's Shadow. Given the author's name and "Emperor" in the title, I expected this story to be set in China or at least an Oriental country. Actually it is not clear where the story is set, only that it is in a society dominated by an upper class and a government that dominates the poor underclass. The characters are not described in terms of their ethnicity but rather their morals, loyalties, love and honor. In short, their humanity.


It is a wonderfully engaging story with several converging plot lines. The author does a great job of weaving the separate plot lines into a coherent and, I'll say it, riveting book. I stayed up much later last night than I wanted because I couldn't leave the story. I had to finish.

Emperor's Shadow is a story of rebellion. The characters are a mixed bag, definitely not one dimensional "good guys" and "bad guys". There are characters to root for on both sides of the political divide here.

Over all, it is difficult to find any flaws in this story. It is a well paced, suspenseful, action oriented story with undertones of love, honor, duty, humor and survival. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!


Mike