In Shawe Ruckus’s short fantasy novel, PRINCESS ROURAN AND THE DRAGON CHARIOT OF 10,000 SAGES, a young girl named Moli travels from China to London to attend her father’s funeral. There, she stumbles into a realm where dragons and other Chinese mythological creatures abide, and she is mistaken for a shamaness whose powers may aid in humanity’s healing from its myriad troubles: war, famine, plagues, and racism, among others. Once Moli enters the mystical realm, the story is full of Alice-in-Wonderland-esque absurdities, like a snake and a turtle alternating asking Moli mind-bending questions, haunted rulers and warriors mourning Earth’s past wars, and a hall of magical doors featuring mathematical symbols with humanity-ending consequences for opening them. Most of these bizarre events and characters are both entertaining and imbued with meaning, though the connection among them and between the often meandering plot and the story’s theme is often loosely defined.
Minute details described with precise word choice makes the magical world Moli enters feel tangible and real, from the “peculiar sweetness in the embittered air” to the “blustery whirlwinds [that] whipped up sand curtains around them.” Details both minor and pivotal to this mythological world mirror Moli’s present-day Earth. A fierce argument among soldiers and political leaders about what it would take for humans to find peace reminds Moli of the the inflammatory discourse around COVID-19 in her world, and how statements that only through unity and cooperation would people be able to fight the pandemic make her feel somehow despondent and hopeful at the same time. Even when not explicitly stated, Moli’s wide range of emotions are palpable through the book’s eloquent prose, and her complicated feelings drive her actions as she slowly takes control of her circumstances over the course of the book.
Evidence of the COVID-19 pandemic ripple out into the story, with details like characters wearing face masks and posters in public places with reminders to socially distance. The Chinese main characters face discrimination and violence because of their ethnicity, which bolsters realism and empathy for Moli and her family as they navigate the frustrations of an ignorant society. While progressive social comments characters make are heartwarming and logical, they at times feel forced and didactic, as when Moli witnesses a Chinese man gently confront a woman making racist remarks about COVID-19 and China at the mall; these thematic messages of tolerance and rationality may be better received if more seamlessly woven into the story and more obviously connected to the mythological creatures in the fantasy realm.
With a precocious young protagonist navigating immense, sophisticated ideas and feelings, Shawe Ruckus’s PRINCESS ROURAN AND THE DRAGON CHARIOT OF 10,000 SAGES is a thoughtful story about choosing empathy and hope in a world of grief and intolerance written with eloquent language and Alice-in-Wonderland-like flair.
~Aimee Jodoin for IndieReader