Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Last Dragon of the East by Katrina Kwan
A tale about the Thread of Fate that leads towards a dragon.
4 stars
A story based on an East Asian mythology about the Red Thread of Fate, it involves Sai, a poor man running a teahouse with his ailing mother. He has the ability to see people's Red Threads of Fate and, as a side business, he helps and guides people to find their Fated One, who is at the other end of the thread. But a mystery surrounds Sai, for his own Thread is not red, but grey and fraying: and he has never sought out his own Fated One.
But one day, he buys what are purported to be dragon scales, a miracle cure. The scales come to the attention of the cruel Emperor, who orders Sai to find the dragon, or else. His search would take him through a battle, where his thread would suddenly react in an unusual way.
He would, of course, find the dragon. But the search …
A story based on an East Asian mythology about the Red Thread of Fate, it involves Sai, a poor man running a teahouse with his ailing mother. He has the ability to see people's Red Threads of Fate and, as a side business, he helps and guides people to find their Fated One, who is at the other end of the thread. But a mystery surrounds Sai, for his own Thread is not red, but grey and fraying: and he has never sought out his own Fated One.
But one day, he buys what are purported to be dragon scales, a miracle cure. The scales come to the attention of the cruel Emperor, who orders Sai to find the dragon, or else. His search would take him through a battle, where his thread would suddenly react in an unusual way.
He would, of course, find the dragon. But the search would also lead him to discover his Fated One, and go on a journey to escape the Emperor. He would also discover the reason behind his grey Thread, a reason that dismays him. But it is during the final confrontation with the Emperor that Sai discovers who he really is, and the reason for the Emperor's hunt for dragons.
A story in the Fantasy-Romance vein, but laced with scenes of violence (as warned by the author at the beginning) that show off the cruelty of the Emperor, but also the desperation of Sai and the dragon to escape. In the end, they do escape the Emperor, but not before suffering high emotional anguish, which makes the impact of the ending even more fitting.