Shadow of the Yangtze (Ghosts of Shanghai) by Julian Sedgwick
| Shadow of the Yangtze (Ghosts of Shanghai) by Julian Sedgwick | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: The middle part of this trilogy beats the first for the very ease with which it brings its epic action to the reader. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 320 | Date: April 2016 |
| Publisher: Hodder Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781444924497 | |
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And so we're back with Ruby and Charlie, in war-torn China in the late 1920s. Without giving anything of the first book away, a rescue mission is needed, and the help Ruby has had in the spirit world may well not appear. Charlie knows who would help – the Communists, but for Ruby, even though she was born in China she's definitely an outsider, an alien. With their quarry sailing off upstream amidst a storm of warfare, the friends have to take to the Yangtze waterways in pursuit – but just as in every corner of the mysterious city they're leaving, things quite strange to them will be appearing – shadow warriors, weaponised trains and ghost ships amongst them…
That 'and so we're back' of mine is to point out the immediacy of the writing. Once more this book, with its present tense and firm engagement with Ruby's actions and emotions is utterly compelling. Better for me, this time round, is that we quickly leave the city behind, that city that I really couldn't get a firm grip on last time, whether it be the actual geography or the meaning and reason behind so many foreign cliques and unities being present in the city. There is still a map to be had for this book, however, but perhaps as we leave the historically accurate metropolis for the more fictionalisable (if that's a word) riverscape, we feel a greater engagement not with the author's research but with fun.
And it's great fun, all told. The most unlikely of characters, the strongest situation and the sheer race-against-time of it all really do keep the pages turning. The book for me strikes a quite rare but most appreciated balance between fantasy and spooky genre piece, and straightforward gung-ho adventure novel, abetted by the fact that Charlie's obligation is definitely within the mundane world, but for Ruby things still keep enwrapping her in the spiritual. The oriental flavour of the supernatural elements really does make this series a most distinguished and distinctive one – and this continuation of it is even more readable and pleasurable than the first. With very little to score against it, I have to say this trilogy is shaping up to be really memorable.
For an equally brilliant read set in the exotic East, we recommend Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Shadow of the Yangtze (Ghosts of Shanghai) by Julian Sedgwick at Amazon.com.
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