As a Note: The Audiobook has to be redone (The Narrator did not know Mandarin) so if you need to read books that way, you may want to wait some time.

In my Iron Widow review I talked about the issues with Comp Titles.

This one IIRC is Percy Jackson meets Yu-gi-oh.

While it does not include playing children's card games for much of the plot (but AR headsets and games do fit in to the story) I have ZERO issues with this comp title.

Zachary's gaming headset is possessed by his ancestor Qin Shi Huang, and when Zachary's mother's soul is snatched, leaving her in a coma, Zachary must go to China and team up with a couple other children to reinforce a seal before Ghost Month, or it spells the end of China if not the world, and his mother of course.

What I really love about this book (other than everything) is that part of the conflict is how disconnected Zachary is as a Chinese diaspora to the mythos of Qin Shi Huang. Also, I can't think of a single other book I've read that mentioned Hui Chinese people. As such Zachary eats Halal (or Vegan if there are no other options).

This is not a book that speaks of how great China is. Zachary's father was executed years before the story started for standing up for Uyghur rights. Occasionally, while in China, there are mentions of how in certain areas, the Chef's knives are chained to their kitchens, that sort of thing.

This book also lead me to learn the Chinese healthcare system (from the payment side) isn't friendly to chronic issues, and I have to admit I'd simply assumed that China had good state-paid healthcare because I'm in the US, known healthcare-insurance-hell-hole. Now I will say I tried to look into this more, and the articles on wikipedia don't seem to be up to date, and there doesn't seem to be much information in English (unless you are willing to trust random websites, and as an American, I've tried to be really careful to not believe random bullshit about China). Basically I'm saying, I know the author has done loads of research, I'm just going to trust them.

Anyway, while I suspect if you know your Chinese history and mythology, you have an upper hand in the twists of the book, but if you don't, everything gets explained pretty well without overwhelming you with information.

All in all this is great, I don't remember the last time I loved a Middle Grade book this much. I'm gonna have to buy a hardcover copy of it (and Iron Widow) at some point.