Paper Dragons: The Fight for the Hidden Realm

Siobhan McDermott was born in Hong Kong, grew up on a good mixture of Chinese legends and Irish folklore, and has used these memories of her childhood as the basis for this debut novel.  She used to look down into the water on boat trips and imagine a world beneath, and so she has created Hok Woh, the underwater home of the immortal Cyo B’Ahon, in which certain young people, chosen by their own provinces and called Silhouettes, are trained, and have to prove themselves worthy of becoming immortal themselves. At the very beginning of the book, we are told of the mysterious arrival of the baby Zhi Ging, who becomes the heroine of the story, so we are aware that she doesn’t actually come from Fei Chui, but she doesn’t know of her origin, and neither does her adopted mother, Aapau. She does have powers she doesn’t understand, and they mean that she is allowed to be a Second Silhouette, in spite of the antipathy of the first, Iridill, daughter of the Head Glassmith. Various trials weed out some of the candidates, but Zhi Ging gets through with help both magical and human, and even starts to understand why Iridill is so bitter, but also wonders what has happened to the Silhouettes who are supposed to have returned home.  There is a thread running through that it’s all right to be different, whatever people might say, and Zhi Ging stands up for herself in more ways than one.

Hok Won has been attacked in the past, and there is concern that the evil Fui Gwai and its thralls are planning another attack- is there a traitor in their midst? Of course there is, and the identity is surprising.  It’s a highly original world: there are floating jellyfish used as communication, the Cyo B’Ahon can age shift, dragons are definitely dangerous, and the cast of characters include helpful young Jack with his strange, mismatched eyes that switch around, and Gertie, the creator of magical creams and potions. There are occasional touches of Irish dialogue: Gertie says ‘Don’t you pay him no mind’, but the ambience is entirely Chinese and well imagined. The name ‘Cyo B’Ahon’ has been in Siobhan McDermott’s head for years waiting for a suitably inventive way for her to use it: it’s the pronunciation of the Irish version of her name by a Chinese cousin, and it works very well!  She tells us at the back of the book that there are other Cantonese links to the names she has chosen, and that is interesting.

This is evidently the start of a series: barely has the traitor been unmasked than this book ends with Zhi Ging being sent on a quest, and there is the mystery of her origin: we eagerly await the next instalment…