Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

★★★★★

I have to admit, I had several false starts with this book. I tried reading it aloud to Isabelle more than once, and somehow we never got into it. We put it back on the shelf, and there it was forgotten - until recently. With When the Sea Turned to Silver (a third book in this series) coming out soon, I figured it was high time to finish this book.

Starry River of the Sky is a companion story to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. It's not a sequel, and you don't have to read the books in order. Rather, the main character in this book is connected to one of the supporting characters in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

This book follows the same style as WTMMTM. Written with lots of descriptive metaphors, and gorgeously paired with full-page color illustrations that are as much a part of the book as the text, both books tell the story of a child - a girl in WTMMTM, a boy in SROTS - who leaves home for some reason. Chinese folk tales are woven throughout, and the tales turn out to be central to the themes of the main character's story. There's the feeling that the primary story could take place in real life, but as magical things happen, and you realize the story itself is a folk tale as well.

The books are not entirely similar, however, and a fan of WTMMTM should not expect "more of the same" from this book. Where WTMMTM had Minli going on an epic quest, meeting a dragon along the way, SROTS has no real adventure. Instead, SROTS centers on an inn, where characters gather and stories are told. Only Rendi realizes that there is something wrong in the night sky, and the clues to solving the mystery seem to be in the folk tales he hears.

I love the way all the stories tie together. I am familiar enough with Chinese folk tales that there were some characters and concepts that I recognized. However, I don't know them well enough to know which parts were "authentic" and which parts were imagined by Grace Lin. Many Chinese folk tales have several versions anyway, so the idea of Grace Lin adding new twists - while keeping within the traditions of Chinese folk tales - is rather fitting. She writes in the Author's Note: "I hope my book makes those unfamiliar with the tales curious to read them. For those who already know the mythology, I hope that prior knowledge only makes my versions more enjoyable." Indeed, I felt my limited prior knowledge helped me to better enjoy the stories, and the stories made me curious to read the original Chinese versions!