Rick Riordan’s imprint knocks another one out of the ballpark, with a bit of a twist on the demi-god trope he’s stuck to for so long – reincarnation.
Pahua is an 11-year-old Hmong girl. I stopped reading after about page 5 to search for historical context and references before getting too far into the story.
Hmong is not a nationality, but an ethnic group of people who’ve lived and farmed in Southeast Asia, specifically Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and parts of China. They fought with the US during the Vietnam war and subsequently faced discrimination and human rights abuses after the North Vietnam Communist Party's victory in 1975. As a result, many immigrated to other countries, including the US.
Minnesota, where the book is set, is believed to have the largest population of Hmong in the US, according to the International Institute of Minnesota. While many still adhere to the traditional animism portrayed in this story, some have adopted different faiths.
Once I had that background, I started reading again.
Pahua can see and talk to spirits, including a little black kitten, Miv, who is her only friend. She’s always been able to do so, but her mother is reluctant to discuss shaman training school for her, and Pahua thinks this is because her Aunt had to leave the shaman school without finishing a long time ago. Pahua thinks she’s hiding her abilities from her family, when in fact, she’s not; her mom and Aunt are protecting her, because among the Hmong, only shamans can see or interact with the spirit world. Pahua shouldn’t be able to do what she does with spirits.
Pahua doesn’t know this until she releases a vengeful ghost, a girl who died a long time ago and has been tethered to a rail line long enough to want to get revenge -- by stealing Pahua’s little brother’s soul and dragging it down to the spirit world. A shaman in training, Zhong – actually a student at the shaman school Pahua wants to attend – saves Pahua and enlightens her about her spirit communication abilities being … unusual. Maybe even unique. Zhong becomes Pahua’s reluctant ally in the quest to get her brother back for reasons entirely her own.
In the process, Pahua learns she’s the reincarnation of a powerful being, and dragons and other spirits literally come out of the woodwork to stop her from realizing the full extent of her powers. She, Miv and Zhong fight their way to her brother’s soul, only to learn the ghost’s being manipulated by an ancient enemy of Pahua’s original incarnation.
And then Pahua must grapple with an existential foe – doubt. Is she just some reincarnation of a powerful being? Doomed to behave badly and make the exact same mistakes that being made, again? Or is she Pahua, with her own heart and will? Or is she, maybe, some combination of both?
This was an excellent, upper-MG fantasy and we can’t wait to read the next one! Enjoy.
