📖 Novel of the Week: Reflection (Twisted Tales #4) by Elizabeth Lim

Back in 2016 I wrote about retellings (you can check it out HERE) and many more books and series have been added to the genre ever since...I've only read a few of them, but I jumped right into "Reflection" out of curiosity, since it's a modified version of the Disney movie.

Check my review and thoughts to see whether I liked it or not.

The story begins with the Tung-Shao Pass battle against the Huns. If you're familiar with the Disney movie, you'd know that Ping (aka Mulan) saves the day by provoking an avalanche, but gets stabbed by Shan Yu...

Shishi is the Chinese word for guardian lions which are statues believed to have mythical protective powers. My brother has a pair of these in his tattoo shop.

In this version of the story, it's Captain Li Shang who gets mortally wounded and Ping goes against everybody's will and carries him away from the battlefield and to the Imperial City. It's night time when the troops decide to stop for the day and Shang's conditions got worse. Ping is fighting tiredness when the spirit of General Li (Shang's father) appears to her, saying his son's spirit is already in the Underworld and begs for Ping to bring him back among the living.

Burdened with guilt for what happened to him, Ping doesn't hesitate and thanks to ShiShi (Li's family lion guardian) quickly arrives in Diyu where she meets with its ruler, King Yama, and convinces him to give her a chance to save Shang' spirit.
Since King Yama has no record in his books of a Fa Ping, he's intrigued (and bored) enough to allow her to try, under one condition: she has to be back at the entrance of Diyu by sunrise, if not she'll be trapped in Diyu for eternity as well.

From that moment she enters the lower levels of Diyu, Ping has first to find Shang and together with him go all the way up to the 100th level to the entrance...too bad spirits (especially demons) aren't happy that someone who's still alive came all the way down there to bring somebody back...

👍👎My Thoughts

At first, I have to admit, I wasn't that much into the story because it was so similar to the movie...BUT hang in there, it gets way better right after Mulan/Ping enters the Underworld!

The actual story and action start almost immediately and you'll be transported in a world full of magic and spirits (both good and evil) and get a taste of Chinese underworldly folklore, which I'm very interested in, even if fictionalized.
I appreciate the incorporation of scenes from the movie with new characters and adventures, I think they combined perfectly.
The author's writing is clear and involving to the point I plan to read another book from the Twisted Tale series. The 'what if' starting question opens a lot of plot opportunities and I'm really curious about the faith of one or two other princesses...

New Retellings

Besides the Twisted Tales series by various authors, there are many more retellings about some of the most loved fairytales characters, like Cinderella or the Mad Hatter, but also characters whom maybe not everyone is familiar with... here are some examples.

Dream Keeper (Sandman retelling) by Amber R. Duell

Dream Keeper (The Dark Dreamer book 1) by Amber R. Duell
Mad as a Hatter (Sons of Wonderland book 1) by Kendra Moreno
Glass Slipper by Sarah Penny (on Wattpad)