Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao

When a real demon threatens Zack and his mom is attacked, ending up in a coma, he discovers a connection to the spirit of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, that gives him magical powers. Zack has made friends through playing Mythrealm, an augmented reality game that uses a wearable portal-lens that spawns mythical creatures from folktales and legends from around the world. His dissident father was executed by the Chinese government, and he faces Islamophobia in the U.S. He is the only Asian kid in his mostly White town in Maine, and, as a Hui Muslim, he is also a minority among other Chinese and Muslims. Zack has always struggled with a sense of belonging. Twelve-year-old Zack is recruited into helping the spirit hosts of ancient Chinese emperors in a dangerous mission. Now, with one of history's most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor's incredible water dragon powers.Īnd if Zack can't finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack's body and binds to Zack's AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack's mom's soul gets taken by demons. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. HTML: Percy Jackson meets Tristan Strong in this hilarious middle grade 'edge-of-your-seat adventure' (James Ponti, New York Times bestselling author of City Spies) that follows a young boy as he journeys across China to seal the underworld shut and save the mortal realm.

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao