Review by Booklist Review
Nearly 2,000 years ago, two Vietnamese sisters led an army of women against their Hán Chinese overlords, briefly creating an independent nation that set the stage for the creation of Vietnam. Nguyen brings the near-mythical figures of the Trưng sisters to full-blooded life in this sweeping historical narrative. The imperious and dutiful Trưng Trắc and her younger, impetuous sister, Trưng Nhị, are the daughters of a lord, raised to rule and encouraged to choose their own partners outside the economic constraints of marriage. But the shadow of Hán rule forces one sister into a year of imprisonment while the other contemplates running away to be with the man she loves. When their defiance of a Hán suitor leads to the murder of their loved ones, the sisters stand up against their oppressors. They slay a tiger that has terrorized a village for more than a decade, writing their proclamation of war on its skin. Though the path to victory is riddled with obstacles, the Trưng sisters' determination and skill earn their place in history. Gripping historical adventure.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Nguyen (Roundabout) shines with this portrayal of two sisters' heroism in ancient Vietnam. Set over seven years during the Bronze Age, when the Han Dynasty ruled what is now Northern Vietnam, the story follows Viet Lord Trư ng and Lady Man Thiệ n of Cung Diệ n Mê Linh, who raise their daughters Trư ng Trac and Trưng Nhi to rule as men's equals. Instilled with the religious beliefs and values of the Viet traditions, the girls struggle to conform to the forced assimilation of patriarchal Confucian culture. This struggle comes to a head when Lord Trưng is executed by order of the Han government. Together, Trưng Trac and Trưng Nhị raise an army of Viet women to retake their hometown from the Han and free the Viet people. Throughout, Nguyen returns to the traditional bronze drums as symbols of Viet pride and culture, scorned by the Han: "She wanted to demand that he respect the instrument.... An object forged with such care, one that took on a thousand meanings... should not be a gift to dismiss lightly." Bronze drums echo throughout the story, leading the Viet sisters in peace and in war. Readers will not want to put down this epic feminist page-turner. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Narrator Quyen Ngo adds the perfect spark of life to Nguyen's (The Adventures of Joe Harper) fictionalized account of the highly revered Hai Bà Tru'ng, the legendary sisters who led an ill-fated rebellion against the Han Chinese when they first dominated the Au Lac region of Vietnam in 40 C.E. Ngo adds an air of playfulness between the sisters, who are opposites in personality, and a sense of grandeur to their father and mother, the Vietnamese lord and his wife. The love the two women feel for the men they have chosen is palpable. Ngo's portrayal of the Han as ruthless conquerors resonates. It is grimace-worthy when the girls' father and older sister Tru'ng Thac's husband are beheaded in front of them, then they are banished from the court. Ngo is careful and precise with pronunciations, often caressing selected words and delivering characterizations that are both sensitive and grounded. Her authentic pronunciation of ancient Vietnamese words, names, and places seals the deal. VERDICT A fascinating peek into life in ancient Vietnam and its matriarchal past, eloquently performed.--Stephanie Bange
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
When Beyoncé asked, "Who run the world?" was she thinking about the legendary Trưng sisters? During the early years of the Common Era, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhi, two daughters of a Việt lord, grew up within palace walls. Their northern homeland was under the increasingly tyrannical rule of the Hán from neighboring China. Trưng Trắc, the older sister, was studious and steadfast; Trưng Nhi was rebellious and resistant to the constraints of royal life. When the uneasy peace their father had maintained with the Hán was disrupted and terrible injury was inflicted upon their family and loved ones, the young women (eventually referred to as the She-Kings of the Việts) call upon their inner strengths, upon their classical education in the art and philosophy of war, and, most importantly, upon other Việt women to defend their homeland. Marshalling an army of 80,000 women, the sisters waged a spectacular war--complete with drums, arrows, and elephants--on the Hán, and, for a short time, the postwar kingdom was ruled by Trưng Trắc. When her rule was disrupted in a Hán rout, an effort was made by the conquerors to confiscate all the bronze drums that had become the means of battle communication for the women warriors in an effort to build a towering symbol of Hán superiority. Some drums, hidden and buried by the vanquished women, are still unearthed today, providing continued support for the legacy of the fierce duo. The sisters have long been revered as national icons in Vietnam, and this fictionalized account of their rise to military greatness includes extensive, cinematic descriptions of battlefield tactics and imagined scenes of heartache and horror while not avoiding references to mistakes in judgment (diplomatic and otherwise) they may have made. Nguyen reminds us that the power of women is nothing new. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
