Wow just loved this. What a sweet and heart rending story about the pursuit of freedom. I’m a sucker for a road trip, even an ancient Chinese one, and this one was paced so well that I never grew bored, no matter where Ping stopped off for an adventure.

There is some real visceral horror - the pickle scene in Huangling comes to mind - and some wonderfully funny and whimsical moments too. Danzi’s way of speaking in half sentences, and his penchant for shape shifting into a hoe, endeared me to him quickly. I also just loved the “child x big animal x small animal” dynamic of our main characters, which evoked fond memories of watching Avatar: the last airbender.

The brutality and tragedy of the world is never far behind our characters, and it makes for a hard ending. I’ll be thinking of this book for days to come.