Reflection by Elizabeth Lim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Any Mulan fan knows well the battle scene versus Shan Yu and his army high in the mountain pass. But what if Captain Shang ended up mortally wounded during the course of that fight?
What would Mulan do in order to save him?
This story tackles that very question. In this recent addition to the Twisted Tales series, we follow Mulan, still posing as the solider Ping, as she travels to the Underworld, Diyu, to try to save Captain Shang.
King Yama, ruler of the Underworld, has agreed to a deal with Mulan. If she can navigate through the different levels of Diyu by sunset, facing numerous challenging obstacles along the way, Shang will be revived and she will be released.
If she fails, however, she will remained trapped in the Underworld as Yama’s prisoner forever.
So, no pressure.
Accompanying her into Diyu is Shang’s lion guardian, ShiShi. Like Mushu in the original version of Mulan, he added a great deal of humor to the story. Although a bit tougher on Mulan than Mushu, I just adored his character.
I really enjoyed in this one. It was such a fun and interesting twist. Following Mulan into Diyu had a very Alice in Wonderland dreamlike quality to it. The obstacles she faced were genuinely terrifying at times and I loved the dark atmosphere to the entire tale.
This is now officially my favorite book in the Twisted Tales series, out of the ones I have read thus far. I truly enjoyed Elizabeth Lim’s take on this classic tale and look forward to reading more from her in the future.
If you love Mulan, you should definitely give this one a shot!