The City of Sand

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About The City Of Sand

Product Description A multimillion-copy bestseller in China—now available in English! In this heart-pounding adventure, a group of individuals who have come together for an expedition, each with a specific interest, soon find themselves motivated by one common goal: the sheer will to survive.   THE QUEST: To find the lost city of Jingjue, a once-glorious kingdom, along with the burial chamber of its mysterious queen. Both lie buried under the golden dunes of the desert, where fierce sandstorms and blazing heat show no mercy.   THE TEAM:  Teenagers Tianyi, who has the ability read the earth and sky through feng shui, and Kai, Tianyi’s best friend and confidant; Julie, a wealthy American whose father vanished on the same trek a year ago; Professor Chen, who wants to fulfill a lifelong dream; and Asat Amat, a local guide gifted in desert survival.   THE OBSTACLES: Lethal creatures of the desert and an evil force that wants to entomb the explorers under the unforgiving sands of China’s Taklimakan Desert forever. Translated from the Chinese by Jeremy Tiang, whose recent work includes NEVER GROW UP, the translation from Chinese of the autobiography from action movie superstar Jackie Chan. From School Library Journal Gr 6–9—Tianyi and his friend Kai are gold hunters who embark on the gentlemanly pursuit of locating ancient tombs and liberating the contents. They search for ancient graves in hopes of finding artifacts they can sell to supplement their families' meager earnings. Tianyi learned the trade from his grandfather and hones his skills with a tattered book the old man gave him: The Sixteen Mysteries of Yin-Yang Feng Shui. After a harrowing escape from zombie corpses, giant bats, and killer sloths, the pair head for Beijing to sell their wares. In the city, they meet Professor Chen and Julie, a Chinese American photographer, who are mounting an expedition to find the fabled lost city of Jingjue where Julie's father disappeared. The team hires Tianyi and Kai to lead the expedition and guide them through the Taklimakan Desert with Tianyi's feng shui skills. Translated from Chinese, this rollicking adventure rarely pauses. Tianyi is reminiscent of Indiana Jones, escaping from one cursed trap after another utilizing feng shui, quick thinking, and plain old luck. He is an engaging narrator. However, the frenetic pacing makes it difficult to keep track of the plot, and by the end of the book, the group's harrowing escapades seem to take over the story. VERDICT A secondary purchase; buy where action/adventure tales are popular.—Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor School District, Lancaster, PA Review "For readers looking for a full-tilt adventure with a side order of the supernatural, Chinese author Tianxia Bachnag has all they could want with The City of Sand." -- LOCUS "A richly imagined and artfully translated tale of history, adventure, and magic." -- PW "This rollicking adventure rarely pauses." -- SLJ "Filled to the brim with ancient and modern Chinese history . . . a fun and spooky ride. It's not hard to see how Bachang became a best-seller in his home country." -- Booklist About the Author Born in Tianjin in 1978, the year China’s reforms began, TIANXIA BACHANG (the pen name of Zhang Muye) is a child of the new China. His careers have been many and varied, a winding path of self-discovery that would never have been open to his parents’ generation. An avid gamer, his pen name comes from his online avatar, and his stories have been bestsellers within the gaming community. The City of Sand is his first book to be translated into English. He continues to write and maintain an active connection to his fans online. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter One       My grandfather gave me my name, Tianyi, which means “as the heavens intend.” His name was Hu Guohua, and our family were once wealthy landowners, known for miles around. At their height, they had more than forty houses on three adjacent