SMALL SHEN is the amazing story of Gold -- a stone spirit and a chronic troublemaker in the court of the great Gods of Chinese mythology.
A mix of Kylie Chan's brilliant storytelling and Queenie Chan's beautiful illustrations, SMALL SHEN is a fantastic treat for fans of WHITE TIGER. Readers will be thrilled to discover the events leading up to John Chen and Emma Donahoe's story in this wonderful prequel.
Shown through Queenie Chan's stunning illustrations and comics, the story follows the stone spirit Gold's entertaining adventures throughout history. His escapades include seducing a dragon princess, attempting to steal one of the Tiger's wives, making bets with demons, and working for the Blue Dragon of the East.
Eventually, as a result of his crimes against Heaven and his constant philandering, Gold is ordered to join the household of Xuan Wu, the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens. Xuan Wu is also known as John Chen, a Hong Kong businessman.
The story then follows Gold and Jade -- the dragon princess - in contemporary Hong Kong. The two small shen must help guard John Chen's beloved human wife and baby daughter from demon attack. John Chen is vulnerable to attack while living on Earth, but his family are in the most danger of all...
SMALL SHEN is a unique piece of work for fans of Kylie Chan to treasure, but also a fantastic introduction to this gripping series.
excellent taster
Small Shen is the prequel to the Dark Heavens series of novels by Australian author, Kylie Chan, and is illustrated by Queenie Chan. The narrative alternates between the time period just before White Tiger (1995-2002) and times before this (1720-1995), and ostensibly tells the story of Gold, the small shen who ends up working for John Chen (Xuan Wu), the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens, but also details the events surrounding Simone’s birth and her mother, Michelle’s death, ending with the introduction of Emma Donahoe. Chan gives the reader lots of background to the Dark Heavens stories and even a clue to John’s Yang serpent. The “times before” sections are lavishly illustrated by Queenie Chan’s graphics, although the last chapter shows that Queenie’s forte is illustrations of sumptuous scenes of times ago. The cover demonstrates just how gorgeous these illustrations would have been in colour. Fans of this series will be grateful for this taster while they wait for the first of the Celestial Battle series, Dark Serpent.
Marianne, 13/10/2014
