The Heavenly Fox by Sam Ryan

The Heavenly Fox
by Sam Ryan
Pages: 225
Date: January 27 2015
Publisher: Author
Series: Dynasty Saga (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 17 2015

This is one of those books that kind of defy genres, or labels. It's a displaced in time story, something of a time travel story. But no scientific explanation is given, and time travel stories in and of themselves, by their very nature, unless heavily loaded down with science fictiony elements, stretch the science fiction label. So this book isn't science fiction.

There is a long tradition of displacement in time, of people displaced in time, I mean. The guy who had a nap and woke up ages later (Rip van Wrinkle), the guy who suddenly found himself back in King Arthur's time ([book:A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court|162898]), etc. Somewhat by definition those have a fantasy element by their very existence, but still, it's not exactly what is normally thought of as "fantasy."

Well, this one does have very very minor touches of fantasy in the story itself, beyond the displacement in time element, so a certain "light fantasy" label could be applied.

It's supposedly set back in time, though the oddly knowledgeable 17 year old does not recognize the place by looking on maps, and does not recognize the people. Who appear to be have a mix of Asian traits. Nor does she recognize, it appears, the concept of the seven kingdoms. Though I did. There was a period in ancient Chinese history when seven kingdoms competed against each other.

Even so, there is no specific reason to believe that mention of Seven Kingdoms in the book, refers to the seven kingdoms that were conquored to create China. Especially with men having no authority at the top levels in the book. There were some rather powerful warrior women back then, though, in real life - well, at least one springs to mind. Pre-China wasn't ruled by women, though (a counter to that, I guess, is that history got rewritten a lot in ancient China, to the point that the first Emperor literally destroyed every history that existed before him. Basically saying - history begins now; so it's vaguely possible history was rewritten and that there actually was a time of female rule in ancient China, however unlikely that might seem today).

People go in and out of fashion. I've no idea if Sun Tzu would have been known in 200 B.C. China, though I suspect he would have been. Though that was 300 years after he was around. Still, it's vaguely possible he was in a low point in 'popularity' at the time and so it is not, in and of itself, a clue that this isn't ancient China simply because several teenagers didn't recognize the name Sun Tzu (most of the women in the book, it is easy to forget, especially as they are groping and more each other, are actually younger than the main character's 17 years of age).

All the above just means - I do not even know if I could call this historical fiction. As elements suggest someone traveled back in time to the warring period in ancient China, but that person could easily enough been thrust far enough forward into a post-apocalyptic world to confront a mixed-Asian culture that's about at the level of the warring period in ancient China. So this might even be a post-apocalyptic book for all I know (though there is even less evidence of that being the case).

Well. That was a lot on how I can't really figure out how to place this book on the shelves. Probably too much.

Story-wise: there are points here and there wherein things kind of dragged, and or events seemed to oddly jump, but otherwise it was a quite interesting and good story.

Character-wise: The characters . . . hmms . . seemed, on somewhat vague recollection, to be mostly well-rounded. I liked Lymee, and Alia, and all the rest. The poly-sexual nature of the time was an interesting thing to confront, especially from the view point of a "modern" woman falling in love with someone but being unable to act on it because the person they loved, couldn't have a monogamous relationship. And that "modern" woman wouldn't allow herself to be in a position of being in anything but a monogamous relationship.

Sex wise - it was somewhat oddly injected. Somewhat naturally, but still oddly. There was a layer of eroticism spread throughout. Scenes of bathing, scenes of groping, etc. While at the same time someone looking specifically for that, for graphic sex, would probably be disappointed. I guess. At some point I kind of suspected that part of the fantasy element of the story was some kind of . . hmms . . . spell/pheromones/something that was impacting that woman from the future (Lymee), because she just kept getting more and more aroused as the book unfolded, but that was just a stray thought as I read.

A strange book. A good book. So interesting that I got the sequel before I'd even completed 25% of this book. And yet, not a five star level book. Just . . . something kept it from getting there. Probably not even a 4.5 book, if we had 1/2 stars here, but a good solid 4 star book.