The City of Sand

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.