Forbidden Tales

By Da Chen

On the morning of Miu Miu's fifteenth birthday, her mother makes a startling revelation: Miu Miu's fate is to travel to the faraway city of Chang'an, avenge her father's death, and find her true love. But the evil emperor has other plans for her. Defeating him will take all of Miu Miu's courage, wit, and martial arts experience.

Master storyteller Da Chen paints a vivid portrait of his native land in this classic tale of honor, adventure, and romance in ancient China.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 16, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061957307

Da Chen

Dr. Da Chen is currently an ARC (Australian Research Council) DECRA (Discovery Early Career Researcher Award) fellow at Department of Infrastructure Engineering, the University of Melbourne, Australia. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at School of Civil Engineering, the University of Queensland, where he obtained his PhD degree in June 2018. He worked as a research fellow at MFM and ISMD, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. He will shortly join School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW (University of New South Wales) Sydney, as a lecturer. Dr. Chen has an interdisciplinary research background across structural, material, and mechanical engineering with a focus on the advanced composite structural forms for various end-user applications, such as novel lightweight non-uniform foam components, graphene reinforced nanocomposites, vibration absorbers, concrete columns, and offshore fish cages. His study promotes the development of functionally graded porous structures and has been widely acknowledged. His research achievements include 6 Highly Cited Papers (top performing 1%), 2330 Web of Science citations, and 7.72 for Field-Weighted Citation Impact (2017-2021, SciVal), as of January 2023.

Reviews for Forbidden Tales

[yabookfest · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like historical fiction and strong female heroines, but I was disappointed in this novel. The basic premise is that Miu Miu, a 15 year old girl, must avenge the death of her father. He was a master swords-maker and, after creating a powerful, magical sword for the Emperor, was slain by him. Miu Miu has studied marshal arts as well as swordsmanship and heads off of her mission. The middle section becomes boring. Her meeting with her arranged husband-to-be is extremely unlikely. The battle with the Emperor is full of gruesome details about different martial arts moves. The sudden introduction of magic toward the end is just confusing.Further, the characters lack depth and dynamics. The writing style is pretty boring, too, and there's little tension until the very end.Perhaps lovers of marshal arts will find it more entertaining than I did, but I can't recommend it.

[nematome · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A pretty entertaining Chinese fairy tale. I loved the powerful girl heroine and I thought that the fight scenes were very well written.

[karenball_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Miu Miu lives in Goose Village in ancient China. Before she was born, her father, a master sword-maker, was killed by the emperor. If Miu Miu had been born a boy, her fate would have been to avenge her father's death, but as a girl, her fate is to marry someone who will have to do the avenging for her. She has been engaged since birth to Tong Ting, a boy she has never met, and she has been secretly trained by the local monks in martial arts. Her mother makes a deal with the village elders to allow Miu Miu to seek vengeance as a son, and she is sent on an epic journey with little more than her father's last and best sword (long hidden in the dirt under their hut), his clothing, a few coins and a small jade pendant with her unknown betrothed's name carved into it. Miu Miu faced trials of all kinds, and finds allies in all sorts of places. Lots of fairy tale events, but a wonderful tale with strong characters, exciting events, and really good villains! Especially good for 7th grade, since we study ancient China.

[joririchardson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I love books about the historical Middle East, and Da Chen is good at description in her book.However, I found the story to hold many pointless, irrelevant details, and go far too quickly, especially at the beginning. An unbelievable and unrealistic story with badly portrayed characters and events.Not a very good book.

[pstotts_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the great things about books is their ability to open up new worlds to a reader, the author assuming the role of knowledgeable tour guide. Not many Western readers have the opportunity to experience China personally, so our view of China is often limited to what we read about it, which is greatly dependent on just how knowledgeable the author is about Chinese culture. Da Chen, who grew up in China before moving to New York, has the credentials and life experience to be a wonderful tour guide. But while Chen’s latest young adult novel “Sword” is an enjoyable and action-packed romp that’s also a loving portrait of Chinese culture, it also suffers from some glaring weaknesses. The flow of the language in the book is awkward to say the least and the novel’s conclusion is a major letdown. For every part of “Sword” that I enjoyed, there was an equal part of the book which I did not.Miu Miu wakes up on her fifteenth birthday not to the sounds of a Matchmaker knocking on the door to announce her choice of suitors, but to something much different. Before she was born, Miu Miu’s father was murdered, leaving her mother and her all alone. Now she has been informed that instead of starting her first steps into womanhood with her betrothal, she’s to avenge her father’s murder. Before Miu Miu leaves for the capital, her mother reveals a secret that she has held onto for fifteen years. The son of her father’s apprentice Tong Ting has been chosen to be her husband, but only after he kills the murderer of Miu’s father, which just happens to be the emperor. (Talk about ratcheting up the difficulty factor!) Tong Ting will be wearing a jade necklace that matches the one that Miu’s mother gives her for her fifteenth birthday. She also recovers the last sword that her father had crafted, an immensely powerful weapon that can match the magical might of the emperor’s sword. Not wanting to leave revenge to someone who she’s never met, Miu begs the Elders to let her go and kill the emperor. Securing the permission of the Elders, Miu sets off on her murderous quest. It’s kill or be killed, since anything else will bring untold shame to her family and village.On her long journey to the capital, Miu stumbles across a cocky young man who challenges her to a fist battle in the forest. (Miu is disguised as a man, so there are no fistic improprieties here.) While in the woods to settle this battle of egos, she discovers something she couldn’t have even imagined. During the heat of the battle, a necklace falls from his neck. It’s a perfect match to the one her mother gave her (you had to see that one coming) and is inscribed with Miu’s name. It seems she has found Tong Ting, he betrothed. Together Tong Ting and Miu conspire to assassinate the emperor. (Who knew dating could be so much fun?) Finally on reaching the capital, nothing goes like they planned as they discover that the sword crafted by her father does more than just kill. “Sword” has many enjoyable aspects. The narrative is very entertaining and engaging, effortlessly pulling the reader through the story. Chen displays great skill in creating his characters. They are interesting, warm and engaging, and I found myself empathizing with them. The fight sequences are detailed and vivid. Sadly though, I found Chen’s use of Chinese terms for the martial arts moves very distracting. It’s not the Chinese words that are distracting, but the English translation that follows in parentheses. It’s like reading a book with parenthetical subtitles (which is so annoying, don’t you think?). This interrupted the fluidity of the narrative, the flow bogging down as each new technical term conveying the move is followed by a translation. Instead of trying to paint a picture with a description of the move, Chen only offers the technical term. It’s telling the reader rather than showing them.The climax of the book felt very anti-climactic (although the fight scene was vivid if you could overlook the overabundance of technical terms in the description). But after the climax, the story finished somewhat flat, seemingly meandering to its conclusion. It’s a shame since every page of “Sword” has something interesting happening. The book doesn’t lack for page-turning action, and it never feels like a chore to continue. Unfortunately the resolution is disappointing.Last Word:“Sword” is a quick and enjoyable read. The action scenes were entertaining, even though the Chinese (English) description of the moves took away greatly from the flow. After finishing the book, I was left with a sense of emptiness like I’d missed the high point of the story. I wanted a stronger conclusion.

[awriterspen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Sword by Da Chen was an enchanting Chinese fairy tale that tells the story of Miu Miu, the daughter of a famous sword maker who was murdered because the Emperor did not wish anyone else except himself to ever own such a beautiful sword as the one Miu Miu’s father made for him.Miu Miu sets out to avenge the murder of her father in order to fulfill the destiny her mother mapped out for her. Her travels are both delightful and dangerous, and Da Chen beautifully writes with such fluidity the story seems to flow out onto the pages. I’ve read many fairy tales, and this ranks among the most well told I’ve ever read.Even more intriguing than the fairy tale of Miu Miu and her betrothed Ting Tong, is the opening twelve pages that tell of an ex-convict named Ar Kin who returns to the village after serving a twenty year sentence in Siberia. I wish more had been written about Ar Kin. I found him fascinating and I was left wanting to know more.My biggest criticism of this book is that the end wrapped up too quickly and too neatly. Da Chen could have easily written two different endings and up until the end of the book, I wasn’t quite sure which way it would go.I found every part of this book to be tastefully written, and would not hesitate to recommend this book to any adult or child 11 years and up.

[silverheron_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

FORBIDDEN TALES: SWORD By Da ChenPublished by Harper CollinsISBN: 978-0-06-144759-4Most Americans are aware of Fairy Tales based from a European background. Native American tales and African tales are also becoming more popular. The Chinese Tale, however. is not so well known in the west. This is a beautifully written book that describes what happens when a young Chinese girl reaches 15 and learns the truth about her father’s death. She now must face the challenges of avenging his death and the potential marriage to a man she has never met. All the while feeling the pressures of her mother and her community to do what is right.If you have ever seen the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” it will help you to imagine what the beauty of Da Chen’s written words express. Through his words I can feel myself spinning in the air and flying through the trees. As in all good tales this one has a moral to the story and an ending that will leave you surprised and satisfied. I had no idea what was coming in the ending until it came and I loved it. This book is only 229 small pages long. It gets you into the story quickly and resolves things equally fast. This is a great book for anyone who wants a good read with lots of heart.