THE GIRL WITH NO REFLECTION, by Keshe Chow, Delacorte Press, Aug. 6, 2024, Hardcover, $19.99 (young adult, ages 14 and up)
The crown prince’s young bride learns the dark truth the royal family has been hiding for centuries in The Girl with No Reflection, by Keshe Chow.
Princess Ying Yue believed in love…once upon a time.
Yet when she’s chosen to wed the crown prince, Ying’s dreams of a fairy tale marriage quickly fall apart. Her husband-to-be is cold and indifferent, confining Ying to her room for reasons he won’t explain. Worse still are the rumors that swirl around the imperial palace: whispers of seven other royal brides who, after their own weddings, mysteriously disappeared.
Left alone with only her own reflection for company, Ying begins to see things. Strange things. Movements in the corners of her mirror. Colorful lights upon its surface. And when, on the eve of her wedding, she unwittingly tears open a gateway, she is pulled into a mirror world.
This realm is full of sentient reflections, including the enigmatic Mirror Prince. Unlike his real-world counterpart, the Mirror Prince is kind and compassionate, and before long Ying falls in love—the kind of love she always dreamed of.
But there is darkness in this new world, too.
It turns out the two worlds have a long and blood-soaked history, and Ying has a part to play in the future of them both. And the brides who came before Ying? By the time they discovered what their role was, it was already too late. —Synopsis provided by Delacorte Press
The Girl with No Reflection is a YA fantasy loosely based on Imperial China.
At the center of the story is Ying, a young woman who was matched to the crown prince and swept away from her home and everything she’s ever known. Ying’s early interactions with the prince leave her wishing for a life elsewhere, and when she’s given the choice, she takes it. Except, some offers really are too good to be true.
Ying’s a strong, independent character, but she lacks depth and can be unrelatable at times. There’s opportunity for the prince to be the more interesting of the two, but he spends so much time glowering that it feels like a missed opportunity.
The best part of The Girl with No Reflection is the mirror world. This is where debut author Keshe Chow shines. She hooks readers from the start, and really sets the stage going forward. The magical world that Chow creates is exciting and clever, and I wish she had explored it more. And it makes me wonder how the story told from the mirror world Ying’s perspective would have played out.
And while Chow’s magical world is, well, magical, I wish she had spent more time with her prose, which feels contemporary in a story that is very much not. There were a few spots where I actually paused and went, “what?”
That said, I still enjoyed The Girl with No Reflection, reading it in less than three days. It’s a decent YA fantasy.
Sensitivity note: violence, gore, swearing, death, suggestive sexual content
Copyright © 2024 Cracking the Cover. Unless otherwise noted, all books — digital and physical — have been provided by publishers in exchange for honest and unbiased reviews. All thoughts and opinions are those of the reviewer.
