The Emperor's Jade

by Robert Mitchell

For over two thousand years the secret hiding place of the jade dragon seal of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, has been just that - a secret. But the accidental destruction of a small ancient porcelain pillow reveals that secret, and leads the young Australian teacher and his Scottish friend away from their peaceful college at Nandaihe on the shore of the Bo Sea, drawing them up into the freezing bleakness of the jagged mountains of Huangshan, as they try to outwit and elude those who would steal their secret, the jade seal, and their lives.

Genres: Historical Fiction

377 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 20, 2013

About the author

Robert Mitchell spent his early years in Melbourne, Australia where he graduated from Melbourne University with degrees in Law and Arts. Moving to Suva, Fiji, in 1969, he spent the next twelve years practising law, with a mid-term break of two years when he and his wife, May, acquired a one-third interest in a marine salvage company. Robert acted as company manager, diver, and assistant salvage master in a number of marine salvages in the South Pacific. The experience he gained during those two years has been used to great advantage in several of his novels. In 1981 he returned to Australia and continued practising law. In 1988 his novel The Lucinda Legacy was a prize-winner in the Australia-wide Bicentennial Novel Competition. In 2000, he and his family moved to Brisbane, where he retired. In 2003, he and May ventured to China, where they taught English to high school and college students for two years. They travelled extensively throughout China during this time, their experiences reflected in his two latest novels. Robert now spends his time writing - for the pleasure it gives to others.

Reviews

[Markus H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I like it?
History/archaeology in East Asia. China to be more precise. That’s the stuff I’m interested in.
The story is a good one, an interesting one. I would have like to love it really. But…
What I didn’t like
Two things. The MC is not a very likeable person. Very aggressive, short tempered. He’s living as an English teacher in China. With only a beginner’s knowledge of Chinese. He should be happy that there are people he can communicate with (Moon). Translating for him. Helping him. Instead he’s very aggressive with her. She might be a bit of an annoying person b ut she’s helping him with his insufficient knowledge of Chinese. Even in his communications with his Scottish co-teacher Duncan, very, very aggressive. Duncan is my second problem. Although I only know 1 and a half Scottish people ‘personally’. Neither of them was constantly using the words ‘wee’ and ‘lad’. When the MC and Duncan speak for the first time the use of wee and lad by Duncan is a bit odd. But fine for me, it’s the introduction of someone from Scotland. I can live with that. Unfortunately he never stops. And this is more than annoying. It just doesn’t seem natural. Nearly at the end of the book, the MC finally complains. And Duncan stops!
It kills a lot of the pleasure of the book for me. But that’s just my personal taste
Would I recommend it?
The story is interesting, the setting is interesting. The twists and turns are all believable. If there weren’t these two points. I would have liked the book a lot more. Nevertheless 15 out of 20 points.

[louis mogel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read

The book kept me interested . Didn't really flesh out the characters. A little vanilla for me. A bland storyline.

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

James Lawrence is an Australian teaching in mainland China. Out shopping one day, he purchases an antique Chinese pillow box, thinking he's made the Antiques Roadshow find of a lifetime.



Alas, his dreams of avarice - and the porcelain pillow box - are shattered. But wait! There seems to be something hidden within the pillow box. It's this item that sets Jamie off on his adventure. After trying to make it on his own, Jamie must admit his Google-fu is not strong enough to solve the mystery. He decides to turn to his best friend he never mentioned until this moment, Duncan Campbell. Duncan is Scottish. You know that because he's constantly using words like "wee" and "laddie."

The game is afoot as our pair of foreigners try to stealthily find the treasure while avoiding not only the Chinese government but also the criminal underworld. Of course, some people would say the Chinese government and the criminal underworld are the same thing.

The one thing that stops this from being an adequate B-book adventure (besides the author's love of the word "rubbish") is that the protagonist is a complete asshat. Jamie uses and abuses his friends and colleagues, calling them fat cows and telling them to shut up all the time. If I talked that way to my friends I would have a black eye - and no friends. When his friend, Moon, is attacked, all Jamie cares about is what this means for him. He becomes so obsessed and paranoid over what he's found inside the pillow that I'm surprised he never got around to muttering, "My precious." Jamie commits a couple of terrible crimes but after a few minutes of The Shakes his conscience is clean as a whistle. Well, not that he had much of a conscience to begin with. After all, the whole plot of this book is Jamie's efforts to steal a national treasure.


So piss off, Jamie.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Australian man who is interested in antiques is teaching in China. He and his guide/student go looking for antiques. He finds what turns out to be a centuries old artifact. Others are interested in the artifact and will stop an nothing to get it. The search for the tomb of the artifact is interesting too.