The Secrets of Jin-shei [Hardcover]

Alma Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

Enter an ancient world of courtly elegance and intrigue, where sages are also sorcerers, and the daughter of a lowly seamstress can become a companion to an empress. In this magical land there is a secret language -- a language that women have passed down from mother to daughter for countless generations -- a language that signals a bond like no other . . . the bond of jin-shei.

Set in a mythical Chinese kingdom, The Secrets of Jin-shei is a timeless story of what sustains friendship -- and what tears it apart. Accepting all the joys and responsibilities of jin-shei, eight girls pledge lifelong loyalty to each other: the poet, Tai, whose promise to a dying girl changes the history of an empire; the warrior, Xaforn, an orphan who will protect her chosen family no matter what the cost; Khailin, the scholar, whose thirst for knowledge leads her into a world of dark secrets and alchemy; sage Nhia, the only person with the power to save Khailin; Tammary, the gypsy girl, whose secret lineage could ruin a royal house; Qiaan, daughter of a captain in the Imperial Guard, with family secrets of her own; the healer, Yuet, confidante to the empress; and the empress herself, Liudan, whose search for family and ultimate quest for immortality holds the power to destroy them all.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This fast-paced, imaginative, and thoroughly engrossing fantasy explores the meaning of friendship and loyalty among eight young women--sisters of the heart--in a mythical Chinese realm. Ever since the dawn of time, mothers have passed on to their daughters a special language (jin-ashu) and the existence of special friendships (jin-shei) that cross boundaries of class and heritage. Accepting someone's offer of jin-shei brings both benefits and responsibilities, and Alexander's characters find their lives both complicated and enriched by these friendships. Kito-Tai, the poet daughter of a seamstress, is asked by Princess Antian, the emperor's oldest daughter (and empress-presumptive), to be her jin-shei, a request that will eventually change the course of the empire. Although Alexander has published four other novels in Australia and New Zealand, this is the first to be published in the U.S and will surely whet readers' appetites for more. Nancy Pearl
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“[B]eguiling...unique...a rich cast of characters...extraordinarily accomplished.” (--Financial Times (London) )

“Alexander has created a world of depth and detail in The Secrets of Jin-Shei. A fine, rich novel.” (Louise Marley, author of The Child Goddess, The Glass Harmonica, and The Terrorists of Irustan )

“Alexander expertly weaves the lives of characters into a plot full of intrigue and magic....” (Orlando Sentinel )

“Vivid and involving...an exotic journey into the imagination, and a graceful exploration of the heart.” (--Victoria Strauss, author of The Burning Land )

“Fast-paced, imaginative and thoroughly engrossing.” (Booklist )

“...sure to be popular with fans of Amy Tan, Gail Tsukiyama, and even Marion Zimmer Bradley.... Highly recommended.” (Library Journal - starred review )

“[B]eguiling...unique...a rich cast of characters...extraordinarily accomplished.” (Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat and Blackberry Wine )

... a ‘must read’....” (--Whatcom Independent )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060563419
• ISBN-13: 978-0060563417
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,289,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In a recent interview someone asked Ursula LeGuin what would be if she wasn't a writer; she replied, "Dead.". It's the same way with me. I have a most enviable occupation - I dream for a living. I love what I do. Welcome to my worlds.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant !, March 17, 2007

By 

Buns "The world is yours" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secrets of Jin-shei (Hardcover)

This was such a fantastic read for me. From the very first page, I was hooked; Alexander's prose is poetical and evocative of a magical place and time.
The story follows a group of young girls, all different in age, as they grow up into adulthood. These girls are all from different social classes and positions in their society; medieval China. However, they are also linked - through jin-shei. Jin-shei is a secret society of women, bound to each other not by blood but by loyalty that makes them sisters of the heart. This special bond may mean that they merely share their secrets in life, their passions, and their upsets, just as any close friends do. However, their loyalty may be tested in harder ways and a favour asked in the name of jin-shei cannot be ignored.
As the girls pass into adulthood and they begin to find their place in the world, this bond begins to be tested as one of their number becomes the Dragon Empress. In her new place of power she lusts after complete control of her state. But the loyalties of her jin-shei sisters is really put to the test when she beigns to lust after the impossible; immortality. Suddenly, their seemingly idyllic world is a place of intrigue, treason, gossip and many dangers. Will the jin-shei group survive?
This book is fantastic for those people who enjoy complete new worlds where they can escape into for a while. There are essences of religion and philosophy, magic (dark and good), love and hate, and tragedy. It is a complex book as it follows quite a few characters. However, all the characters seemed very real to me, each one had personalities which had good and weaker sides. I really enjoyed this book, it is magical. . .

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE than pleasantly surprised ..., May 22, 2004

By 

Alex Jay Berman (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secrets of Jin-shei (Hardcover)

Having looked at the novel's plot and read some of the other books the author has published under another name, I thought I knew what to expect: A diverting novel, sweeping in scope, with deeply examined emotions. You know, a good book. Possibly heavy on the chick-itude.

Upon entering JIN-SHEI (note the choice of words; it's less like beginning a book than falling into its world), however, I was blown away. Yes, it's sweeping. Yes, characters are given to the deepest of emotions. And yes; the main characters are women.
But the book is so very well-constructed that the characters become real; are drawn with such verisimilitude that they become as friends to the reader.

As for the chick-itude? Well, on the occasions when I read fantasy, I go for the darker stuff: The Harlan Ellison-blow-your-scalp-off stuff. And though I can appreciate the talent of, say, an Amy Tan, it's not my thing.

JIN-SHEI, however, I find, IS my thing; I simply could not put it down--and in fact could not sleep until I had finished it.
Even one of my best friends, whose taste in fantasy is more given to the Thud-and-Blunder school, read it in a shot and was similarly taken by the book.
Though by a woman, and ABOUT women, THE SECRET OF JIN-SHEI is a book for ALL readers who appreciate a good story well-told, be they male, female, or whatever else is possible.

This is writing at its finest.
Wait--did I say "writing"? Scratch that. This is WEAVING--of a tapestry so rich and defined, you cannot help but be ensnared by its threads.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ten characters in search of a trilogy, July 16, 2005

By 

C. H. Osborne (San Jose, California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secrets of Jin-shei (Hardcover)

In her notes, the authoress describes the initial concept for this book as "ten characters searching for a plot" and admits that there was no story until she read about "nushu", a secret Chinese written language which had been used between women for centuries but which is now extinct. Given such a large cast of major characters, a secret tie which binds them all, and the sumptuous background of a fantasy Chinese society in which magic and alchemy actually work, the stage is set for a complex and compelling tale of epic proportions. You would expect publishers to be signing up for a trilogy, at least.

Unfortunately, the promise doesn't quite reach the fulfilment it deserves. The book starts well and although all the major players appear almost too rapidly, time is spent in their character development as children. Later though, as they assume their adult roles, they become facilitators of the larger plot and drift in and out as required to keep things moving. Months, and sometimes years pass between the primary and generally traumatic events in the plot, so that at least one character can be brought from childhood to old age before the back cover. Characters recover from major traumas far too quickly, or disappear to lick their wounds in some convenient place that doesn't interfere with the pace of action elsewhere. Major characters die and are too-quickly gone, and the plot moves on. A powerful enemy is defeated in a page, leaving a strong sense of anticlimax.

Some significant developments take place offstage and leave us with no feeling of involvement; they feel more like obligatory plot requirements than actual events. Given the promise of the early part of the book, this all feels like the constraints of having to produce and conclude a well-rounded story spanning perhaps almost a century and involving a huge cast of significant characters in 500 pages. There really is no room to explore all the characters in the depth that they deserve, so only one or two of them end up as principal players at the cost of the others. Even the implications of Jin-shei itself, which supposedly forms the premise for the whole idea, are not explored as there's really no time to do so.

Having said all this, it's a memorable story and a great concept. It could have been a classic in the feminist fantasy genre had there been fewer main characters and less situations for them to explore, or if the focus could have moved away from the traumatic to the more everyday now and again. Any one of these characters would have made a good, perhaps a better, book, but this one just doesn't give them enough room. You just know from the outset that, as with all adventures that feature a large cast of heroes (or heroines in this case), some of the characters are doomed and it's probably not worth getting to know them too well.

Still a great idea, and a good read, but could have been great.