“Reflection: A Twisted Tale” – A Disney Nerds Book Club Review
This month we are exploring another twisted tale! We are going to China and into Mulan’s world. We are talking about “Reflection” by Elizabeth Lim. It is the fourth book in the Twisted Tale Series. Each book dives into the world of one of our favorite Disney films. “Reflection” is all about Mulan and what happens if she didn’t save Shang during the attack of the Huns in the mountain.
Spoiler Alert!
Reflection’s story begins when Mulan (who is pretending to be Ping so she can be in the army) and her fellow soldiers are in battle with the Huns on the snowy mountain. Mulan grabs the last canon. She sees the chance to aim it at a snowbank above and bury the Huns. She gets close and fires the canon but maybe a little too close. Shan Yu nearly kills her but Shang steps in the way and gets hit by Shan Yu’s sword (instead of Mulan). The Huns then get buried by the avalanche that started from the canon Mulan fired. Mulan gets herself and Shang out of the snow but discovers that his wound is bad. Things do not look good for Shang. The troops are supposed to head to the Imperial City and Chi Fu says to leave Shang behind because he’s not going to make it. Mulan refuses and brings Shang along but Chi Fu will not let any of her friends help take care of Shang.
When they camp for the night, Mulan wakes to find the ghost of Shang’s father standing over him. Shang is not going to survive the night. Mulan begs General Li for help and discovers she must travel to the underworld, called Diyu, and convince King Yama (king of the underworld) to release Shang’s soul and let him live.
Mulan is determined to save Shang so she enters Diyu and with the help of the Li’s family guardian, ShiShi, to journeys to save her captain. She encounters many obstacles and trials on what seems like an impossible task. Does she make it? Does Shang live to see another day? You’ll have to find out for yourself!
It’s a must read for a Mulan fan!
Personally, I loved this installment of the series. In Reflection, you go into a completely different world than what we experience in the film when we follow Mulan to Diyu. I feel like I learned more about an aspect of Chinese culture which was great. It was also more a self-discovery journey for Mulan which was wonderful to read. I feel like Mulan gets to become herself more in this book than the animated film. Mulan also learns something different on this path than what we see in the live action film too. This book is like a third version of what could happen in Mulan’s life depending on the circumstances (and we still keep our animal guardians and friends like the animated film!).
If you haven’t started reading this series yet, then I highly recommend that you do! I really am enjoying this whole series and each book gives a different side to beloved characters that we would never know if we just watch the animated films and that’s it. I can’t wait to read the next one!
