Serpent of Time (Eugene Woodbury)

Serpent of Time
Eugene Woodbury
Peaks Island Press
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: In feudal Japan, Princess Ryo's fortunes have suffered after her father, the Southern Emperor, yielded to his northern rival. Now, she travels from one gilded cage to another, always a pawn in someone else's power game. But Ryo has a secret - one she herself only learned one fateful day on Lake Riyo. At birth, she was marked by the Serpent of Time, a dragon chained to the service of her ancestors. It claims her life as its own; by giving her life and soul to the dragon, she will free it at last from its cursed existence. But Ryo doesn't know whether she will survive such a bargain. Besides, she is an emperor's daughter: surely she should be the one dictating terms to the dragon, not the other way around. After a failed attempt to rally support for her father, Ryo finds herself on the run from the powerful shogun. Only the Serpent of Time can help her... but at what cost?
A Kindle-exclusive title.

REVIEW: I may be being slightly generous in the rating, here. Princess Ryo and her handmaiden Sen, not to mention the whole of their feudal Japan, feel strangely modern; Ryo even makes disparaging remarks about the "nouveau riche," which certainly doesn't sound like ancient Japanese to me. She comes across more like the stuck-up rich kid from high school than an imperial princess, and her faithful handmaiden Sen seems more like a long-suffering best friend than a servant. The official Amazon description spoils the fact that the Serpent of Time transports Ryo 600 years into the future (our times), but the book itself drags its heels getting to this plot-pivotal moment, sending the exiled princess halfway across Japan and back first. Traveling backwards and forwards through time, she continues dodging enemies and dangers, while slowly realizing that her own royal arrogance is more than half responsible for her current predicament. Fortunately, Ryo manages to keep her royal head while dealing with modern marvels, though I caught more than one slip-up as Woodbury has her refer to modern items by names she hasn't yet learned. Still, at least the book moves, and it has a decently polished feel to it that some direct-to-Kindle efforts sadly lack. (I found my inner editor bristling, though, as Woodbury repeatedly lets "yolk" stand in for the proper term "yoke" - please, authors, it's worth your while to double-check your spellcheck!) The ending felt a little too clean and neat, but I've definitely read much worse.
(And, yes, I know I've been on quite a Kindle kick lately... it's just been more convenient to grab between the numerous other projects I'm trying to keep ahead of right now.)

You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragon's Keep (Janet Lee Carey) - My Review
Found (The Missing sequence, Book 1) (Margaret Peterson Haddix) - My Review
Dragonheart (Charles Edward Pogue) - My Review
Dragon Keeper (Carole Wilkinson) - My Review