The Spirit of the Dragon

By: William Andrews

Narrated by: Janet Song, Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's Summary

From the bestselling author of Daughters of the Dragon comes an epic novel of a star-crossed couple who must defy tradition, war, and prejudice to keep their love alive.

At the urging of a Los Angeles detective, international rights lawyer Anna Carlson assists in a murder investigation. It’s a personal request from Suk-bo Yi, a ninety-nine-year-old woman questioned in a mysterious death at a Koreatown nursing home. A stranger to Anna, Suk-bo has a tale to tell. For reasons of her own, she’s chosen Anna - only Anna - to hear it...

Suk-bo’s story begins in 1937, when the Japanese occupying Korea force her to marry one of their own, named Hisashi. In spite of their differences, they fall madly in love, pitting them against two violently opposing cultures. When Hisashi joins the Japanese Imperial Army and disappears, Suk-bo embarks on a quest through years of war, bigotry, and poverty to find him.

But Suk-bo’s unfolding history reveals more than Anna can imagine: an heirloom comb bearing an intricately carved two-headed dragon binding her to Suk-bo’s past. Soon Anna will discover her own legacy at the heart of Suk-bo’s epic love story.

©2019 William Andrews (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

As Good As Daughters of the Dragon

This is a true sequel to Daughters of the Dragon and reveals much more Korean history. I’m embarrassed to say that I knew next to nothing about Korea till I stumbled on Daughters a few years ago. The book opened my eyes to the modern history of Korea and was richly entertaining at the same time. This book is just as stunning.

It’s a Romeo and Juliet romance set within many decades of change inside Korea, China and the US. Of course the Dragon Comb is the magic token that weaves the story together and ties it to the previous book. It never fails to amaze me how Andrews can tell a complex story using very simple English and yet connect multiple crucial events and figures in history with his characters without losing the realism. His characters are so well-developed that it’s difficult to believe they aren’t real people. I thought I would know what this book was about and did not expect surprises. I was wrong. There were big surprises. And even my father, a devoted reader and 87 year old Cold War veteran, did not know about Unit 731.

The one slight irritant is the narration. I usually like Emily Woo Zeller (or was that Janet Song?) but this time her attempt to replicate a Korean speech pattern was grating. It was too slow, too exaggerated and unintentionally a bit of a spoof.

The content of this book is a super A plus. Touching bittersweet romance, dramatic saga of Korea and a lot of education (for me) in a very entertaining and engrossing tale. This master storyteller should keep writing. And writing.

Enjoyable and kept my interest

I loved this story with the history and very good descriptions of situations, scenery, and emotions. The accent in the narration was just enough to enhance the story but still understand what was being said. I will recommend it to others. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Obsessed

A must read for all fans of human rights and world history. Such a beautiful courageous story.

Loved It

A great survey of Korean history interwoven into an even greater love story! Highly recommended!

Very Informative

A tragic love story. Very informative about the atrocities committed by the Japanese during WWII. A good listen.

Interesting, easy way tonlearn about a historical time from Aaia.

Easy reading, stories well connected, hard reality, great for learning from other cultures and other time.

I cried at the end

A wonderful love story based on history and how war breaks the human spirit for one and makes the other more determined.

Excellent Book

Loved the history and characters and the story line. Please offer more like this.

must read

One of the best books I have listened. A true love story and history about how to love.

Thank you, William Andrews

There are so few Korean historical fictions available on Audible, so I HAD to listen, as I was born in Korea and know almost nothing about Korean history. The story is captivating. Narration was so bad that I purchased Kindle Unlimited so I could read the thing!

The narration??? Is she trying to dramatic or does she just read that way--like a foreigner with a really good American accent but with a strange/foreign tone and flow. But, she can't really be a fluent Korean speaker because her Korean pronunciations are horrible. What gives?! Was it Emily Woo or Janet Song? Can't even tell.

Even reading the book was disturbing: there were so many grammatical errors in the text--not when a character was speaking. No editing?

These three books had a makings of a best seller or blockbuster. Too bad it was a major fail. I would not recommend. What a shame.

Absolutely breathtaking, again!

I wish to write, even though do not often do so, this masterpiece by Andrew’s has once again gotten across a beautiful story of the Korean struggle for freedom and the love they share for those special to them, regardless of race. I truly wish to meet him and shake his hand, as he eloquently has written an excellent trilogy of books that I resonate so well with.

Hopefully, the two Koreas will become one again, and the Two Headed Dragon can continue to connect all Koreans and their allies together in harmony, love and peace.