Discotopia | Diverse Books | Zachary Ying and the Drago...

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

Xiran Jay Zhao

Save to Your Books

100% of affiliate revenue supports Discotopia | Diverse Books

Percy Jackson meets Tristan Strong in this hilarious middle grade “edge-of-your-seat adventure” (James Ponti, New York Times bestselling author of City Spies) that follows a young boy as he journeys across China to seal the underworld shut and save the mortal realm.

Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths.

So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons.

Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers.

And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.

Get the Bindery app

Posts about this title from Discotopia | Diverse Books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Mar 12

25 book recs for the Trans Rights Readathon (and all year round!)

Are any of these on your TBR? #booktok #trr25 #trr #readathon #bookrecommendations

26 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Feb 18

Fun books with Muslim rep

Ramadan Mubarak to those who celebrate! Books listed: A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal Travellers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xiran Jay Zhao #booktok #ramadan #muslimbooks #diversebooks #bookrecommendations

5 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Jul 14 2025

Hi there party people and disco dancers,\ \ Happy Non-Binary People’s Day to my non-binary pals!\ \ Here’s a list of my fave books by BIPOC non-binary authors to celebrate.\ \ Face by Joma West\ \ \ \ Disclaimer - Joma is my sibling! That doesn’t stop this from being a brilliant dystopian conceptual sci fi though, published by Tor, blurbed by Sylvain Nuevel and it even had a conference paper written about it.\ \ It’s an unsettling, Black Mirror-esque story set in a world where no one can touch, babies are designed, and online social status dictates wealth and prosperity. Joma is third culture and non-binary.\ \ In the Watchful City by S. Qiouyi Lu\ \ \ \ I’m always going on about this amazing, bizarre bio-cyberpunk novella about a human who surveils a totalitarian city state through a biological network, and has aer perception of the universe and aer own history challenged by a mysterious story collector. The story is Asian-inspired and both MCs have neopronouns, as does the non-binary author (ae/aer).\ \ The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang\ \ \ \ This is book 1 in a 4 novella fantasy series about the twin children of a regent who are, like everyone, non-binary at birth until they choose their gender when they’re older, but unlike everyone, possess special powers. As they grow, they disagree on gender, power and politics, with ramifications for the whole empire. Neon Yang is Singaporean and non-binary.\ \ Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xirin Jay Zhao\ \ \ \ I’m a huge Iron Widow fan, and I also loved this middle grade fantasy from the same non-binary author. Queer Chinese-American, Hui Muslim teenager Zachary finds he is connected to the spirit of the First Emperor of China, and must got on a quest to close a portal to the underworld.\ \ Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender\ \ \ \ I adore this YA novel Black trans boy navigating first love and identity. It does feature a transphobic subplot, so be warned, but the romance is wonderful and Felix feels so real. I promise you’ll be smiling at the end! Kacen Callender uses they/them pronouns and is queer, trans and non-binary. The story also features a demiboy character.\ \ This reminds me that demigender awareness day is in December so I’d also like to do a post for that. This is the only book I’ve read so far that features a demigender character so please do let me know if you have recs!\ \ Much love,\ \ Disco

Diverse Discoveries: BIPOC Non-Binary books

5 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Mar 11 2025

Queer Chinese (+ Diaspora) Book Recommendations

Happy Lunar New Year! Books listed: If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by Xirin Jay Zhao Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao Babel by R.F. Kuang #booktok #chinesenewyear #lunarnewyear #queerbook #fantasy

5 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Mar 12

25 book recs for the Trans Rights Readathon (and all year round!)

Are any of these on your TBR? #booktok #trr25 #trr #readathon #bookrecommendations

26 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Feb 18

Fun books with Muslim rep

5 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Jul 14 2025

Diverse Discoveries: BIPOC Non-Binary books

5 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Mar 11 2025

Queer Chinese (+ Diaspora) Book Recommendations

5 books