Ling's story, heartbreaking and hopeful, should feel familiar to the reader as it reads a bit like the story of Mulan, and I have to assume that the author was inspired by the Ballad of Mulan and it's message of feminine strength and familial responsibility. I very much appreciate the parallels between Ling's choice to go off to Gold Mountain and Mulan's decision that lead her to Black Mountain, both fighting against stereotypical misogyny and gender roles in extreme circumstances in order to save their respective fathers.

I didn't expect this to be a retelling of any sort, rather than a historical fiction, but the reinterpretation of the folk story was a really clever and fresh way to approach the terrible exploitation of Chinese railroad workers in the 1800s, especially in a YA application.