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Cover of The Last Mandarin. Red waves/flames that often appear in Chinese art are on the left of the cover. They seem to be chasing two women, who are hurrying off to the right. The person in the back is reaching out, trying to reach the person in the front. They are on stairs, and you can see their shadows.

The Last Mandarin

Written by alamancelibraries on . Posted in Book Reviews.

Penny, Louise and Fung, Mellissa. The Last Mandarin. New York : Minotaur Books, 2026.

Cover of The Last Mandarin. Red waves/flames that often appear in Chinese art are on the left of the cover. They seem to be chasing two women, who are hurrying off to the right. The person in the back is reaching out, trying to reach the person in the front. They are on stairs, and you can see their shadows.

The Last Mandarin chronicles the threats of AI, the interconnected global network, and the suspicion we hold for one another.

Alice has a contentious relationship with her mom, Vivien Li. Vivien is a former Chinese dissident and people’s hero from Tiananmen Square. She is elegant and serious and everything that Alice, who writes a food blog, is not. But when Alice’s friend Liam sends her a strange message, right before every alarm in the world goes off, they are both brought to the White House. Vivian is brought for her expertise on China, and Alice because of her links to Liam, who has been murdered, and is accused of being part of the group that is threatening the world. Thus begins an adventure that leads them to old friends in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, and a mandate to find out who is behind the attacks, before the world is destroyed.

I always love Louise Penny’s writing. Her friend Mellissa added her expertise and style to the book, and it made for a can’t put down read! It’s over-the-top and implausible, but its core is the very real threat that AI could be used to hack into systems all over the world. This is a book that might keep you all night, thinking, just one more chapter!

Mary Beth A. is the Community Engagement Librarian for Alamance County Public Libraries.

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