Taiwan Butterfly

A Modern Gothic Tale of Eternal Love and Sorcery

Young Adult - Paranormal
184 Pages
Reviewed on 07/19/2022
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Author Biography

Amadeus grew up in the 80s and has a diverse background spanning film, TV and radio, the military, electrical engineering, robotics, quantum mechanics, aviation, and elementary school teaching.

Amadeus is also an inventor of several electronic devices. These include a brainwave therapy device that stimulates neural networks of the human brain to help people with depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

Amadeus’s heroes include Sadako Sasaki (12-year-old Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Victim), Stephen Hawking (British Theoretical physicist), Christopher Reeve (American actor, director, and activist), and his mom. He is an advocate of The Sadako Legacy NPO for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Amadeus believes in never giving up and pursuing your dreams. In 2019, Amadeus fulfilled a lifelong dream and met with Sadako’s brother Masahiro Sasaki to clean and lay flowers on Sadako’s tomb in Fukuoka, Japan. Which is considered a great honor.

When not teaching elementary school English and electronics, Amadeus enjoys writing stories and watching fantasy, comedy and science fiction movies.

    Book Review

Reviewed by K.C. Finn for Readers' Favorite

Taiwan Butterfly: A Modern Gothic Tale of Eternal Love and Sorcery is a work of fiction in the paranormal subgenre. It is aimed at young adult readers and was penned by author Amadeus Rockefeller. The book follows missionary Jonathan Woods as he escapes the Chinese Civil War by entering Taiwan. Having taken possession of a powerful magical tome, Jonathan begins teaching the art of sorcery to Chen Mei-Ying, who enthusiastically takes to the dark arts. But when Mei-Ying is killed in a freak accident, her boyfriend Huang Lee-Yang approaches Jonathan, hoping to learn the power he wields to bring Mei-Ying back to life.

This was a powerful tale of love and devotion and the things we’re willing to sacrifice to cheat the laws of nature. I admired the excellent foundations for the story that author Author Amadeus Rockefeller laid in the first act of the story with the introduction of Jonathan and his discovery of the Book of the Butterfly. There was enough intrigue and mystique in Jonathan’s journey that the story could have focused exclusively on him and still been a satisfying read. Lee-Yang’s story of loss and determination is an excellent narrative focus also, and through the grief-riddled and youthful perspective that Lee-Yang brings to the story, we see Taiwan Butterfly spread its wings into the exciting exploration of the supernatural and our relationship with it. Overall, I found it to be an exciting page-turner from start to finish, and this is exactly the kind of paranormal fiction that leaves readers on the edge of their seats and hungry for more.

Jennie More

Taiwan Butterfly by Amadeus Rockefeller is the story of army captain Chen Ming-Yu who dies in China, Chengdu, during the war in the arms of his best friend Jonathan Woods, who served as a missionary with the Red Cross. Chen Ming-Yu's death wish is for Jonathan to watch over his daughter Mei-Ying and to teach her to believe in the Book of the Butterfly, which has magical powers, including the power to transform the dead back to life. When Jonathan wants to use the book to bring Chen Ming-Yu back to life, he refuses and tells Jonathan to use it on someone else who needs it. Jonathan lives up to his promise and moves to Taiwan to work in an antique shop, teaching English and sorcery to Mei-Ying. Soon Jonathan will use the Book of the Butterfly to save the most beautiful soul and romance he has ever seen.

Taiwan Butterfly by Amadeus Rockefeller is an intriguing, heartwarming, and magical love story, not only a romantic love story but also the love shared between best friends. Jonathan loved his friend Chen Ming-Yu so dearly that he traveled to Taiwan and dedicated his life to looking out for his daughter and was willing to sacrifice whatever was needed, even his life, to ensure that she lived a long and happy life. The highlight for me when reading this book was the beautiful descriptions of nature and the youthful, innocent, and pure love between Mei-Ying and Lee-Yang. Rockefeller has created an appealing narrative – the possibility of bringing deceased loved ones back to life.

Kimberlee J Benart

Taiwan Butterfly: A Modern Gothic Tale of Eternal Love and Sorcery is a paranormal romance by Amadeus Rockefeller. In 1950, a former British missionary to China named Jonathan recuperates in a hospital in Taiwan. He possesses a book of spells and is sworn to look after a teenage girl named Mei-Ying whose father, an officer in the Nationalist army, died in his arms. After Jonathan suffers the tragic loss of a new love interest, he settles near Mei-Ying and becomes her teacher, eventually revealing the spells in which both he and her father believed. Tragedy strikes again. Mei-Ying is killed in a traffic accident while arguing with her mother about her love for a suitor named Lee-Yang. Are Jonathan’s spells and Lee-Yang’s love powerful enough to bring Mei-Ying back to life?

In Taiwan Butterfly, Amadeus Rockefeller gives us an utterly engaging story of undying love swathed in a magical glow. The narrative is highly descriptive, and the plot moves at a good pace. The characters are well-developed, and the paranormal aspects are beautifully incorporated. The friendship between Jonathan and Mei-Ying’s father, though only briefly mentioned, is depicted as deep and abiding when Jonathan offers to use the spells to restore his life, though at the cost of his own. The love that develops between Jonathan and his nurse is both sweetly and dramatically drawn. At the heart of the story, the romance between Mei-Ying and Lee-Yang is portrayed as one founded in their childhood, but which blossomed and matured into a deep and joyful love. I enjoyed this well-written tale and look forward to more from this author.