wingreads's reviews
314 reviews

I knew I was onto a brilliant start after I read Xiran Jay Zhao's review excerpt and the tender authors note at the beginning. 

The Protagonist Ruying is surviving with her grandmother and Opian addicted sister Meiya under Roman colonial rule; where the foreigners bought science to defeat the native magic and impose their own laws and customs over twenty years ago. The great empire of Er-Lang is divided by a guarded fence, the Romans with their flying machines occupying the west, weilding their might, playing God and seeking a harvest.

"The world doesn't exist in black and white, or right and wrong. Sometimes bad things must be done for the greater good"
Ruying has a death gift; highly prized for its ability to kill without detection. She becomes the Roman Prince Anthony Augustus' assassin in order to protect her family and to save lives...
Increasingly I found the parallel positioning of Opian and the seductive gift of Death converge across many parts of the narrative; Ruyings' fear for Opian and what this brings, and her own dilemma over her gift was really interesting to reflect upon.

Chang is a skilled collectivist storyteller; the bitterness, hopelessness of the characters, balanced perfectly with the tension and cruel world building. I appreciate the use of the Chinese proverbs to capture Ruyings' experience and see events from her perspective. There is such beauty, wisdom and sentiment in my community language, it was an utter delight to see this page after page.

Although described as Romantasy, I cringed at the interactions between Ruying and the morally grey Antony and felt this was a tenuous (almost Stockholm syndrome) development. Antony comes across as a condescending coloniser and mansplainer... I'm not rooting for this romance until something else convinces me otherwise...but perhaps this is a reaction to the themes within the story.

Some standout quotes:
"The Colonisers wish to [devour] our cities, eat our food, enjoy...our stories...they wanted to do so without having to be near us".
"To love was a privilege not afforded to those of us born in these trying times when survival was never guaranteed"
"Heroes die. Cowards live"

This is the first in the trilogy, with the second coming out in April 25... I will be treating myself to a hardback of this beauty 😍😍

I had high hopes of this promising premise; magical escapism into a Dreamworld, triggered through sensory experiences. However, the narration style sadly did not meet these grand promises. The dialogue and description was stilted and empty; dreams were devoid of the richness and world building which is sorely needed to captivate readers attention. The self narration of the protagonist lacks depth, and the introspective promise of this story is not fulfilled. 

Kim Serin hears the rumours around the yearly Rainfall market and finds a book with accounts of how despair and misfortune turns to a new life upon receipt of a golden entry ticket. She writes of her misfortunes and sends this off with her last hopes. When she receives her entry ticket, sees the first rainfall, she journeys towards the market to meet the gatekeeping Dokkaebi and wondrous characters within...

The premise of this cosy magical story is to trade misfortune for a new life, but what would you trade this for and is the grass always greener? I enjoyed the step by step exploration of the market, it reminded me slightly of goosebumps books (without the scaries) and games where you build your own adventure. A bit like a YA version of sliding doors (except you get a sneaky peak before you choose).

I love #youyeonggwang despiction of the characters, their roles and personalities. And of course there is a 😺 and mild jeopardy (as per this genre). I really enjoyed the skillful translation by #slinjung as it makes me think of how language carries cultural connections and how it's used as a device to share what is on our minds, to build a picture when we cannot see inside each others minds. 

I chose this as my first review in the Year of the 🐍 as it's common to have resolutions and wish for material belongings, success and status as part of the New Year... But what if we slow down and add another perspective here? Instead of wishing for a completely new life, could we aim for everyday joy, love and peace? 

At the end of the book, there is a short list of book club discussion questions and also the trying journey Yeong-Gwang took from writing to publication.

"We have been allowed selfishness. But so many in this city have not. I cannot find my own peace unless I help them.'

The second part of the duology starts four months after the Monster has been shot and the two families are back on revenge sprees following the death of Marshall Seo. Juliette and Roma are fending both internal and external forces which threaten their position in Shanghai. Both historical foreign and domestic communist characters are more embedded into the developing story as Juliette and Roma are positioned to join forces against a second Monster with a different Master.

Tyler, Rosalind, Kathleen and Benedict have more scenes this time; and there is more context to their characters and the urgency in which they are working to preserve their position and the way they wish their Shanghai world to be run. I enjoyed the plot development more with this book; there was more context to ground the scenes. I also developed more interest in Rosalind as her arc grew.

There were some familiar characters from the first part of the duology who has taken a backseat to this finale; they seemed to have been placed in 'filler' scenes which added slightly to the story but could have been edited out too. I felt the story was stilted on occasion and could have moved much faster, but I also appreciate the need to wrap up the story and build the background to the next duology which sees some familiar characters return...

Overall this was a satisfying end of the duology, but the first book better in terms of intensity, world building and dialogue. 

"given that my face was Chinese it was a shame to know nothing about myself"

This short story focuses on Joan and how she navigates her identity, culture and hopes as a woman with bi-cultural Chinese and American access. 

Joan is a ICU attending and shares a office with two colleagues Reece and Madeline, through their small talks and stilted interactions; Joan's character arc is slowly opened up as she responds according to how she feels she is expected to respond. Joan narrates objects and her surrounds in significant detail, but the people in her life receive little mention and interactions tend to be transactional in nature. 

"Changing of the guards...with immigrant families this happens much earlier...as the child becomes the parent"

Many of Joan's reflections and observations resonate with me: being the family translator, communication specialist (the irony of me becoming a Speech and Language Therapist is not lost on me either!), map to navigate the system, the feeling of disenchantment of the successful eldest brother and managing the snide remarks of those who feel minorities are successful based on positive discrimination rather than merit. 

At times I found the self narration stilted and awkward, however I feel this added to Joan's character and began to find this charming about 20 pages in. Joan has a rich internal monologue which is perceived as obstinate by others, and baffles many. I enjoyed her wry observations, and many attempts to appear socialable to much comical effect. Occasionally, Joan appears to have an out of body experience as she scrutinises social interactions with her colleagues and makes attempts to offer comfort, and validate their feelings. 

This is a brilliant short story examining the Chinese diaspora, navigating the cultural expectations of straddling both cultures and the legacy of migration and settlement. Although this is not Wang's first book, this has led me to their backlist and also sharing this brilliant and beautiful voice with my ESEA book club. 

Some of my favourite quotes

"Some people are require more encouragement, water and sun. Some people are like plants"

"Berating is love. At thirty six years of age, I was still being loved"

"From having loved around so much and with no childhood or ancestors home to return to. I didn't think myself capable...it wasn't a concept for me until the day I put this coat on... I knew my occupation would be my home...Home is where you belong and take up space".

"History repeats itself... Even citizenship can't save you".

"The price of success is steep and I have never been able to separate this from the feeling of sacrifice"

"Only Asians outside of Asia chose names for themselves that took into account the convenience of others or smoothed out their foreign names to be less offensive to others"

"...for the most part, you give a man something to look up to, you tell him that he can be something more than he is now, more than other people think he'll ever be, and he'll try his goddamned best to make it true".

Jade is a valuable commodity amongst the Janloon. The two main tribes (No peak and Mountain) claim territory across the city and live side by side uneasily. 
Within each clan there is a strict hierarchy: from fingers, fists to horns and the pillar (lowest to highest) and the weatherman, luckbringers...all are green bone practitioners who uses Jade to enhance their powers. Jade is also won by challenge or stolen. Each clan has a strict hierarchy and violations of this lead to immediate retribution. 

The Kauls are the leaders of the No Peak Clan and hear of a new drug which allows non green bones to wield Jade, without training. This story revolves around the Kauls, where the new generation are taking the Horns (so to speak) and pushing past the previous generations tolerance and wariness around respect, history between the clans and moving towards a new era where they are battling a new drug which threatens their way of life...but the rival gang The Mountains seem to be moving onto the No Peak territory. 

I have seen many rave reviews for Fonda Lee and made an effort to finally pick this up; this did not disappoint. I was sucked into the narrative, world building, honour code and world of the Kenon. I really enjoyed the strategy, politics and the colonial history weaved into the story. This is a perfect blend of East and Western influenced fantasy. This is the first book of the trilogy which I will be diving into.