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Quick Reviews
Just realized I've read a few books that aren't for school lately and forgot to mention them AT ALL. I've also been reading a lot of issues of Spectra and Lightspeed Magazines.
Anyways.
Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin. I follow Jeannie on Twitter, and the cover looked terrific, what with the Chinese heroine with the 8-Chop Swords and all. The story is kinda meh -- girl discovers her intended betrayed her father the Emperor, gets a stranger to take her home, they fall in love. Ryam's a white dude, so I felt vaguely betrayed. There's nothing wrong with interracial romance! But I am so over white dudes, you guys! I was also REALLY FUCKING AGGRAVATED to see Ai Li's name transform over the text into Ailey. Does Ryam get a name-change into Ai Li's language when the story is from her perspective? No. So why must her name change as the narrative shifts into his perspective? From being in a chat with Jeannie, there's a story previous to this one (about Ryam's best friend and the former princess) and a sequel (about Ai Li's warlord betrothed and a courtesan who appears in Butterfly Swords. I am REALLY excited for this one, because it occurs to me that I don't read a lot of historical romance novels with sexually experienced women, which is one of the reasons I hate reading the genre in the first place).
Although, I really could do without the metaphors of clitorises as pearls, thank you.
The prequel novella, The Taming of Mei Lin, about Ai Li's grandmother, was also pretty good, since there's a Chinese hero. The ending ROCKED! Because Mei Lin chooses to join Shang on his travelling adventures as his companion WHO WILL FIGHT BY HIS SIDE. I LOVE this ending!
Moving on.
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by a lovely lady I met at the Steampunk World's Fair last year, Leanne Renee Hieber. A heterosexual romance between a broody dude and an albino-like young woman. The writing is nice, but it's also deeply Eurocentric -- one of the premises is that the main protagonists have been reincarnated over and over, hence why they pick up languages so easily. Magical Prophecy woo, kids given a burden which they carry all through their lives (and to be honest, this was far more interesting than the main romance, and I wish we got to see more of the companions), love at first sight, love triangles. What also got to me about this novel is that the main couple, despite this being a romance novel, don't have sex, all throughout.
The Concubine by Jade Lee. My interested was piqued when I read about her lack of sales for this book when it first came out, which she discussed at Dear Author. I read the first chapter and was a bit ambivalent about it:
AWESOME -- Chinese hero. And what looks to be a pretty savvy heroine (they first meet when she discovers him in her palanquin taking her to the Forbidden Kingdom where she's going to compete to be part of the harem).
Not so awesome -- Is "Ox Piss!" really a curse? It's not in any dialect I know.
So, I REALLY DUG THIS NOVEL, OK? Let me list the awesome:
- the heroine is politically savvy, yo. I thought the politics and the fighting was really well done in this story.
- So is the hero!
- In fact, and I really appreciated this, they both fall for each other because of this political awareness and knowledge that they're looking out for the interests of the Empire. So, yes, there's physical attraction involved, but something beyond which makes the relationship feel solid. I really think this is one of those cases where the book flap summary does NOTHING to sell the book -- it's all like "omg she finds Bo Tao so sexy and she shouldn't!" and completely sidesteps the fact that part of his sexiness is that he's really fucking smart.
- You know how sometimes novels that aren't in an European setting are all like, written for the White Gaze and everything is SO EGGSZOTICK and the writer feels this need to show off how much of this FOREIGN CULTURE they know and whitesplain? Well, I felt like this was a Chinese historical romance I could OWN.
- I mean, sure one could argue that it painted the Chinese Emperor's harem in such a bad light, what with the lesbianism and all (which is vaguely homophobic) but I read it as an acknowledgement that not everything is peachy keen in the Forbidden Kingdom.
But OK, look, I don't think "dragon organ" is that great an euphemism for the penis, a'ight?
Apex Book of World SF, edited by Lavie Tidhar. This was a seriously mixed bag for me. Second story rolls around and I'm thinking, "how many white people do you need in a book of World SF?" And so I counted!
S.P. Somtow(Thailand)–”The Bird Catcher” - about a white dude relating to his grandson how he knew this Chinese serial killer.
White protag. Terrible treatment of PTSD.
Jetse de Vries(Netherlands)–”Transcendence Express”
WHITE PROTAG, GREAT WHITE SAVIOUR. IN *AFRICA*. Nuff said.
Guy Hasson (Israel)–”The Levantine Experiments”
Han Song (China)–”The Wheel of Samsara”
OK, these two were quite awesome.
Kaaron Warren (Australia/Fiji)–”Ghost Jail”
EXOTIC NON-WHITES, GREAT WHITE (FAILED) SAVIOURS
Yang Ping (China)–”Wizard World”
OK, no white people, but full of "Oh these internet addicts!"
Dean Francis Alfar (Phillippines)–”L’Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)”
So beautifully told, I missed my bus stop.
Nir Yaniv (Israel)–”Cinderers”
Quite the mindfuck! The repetition was really great.
Jamil Nasir (Palestine)–”The Allah Stairs”
I'm not sure what to make of this, but it could be the horror element.
Tunku Halim (Malaysia)–”Biggest Baddest Bomoh”
OK, so I was really looking forward to this story? I mean, come ON, with a title like that? And having read that Tunku Halim's Malaysia's leading horror writer? I thought this would be a rip-roaring read. The story? Some dude desperately in love with some golddigger secretary at his office and his officemate tells him about a bomoh he can go to for help. So he goes. And when he comes home, the object of his lust is at his door and the payoff is his officemate calling him to let him know he wasted his money because she's dead. And then he gets eaten. WHAT THE FUCK? If I wanted to read something ridic like that, I would have picked up an antho of True Singaporean Ghost Stories. It's not like Malaysians can't produce something that could compete on an international level.
At least there were no white people.
Aliette de Bodard (France)–”The Lost Xuyan Bride”
Alternate history where China runs Mexico. WHITE PROTAG. INSCRUTABLE TRADITIONAL CHINESE (complete with triad element, filial piety, and materialistic mom!). WIth a dash of VIOLENT MEXICANS.
Good story otherwise.
Kristin Mandigma (Phillippines)–”Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang”
LOLHOWAWESOMEISTHISSTORY???? I had to stop reading every so often to laugh.
Aleksandar Žiljak (Croatia)–”An Evening In The City Coffehouse, With Lydia On My Mind”
OK this was pretty interesting, if a bit lurid.
Anil Menon (India)–”Into the Night”
CLASH OF CIVILIZATION, BELEAGUERED IMMIGRANT, although, really nicely told, I thought. I really enjoyed the depiction of loss and bewilderment at both moving and bereavement of a long-time partner, rolled into a ball of angst.
Mélanie Fazi (France, translated by Christopher Priest)–”Elegy”
Meh.
Other books on my reading list:
Flight from Nevryon - Samuel Delany
Calcutta Chromosome - Amitav Ghosh
(And these two books need to be finished because they belong to profs, lol)
The Broken Kingdoms - NK Jemisin
Anyways.
Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin. I follow Jeannie on Twitter, and the cover looked terrific, what with the Chinese heroine with the 8-Chop Swords and all. The story is kinda meh -- girl discovers her intended betrayed her father the Emperor, gets a stranger to take her home, they fall in love. Ryam's a white dude, so I felt vaguely betrayed. There's nothing wrong with interracial romance! But I am so over white dudes, you guys! I was also REALLY FUCKING AGGRAVATED to see Ai Li's name transform over the text into Ailey. Does Ryam get a name-change into Ai Li's language when the story is from her perspective? No. So why must her name change as the narrative shifts into his perspective? From being in a chat with Jeannie, there's a story previous to this one (about Ryam's best friend and the former princess) and a sequel (about Ai Li's warlord betrothed and a courtesan who appears in Butterfly Swords. I am REALLY excited for this one, because it occurs to me that I don't read a lot of historical romance novels with sexually experienced women, which is one of the reasons I hate reading the genre in the first place).
Although, I really could do without the metaphors of clitorises as pearls, thank you.
The prequel novella, The Taming of Mei Lin, about Ai Li's grandmother, was also pretty good, since there's a Chinese hero. The ending ROCKED! Because Mei Lin chooses to join Shang on his travelling adventures as his companion WHO WILL FIGHT BY HIS SIDE. I LOVE this ending!
Moving on.
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by a lovely lady I met at the Steampunk World's Fair last year, Leanne Renee Hieber. A heterosexual romance between a broody dude and an albino-like young woman. The writing is nice, but it's also deeply Eurocentric -- one of the premises is that the main protagonists have been reincarnated over and over, hence why they pick up languages so easily. Magical Prophecy woo, kids given a burden which they carry all through their lives (and to be honest, this was far more interesting than the main romance, and I wish we got to see more of the companions), love at first sight, love triangles. What also got to me about this novel is that the main couple, despite this being a romance novel, don't have sex, all throughout.
The Concubine by Jade Lee. My interested was piqued when I read about her lack of sales for this book when it first came out, which she discussed at Dear Author. I read the first chapter and was a bit ambivalent about it:
AWESOME -- Chinese hero. And what looks to be a pretty savvy heroine (they first meet when she discovers him in her palanquin taking her to the Forbidden Kingdom where she's going to compete to be part of the harem).
Not so awesome -- Is "Ox Piss!" really a curse? It's not in any dialect I know.
So, I REALLY DUG THIS NOVEL, OK? Let me list the awesome:
- the heroine is politically savvy, yo. I thought the politics and the fighting was really well done in this story.
- So is the hero!
- In fact, and I really appreciated this, they both fall for each other because of this political awareness and knowledge that they're looking out for the interests of the Empire. So, yes, there's physical attraction involved, but something beyond which makes the relationship feel solid. I really think this is one of those cases where the book flap summary does NOTHING to sell the book -- it's all like "omg she finds Bo Tao so sexy and she shouldn't!" and completely sidesteps the fact that part of his sexiness is that he's really fucking smart.
- You know how sometimes novels that aren't in an European setting are all like, written for the White Gaze and everything is SO EGGSZOTICK and the writer feels this need to show off how much of this FOREIGN CULTURE they know and whitesplain? Well, I felt like this was a Chinese historical romance I could OWN.
- I mean, sure one could argue that it painted the Chinese Emperor's harem in such a bad light, what with the lesbianism and all (which is vaguely homophobic) but I read it as an acknowledgement that not everything is peachy keen in the Forbidden Kingdom.
But OK, look, I don't think "dragon organ" is that great an euphemism for the penis, a'ight?
Apex Book of World SF, edited by Lavie Tidhar. This was a seriously mixed bag for me. Second story rolls around and I'm thinking, "how many white people do you need in a book of World SF?" And so I counted!
S.P. Somtow(Thailand)–”The Bird Catcher” - about a white dude relating to his grandson how he knew this Chinese serial killer.
White protag. Terrible treatment of PTSD.
Jetse de Vries(Netherlands)–”Transcendence Express”
WHITE PROTAG, GREAT WHITE SAVIOUR. IN *AFRICA*. Nuff said.
Guy Hasson (Israel)–”The Levantine Experiments”
Han Song (China)–”The Wheel of Samsara”
OK, these two were quite awesome.
Kaaron Warren (Australia/Fiji)–”Ghost Jail”
EXOTIC NON-WHITES, GREAT WHITE (FAILED) SAVIOURS
Yang Ping (China)–”Wizard World”
OK, no white people, but full of "Oh these internet addicts!"
Dean Francis Alfar (Phillippines)–”L’Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)”
So beautifully told, I missed my bus stop.
Nir Yaniv (Israel)–”Cinderers”
Quite the mindfuck! The repetition was really great.
Jamil Nasir (Palestine)–”The Allah Stairs”
I'm not sure what to make of this, but it could be the horror element.
Tunku Halim (Malaysia)–”Biggest Baddest Bomoh”
OK, so I was really looking forward to this story? I mean, come ON, with a title like that? And having read that Tunku Halim's Malaysia's leading horror writer? I thought this would be a rip-roaring read. The story? Some dude desperately in love with some golddigger secretary at his office and his officemate tells him about a bomoh he can go to for help. So he goes. And when he comes home, the object of his lust is at his door and the payoff is his officemate calling him to let him know he wasted his money because she's dead. And then he gets eaten. WHAT THE FUCK? If I wanted to read something ridic like that, I would have picked up an antho of True Singaporean Ghost Stories. It's not like Malaysians can't produce something that could compete on an international level.
At least there were no white people.
Aliette de Bodard (France)–”The Lost Xuyan Bride”
Alternate history where China runs Mexico. WHITE PROTAG. INSCRUTABLE TRADITIONAL CHINESE (complete with triad element, filial piety, and materialistic mom!). WIth a dash of VIOLENT MEXICANS.
Good story otherwise.
Kristin Mandigma (Phillippines)–”Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang”
LOLHOWAWESOMEISTHISSTORY???? I had to stop reading every so often to laugh.
Aleksandar Žiljak (Croatia)–”An Evening In The City Coffehouse, With Lydia On My Mind”
OK this was pretty interesting, if a bit lurid.
Anil Menon (India)–”Into the Night”
CLASH OF CIVILIZATION, BELEAGUERED IMMIGRANT, although, really nicely told, I thought. I really enjoyed the depiction of loss and bewilderment at both moving and bereavement of a long-time partner, rolled into a ball of angst.
Mélanie Fazi (France, translated by Christopher Priest)–”Elegy”
Meh.
Other books on my reading list:
Flight from Nevryon - Samuel Delany
Calcutta Chromosome - Amitav Ghosh
(And these two books need to be finished because they belong to profs, lol)
The Broken Kingdoms - NK Jemisin
no subject
And the two Philippine stories from the World SF book sounds interesting.
no subject
no subject
I am also rather wishing the copyright situation on my pontianak story wasn't so iffy :(
BTW, have you read Amitav Ghosh before? If not, be warned, he is rant rant patriarchal sadface.
no subject
i seem to have been using this icon a lot today >.>
That's kind of up there with "honeypot" for me.
Re: i seem to have been using this icon a lot today >.>