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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
I really liked this book. I liked the stories and how most of them were very feministic. I listened to it and the narrators were kind of annoying so that’s why I gave it a four out of five stars.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A interesting collection of stories. Overall it’s a 3.5 for me. Read for the #ReadHarderChallenge2021
Didn't really like this anthology, personally. I liked the concept ( I loved seeing different tales from different Asian cultures) but none of the stories stood out to me in particular. I'm not going to give it a rating because I wouldn't even know how to rate this, honestly. I don't know what it was but something about this anthology did not work for me.
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm not much of a short-story reader, but I really enjoyed this. There were a few that I could have skipped over altogether, but there were also several that have me wanting to look up the authors longer works. I loved the introduction to new-to-me folklore and each story was followed by a brief introduction to the original tale. After the first two stories, I started reading the follow-up essays first and then reading the stories, which I feel helped me enjoy them more; I think the book should have been organized that way.
a book that contains lots of amazing asian folktales’ retelling. I’ve been longing to read it for a long long time, and now when I get the chance, I’m happy af!!!
as an Asian, I love seeing our tales being talked internationally in English by our own people. sadly, there isn’t much books that talking about Asian folklore, and even when there is ones, it usually not being told by our own people and the stories doesn’t felt whole. so when this book exists I was so happy, and now after reading this book I’m indeed even happier.
I definitely want to see lots of asian folktales in the future as many as possible and proudly being told by our own people!
as an Asian, I love seeing our tales being talked internationally in English by our own people. sadly, there isn’t much books that talking about Asian folklore, and even when there is ones, it usually not being told by our own people and the stories doesn’t felt whole. so when this book exists I was so happy, and now after reading this book I’m indeed even happier.
I definitely want to see lots of asian folktales in the future as many as possible and proudly being told by our own people!
There's a couple stories that are good, but most of them fall too far into just telling (as opposed to re-telling) the original myth. Several other stories that could have been really good were hamstrung by trying to pack too much into only a few pages, which left them feeling like condensed prologues or 1st chapters of full novels. The worst of those (and probably the worst overall) is "Code of Honor," which is less a story and more of a badly written promo for Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series. "Spear Carrier" was also really bad- now we know why no one writes stories from the POV of nameless soldier #495. For a story that wants to subvert the casual disregard with which we let thousands of people die for our epic hero's goal, you'd think the main character of "Spear Carrier" would be more interesting and likable, or you know, have a name, or reason to live, etc.
If you're already familiar with the myths, (which, to be fair, I wasn't), you may appreciate some of them more, since the subversions or changes the authors made will be more clear. If you're not, however, many stories don't have the full impact until you've read them, then read the myth explainer that follows, and then gone back to see what they changed. Overall it's a collection with a few standouts and 4-5 really bad stories, with the remaining ~50% just kind of meh.
If you're already familiar with the myths, (which, to be fair, I wasn't), you may appreciate some of them more, since the subversions or changes the authors made will be more clear. If you're not, however, many stories don't have the full impact until you've read them, then read the myth explainer that follows, and then gone back to see what they changed. Overall it's a collection with a few standouts and 4-5 really bad stories, with the remaining ~50% just kind of meh.
Retellings and a reimagining of various Asian folktales. Most are updated as modern tales with a few science fiction like stories and the more traditional folktale setting. A great mix of stories. YA Asian Folktales, Mulicultural
Favorite collection of short stories this year; number two on my all time favorites list. The retelling of “The Butterfly Lovers” made me cry so hard. I own this book on Kindle, Audible and have the hardcover being posted to me.
5/5 stars
5/5 stars