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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Book #5 for the Asian Readathon! And the buddy read. I enjoyed this for the most part! Leaning closer to a 3.5 or a far but not quite.
* I tried to use the proper flag for each country if my emoji keyboard or the culture had it. I appreciate all cultures, Asian or not. I find every culture interesting. I just wish there was more representation for each culture. However, this book is a proper start.
I absolutely loved this book! All of the stories were wonderful! I also loved how after each author's story, they explained the culture and history behind it. I had not heard a lot of these legends before and I found them to be fascinating. I devoured them all.
🎏 Here is my rating for each story individually.
⛩ Forbidden Fruit by Roshani Chokshi (Filipino) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was super interesting! I love how the Mountain "became" a person named Dayang. This is a Filipino word which means Princess. For she is aptly named so! She sounded beautiful. I could just picture her beauty in my head. I feel incredibly bad for her and Bulan's love. It was a love that should not be. It was destined to end in tragedy, for a solitary thing should not fall in love with a human and vice versa.
👘 Olivia's Table by Alyssa Wong (Chinese 🇨🇳) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was cool! I love stories that have spirits in them! Not malevolent spirits that haunt people, but spirits of people's loved ones, spirits that come back to visit. Xi Yi "Olivia" Chang is the daughter of an 'Exorcist'. I mean this in the loosest definition of the word. Her mother cooks a banquet for spirits one night a year, on the night of the ghost festival. The food is given to the ghosts so their spirit may be uplifted. This banquet is held at a different venue every year so everyone, human and spirit, get an equal opportunity to attend. After Olivia's mother tragically passes away, she takes over her mom's tradition. This year, Olivia is back at the Grand Silver Hotel, the first venue where she helped her mom with the Ghost Festival. She also meets the ghost again that saved her life as a child, Mei Ling. Under Olivia's careful watch, all of the ghosts leave full, satisfied, and uplifted after eating her food.
🏮 Steel Skin by Lori M. Lee (Hmong)
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dang this story had a twist ending! It was about Androids taking over the world. The person rumored to be the android turned out not to be. It was actually someone who you never expected! I don't normally like stories with AI but it was very good considering! I honestly preferred the folktale (The Woman and the Tiger) a bit more than the retold story. But it still sounds a lot like the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
👘 Still Star-Crossed by Sona Charaipotra (Punjabi) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was so sad! Nick and this girl were star crossed lovers in a previous life. He thought he'd finally found his love, however it was his lover's daughter. Sadly, he didn't know it. The only person to know the truth was the daughter. They might never be reunited.
⛩ The Counting of Vermillion Beads by Aliette De Bodard (Vietnamese 🇻🇳)
🏮 The Land of the Morning Calm (E. C. Myers (Korean 🇰🇷)
👘 The Smile by Aisha Saeed (South Asian)
⛩ Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers by Preeti Chhibber (Gujarati)
🏮 Nothing Into All by Renée Ahdieh (Korean 🇰🇷)
👘 Spear Carrier by Rahul Kanakia (South Asian)
⛩ Code of Honor by Melissa de la Cruz (Filipino)
🏮 Bullet, Butterfly by Elsie Chapman (Chinese 🇨🇳)
👘 Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar (South Asian)
⛩ The Crimson Cloak by Cindy Pon (Chinese 🇨🇳)
🏮 Eyes like Candlelight by Julie Kagawa (Japanese 🇯🇵) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one was definitely by far, my favorite story in this collection! I absolutely LOVE the Japanese culture, history, and language. Everything fascinates me, including their myths. I have heard of kitsunes many times before, but never read a story like this one. I really wanted Takeo and Yuki to end up together in the end. However, part of me knew it would not have a happy ending. Takeo was such a humble, and honest man. He most certainly did not deserve his fate. This story was beautifully told, while keeping traditional with Japanese folklore. I should seriously read more of Julie Kagawa's books soon! Also as a random side note, I kind of want to name my future dog Kitsune now Is that weird, wanting to name my future dog with the Japanese word for Fox?
As a whole, I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (five stars)
I unfortunately did not have the time to finish this book. It had to be returned to a friend. I hope to finish the other stories in this someday though! 😭
I absolutely loved this book! All of the stories were wonderful! I also loved how after each author's story, they explained the culture and history behind it. I had not heard a lot of these legends before and I found them to be fascinating. I devoured them all.
🎏 Here is my rating for each story individually.
⛩ Forbidden Fruit by Roshani Chokshi (Filipino) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was super interesting! I love how the Mountain "became" a person named Dayang. This is a Filipino word which means Princess. For she is aptly named so! She sounded beautiful. I could just picture her beauty in my head. I feel incredibly bad for her and Bulan's love. It was a love that should not be. It was destined to end in tragedy, for a solitary thing should not fall in love with a human and vice versa.
👘 Olivia's Table by Alyssa Wong (Chinese 🇨🇳) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was cool! I love stories that have spirits in them! Not malevolent spirits that haunt people, but spirits of people's loved ones, spirits that come back to visit. Xi Yi "Olivia" Chang is the daughter of an 'Exorcist'. I mean this in the loosest definition of the word. Her mother cooks a banquet for spirits one night a year, on the night of the ghost festival. The food is given to the ghosts so their spirit may be uplifted. This banquet is held at a different venue every year so everyone, human and spirit, get an equal opportunity to attend. After Olivia's mother tragically passes away, she takes over her mom's tradition. This year, Olivia is back at the Grand Silver Hotel, the first venue where she helped her mom with the Ghost Festival. She also meets the ghost again that saved her life as a child, Mei Ling. Under Olivia's careful watch, all of the ghosts leave full, satisfied, and uplifted after eating her food.
🏮 Steel Skin by Lori M. Lee (Hmong)
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dang this story had a twist ending! It was about Androids taking over the world. The person rumored to be the android turned out not to be. It was actually someone who you never expected! I don't normally like stories with AI but it was very good considering! I honestly preferred the folktale (The Woman and the Tiger) a bit more than the retold story. But it still sounds a lot like the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
👘 Still Star-Crossed by Sona Charaipotra (Punjabi) ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story was so sad! Nick and this girl were star crossed lovers in a previous life. He thought he'd finally found his love, however it was his lover's daughter. Sadly, he didn't know it. The only person to know the truth was the daughter. They might never be reunited.
⛩ The Counting of Vermillion Beads by Aliette De Bodard (Vietnamese 🇻🇳)
🏮 The Land of the Morning Calm (E. C. Myers (Korean 🇰🇷)
👘 The Smile by Aisha Saeed (South Asian)
⛩ Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers by Preeti Chhibber (Gujarati)
🏮 Nothing Into All by Renée Ahdieh (Korean 🇰🇷)
👘 Spear Carrier by Rahul Kanakia (South Asian)
⛩ Code of Honor by Melissa de la Cruz (Filipino)
🏮 Bullet, Butterfly by Elsie Chapman (Chinese 🇨🇳)
👘 Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar (South Asian)
⛩ The Crimson Cloak by Cindy Pon (Chinese 🇨🇳)
🏮 Eyes like Candlelight by Julie Kagawa (Japanese 🇯🇵) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one was definitely by far, my favorite story in this collection! I absolutely LOVE the Japanese culture, history, and language. Everything fascinates me, including their myths. I have heard of kitsunes many times before, but never read a story like this one. I really wanted Takeo and Yuki to end up together in the end. However, part of me knew it would not have a happy ending. Takeo was such a humble, and honest man. He most certainly did not deserve his fate. This story was beautifully told, while keeping traditional with Japanese folklore. I should seriously read more of Julie Kagawa's books soon! Also as a random side note, I kind of want to name my future dog Kitsune now Is that weird, wanting to name my future dog with the Japanese word for Fox?
As a whole, I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (five stars)
I unfortunately did not have the time to finish this book. It had to be returned to a friend. I hope to finish the other stories in this someday though! 😭
Some of the stories are fantastic and reimagine the original folklore. I especially enjoyed Forbidden Fruit, Olivia’s Table, Nothing to All, The Crimson Cloak, and Eyes Like Candlelight.
I'm just not super in the mood for an anthology right now. The stories are good, I'm just not in the mood right now.
I enjoyed this book actually a lot. There were a couple of stories that I didn't understand or like that much, but it was really quite interesting to see the myths and legends of a culture I don't know very well. We always see retellings about Rapunzel and Snow White but this is so much cooler. Asian culture spans much more than Chinese or Japanese. I loved reading these stories and the meaning behind them. I would highly recommend reading this book.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Forbidden Fruit by Roshani Chokshi - 3 stars
Chokshi’s writing was really beautiful and I was immediately hooked. Although I loved her writing style and her twist on this story, I found myself growing disinterested because of the character’s. They weren’t developed enough, so I found them boring and I didn’t like the instant love in this scenario.
Olivia’s Table by Alyssa Wong - 3.5 stars
I love a good ghost story and I thought Wong’s interpretation of this folklore was really grounded and interesting. I also appreciated the LGBTQ representation in it and the diverse cast. I did however lose interest again towards the end, but this time because of the pacing.
Steel Skin by Lori M. Lee - No rating
I didn’t end up reading this one.
Still Star-Crossed by Sona Charaipotra - 3.5 stars
I think most people don’t like this story because the male lead was creepy, but I found it enjoyable. Yes he was creepy, but there was a reason why! I thought the characters and the story were really interesting, I just wished that it was longer. The story ended extremely abruptly.
The Counting of Vermillion Beads by Aliette De Bodard - No rating
I really wanted to like this story because it was based off a Vietnamese folklore, but I lost interest pretty quickly and didn’t finish it.
The Land of the Morning Calm by E. C. Myers - 5 stars
This story was a breath of fresh air and I definitely cried a bit. I really enjoyed the modern setting for this story and all of the nerd subculture. It was heart-wrenching, relatable, and definitely memorable. I loved it.
The Smile by Aisha Saeed - No rating
I don’t remember why, but I didn’t finish this one.
Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers by Preeti Chhibber - No rating
I couldn’t really get into this one either. The world building wasn’t interesting, so I didn’t finish it.
Nothing into All by Renée Ahdieh - 3.5 stars
I’ve never read anything by Renee Ahdieh, but this short story definitely motivated me to change that. I enjoyed her writing a lot because it was overly flowery or too simple. She created very interesting characters and the story felt very whole despite being a short story.
Spear Carrier by Rahul Kanakia - No rating
I wasn’t interested in this one.
Code of Honor by Melissa de la Cruz - 2 stars
The only other book I’ve read by Melissa de la Cruz was The Ashleys, which was basically like Gossip Girl but for tweens, so I couldn’t help connecting the characters voices to those whiny young ones from her previous work. Although her folklore was interesting.
Bullet, Butterfly by Elsie Chapman - 5 stars
I’ve never read anything by Chapman, but wow this story, these characters! I loved everything about it. I definitely cried at the end and appreciated the gender bend take she had on it. It was refreshing to see a male character dress up as a woman to see his love interest instead.
Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar - 2.5 stars
I thought the way this story was written was kind of confusing. It felt like a fairy tale but it was set in the our modern world, but it didn’t feel modern. There were just hints that it was this time period. I think it was because of the overly flowery and complicated writing style, so I wasn’t very into it despite the strong female characters.
The Crimson Cloak by Cindy Pon - 5 stars
Cindy Pon’s writing and storytelling skills are phenomenal and I’m so upset that I just started reading her work now. I loved how she gave a voice to this character that is traditionally silenced in her own story. I also really enjoyed how the character talked to the reader. Easily my favorite one in this collection.
Eyes like Candlelight by Julie Kagawa - 3 stars
I noticed that a lot of people picked up this collection for Kagawa’s story. Maybe it’s because I watch a lot of anime and Korean dramas that include kitsune, so I didn’t think her story was very interesting or original. However, I did like the ending which is why I rated it a 3 instead of 2.5.
Chokshi’s writing was really beautiful and I was immediately hooked. Although I loved her writing style and her twist on this story, I found myself growing disinterested because of the character’s. They weren’t developed enough, so I found them boring and I didn’t like the instant love in this scenario.
Olivia’s Table by Alyssa Wong - 3.5 stars
I love a good ghost story and I thought Wong’s interpretation of this folklore was really grounded and interesting. I also appreciated the LGBTQ representation in it and the diverse cast. I did however lose interest again towards the end, but this time because of the pacing.
Steel Skin by Lori M. Lee - No rating
I didn’t end up reading this one.
Still Star-Crossed by Sona Charaipotra - 3.5 stars
I think most people don’t like this story because the male lead was creepy, but I found it enjoyable. Yes he was creepy, but there was a reason why! I thought the characters and the story were really interesting, I just wished that it was longer. The story ended extremely abruptly.
The Counting of Vermillion Beads by Aliette De Bodard - No rating
I really wanted to like this story because it was based off a Vietnamese folklore, but I lost interest pretty quickly and didn’t finish it.
The Land of the Morning Calm by E. C. Myers - 5 stars
This story was a breath of fresh air and I definitely cried a bit. I really enjoyed the modern setting for this story and all of the nerd subculture. It was heart-wrenching, relatable, and definitely memorable. I loved it.
The Smile by Aisha Saeed - No rating
I don’t remember why, but I didn’t finish this one.
Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers by Preeti Chhibber - No rating
I couldn’t really get into this one either. The world building wasn’t interesting, so I didn’t finish it.
Nothing into All by Renée Ahdieh - 3.5 stars
I’ve never read anything by Renee Ahdieh, but this short story definitely motivated me to change that. I enjoyed her writing a lot because it was overly flowery or too simple. She created very interesting characters and the story felt very whole despite being a short story.
Spear Carrier by Rahul Kanakia - No rating
I wasn’t interested in this one.
Code of Honor by Melissa de la Cruz - 2 stars
The only other book I’ve read by Melissa de la Cruz was The Ashleys, which was basically like Gossip Girl but for tweens, so I couldn’t help connecting the characters voices to those whiny young ones from her previous work. Although her folklore was interesting.
Bullet, Butterfly by Elsie Chapman - 5 stars
I’ve never read anything by Chapman, but wow this story, these characters! I loved everything about it. I definitely cried at the end and appreciated the gender bend take she had on it. It was refreshing to see a male character dress up as a woman to see his love interest instead.
Daughter of the Sun by Shveta Thakrar - 2.5 stars
I thought the way this story was written was kind of confusing. It felt like a fairy tale but it was set in the our modern world, but it didn’t feel modern. There were just hints that it was this time period. I think it was because of the overly flowery and complicated writing style, so I wasn’t very into it despite the strong female characters.
The Crimson Cloak by Cindy Pon - 5 stars
Cindy Pon’s writing and storytelling skills are phenomenal and I’m so upset that I just started reading her work now. I loved how she gave a voice to this character that is traditionally silenced in her own story. I also really enjoyed how the character talked to the reader. Easily my favorite one in this collection.
Eyes like Candlelight by Julie Kagawa - 3 stars
I noticed that a lot of people picked up this collection for Kagawa’s story. Maybe it’s because I watch a lot of anime and Korean dramas that include kitsune, so I didn’t think her story was very interesting or original. However, I did like the ending which is why I rated it a 3 instead of 2.5.
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love all these short stories! I've always been interested in folklore and mythology and it was cool to read Asian writers create short stories inspired by legends and tales from their countries. I loved the authors note at the end of each story sharing what inspired them and giving more info on the mythology from their culture. I also enjoyed the fact that there are many genres in this collection, each with characters that are powerful and unique. There's something for everyone to enjoy and a lot for a white person like myself to learn.
I loved the very blurred lines between modernity and ancient myths. Also, petition to have way more literature/media about Eastern myths because there’s so much more to mythology than Greek mythology
What a wonderful collection! Some standouts for me include Olivia’s Table, Land of the Morning Calm, Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers, and Crimson Cloak, the last one almost bringing me to tears. But honestly, every story in here was excellent and worth a read.