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stephenmeansme's review
2.0
The emphasis was definitely more on "Filipino-Chinese" than "speculative fiction" - even taking a broad definition of spec fic, the genre of most of the stories seemed firmly in fantasy (or horror), where the fantastic elements were even treated as more than symbolism. On the cultural side, it's definitely interesting to see a different perspective, but I would be curious to know what people of Filipino-Chinese descent think of the stories - is so much of "Filipino-Chinese"-ness centered around attending Grandma's funeral, for example? Or Dad being very angry if you marry someone who isn't also Chinese? Or the Catholic-Chinese-traditional syncretism? I think so many of the stories just sort of bounced off me because they didn't seem to be elevating these cultural tropes much beyond their real-world setting (compare to something like Kai Ashante Wilson's use of African-American Vernacular English in THE SORCERER OF THE WILDEEPS, or Afrofuturism more generally; heck, even Yoon Ha Lee's Koreanisms in DRAGON PEARL).
2.5 stars rounded down. This is probably of interest if you're looking for a sampler of Filipino-Chinese fiction, but as a genre collection I don't think it lives up to its potential.
2.5 stars rounded down. This is probably of interest if you're looking for a sampler of Filipino-Chinese fiction, but as a genre collection I don't think it lives up to its potential.
whitelotusreads's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
speculativebecky's review
3.0
As is often the case with short story collections, and especially with anthologies collecting multiple authors, I found the stories in this volume to be very uneven. I do wonder whether some of the stories would have connected more had I been familiar with the storytelling traditions they were riffing on, and I acknowledge that I’m not the best reviewer here since I’m not the target audience. Although not my favorite collection of late, this book was pretty different than any I’ve read previously, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend picking it up if you’re into diverse speculative fiction.
My favorite stories were Two Women Worth Watching by Andrew Drilon, which started the collection off brilliantly with a tale of two women having dinner, one a famous actress and the other a nobody who nonetheless has an enormous captivated audience of loyal ghosts who follow her life story; and The Stranger at my Grandmother’s Wake by Fidelis Tan, an intriguing story about an old woman waiting on her deathbed for the reappearance of an old friend she met only once, years earlier at her grandmother’s wake. The story that will perhaps stick with me the longest, mostly due to our present circumstances, was The Perpetual Day by Crystal Koo, which envisions a global pandemic in which the ability to sleep is suddenly lost
My favorite stories were Two Women Worth Watching by Andrew Drilon, which started the collection off brilliantly with a tale of two women having dinner, one a famous actress and the other a nobody who nonetheless has an enormous captivated audience of loyal ghosts who follow her life story; and The Stranger at my Grandmother’s Wake by Fidelis Tan, an intriguing story about an old woman waiting on her deathbed for the reappearance of an old friend she met only once, years earlier at her grandmother’s wake. The story that will perhaps stick with me the longest, mostly due to our present circumstances, was The Perpetual Day by Crystal Koo, which envisions a global pandemic in which the ability to sleep is suddenly lost
tregina's review
3.0
I ought to have reviewed this as soon as I finished because now I've forgotten the names of the stories I liked best, but overall I found the anthology really haunting, with a very mythic sensibility about the whole thing.
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