gourdziller 's review for:

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

3.5

challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I was on edge for the whole last act I just zoomed through it. Thoroughly engaging and awesome. Agonizing as it was at time, I love reading utterly unsympathetic characters. June is just stunning to read in every way but totally believable. There's parallels between this and The Poppy War trilogy where Kuang goes "Here's what a normal, moral character would do! Anyway this character is going to live out their harshest desire out of spite". There's definitely stuff here about how lonely of a world writing professionally can be, and plenty of commentary about how invasive racism really is. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Death, Rape

Minor: Death of parent