Blue Eye Samurai – Netflix Series Review
JC Kang
I enjoyed the Blue Eye Samurai much as I enjoyed Solo. Both tell engrossing stories, with complex plots, luscious visuals, and compelling characters; but suffer for being part of an…
JC Kang
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao
Steeped in deep lore inspired by Chinese cosmology, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night infuses wonder and excitement into the common tropes of forbidden magic, lost heirs, and clash of…
Pawn’s Gambit by Rob J. Hayes
“Yokai Scavenger Hunt-Heist-Military Fantasy” Yes, that tagline is a convoluted mouthful, that Rob J. Hayes manages to pull off, just as he did in book one of the Mortal Techniques…
The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu
Cradle meets Game of Thrones (if GRRM wrote it in a lighthearted tone). I have read hundreds of epic fantasy and Asian-inspired fantasy books; and up to now, nothing has…
The Raveling by Alec Hutson – Series Review
I listened to the audiobook for The Crimson Queen, book one of Alec Hutson’s The Raveling, back when it was a finalist in the first SPFBO in 2018. At the…
Red Winter by Annette Marie: Japanese Urban Fantasy
As a lover of Asian-themed fantasy, and always a judge of a book by its cover, I had wanted to read Annette Marie’s Japanese urban fantasy, Red Winter, for quite…
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Like much of the fantasy book world, I was surprised to find out that audiobook narrator extraordinaire Travis Baldree would be releasing a fantasy novel he wrote himself. I’d loved…
Stormdancer: What Could Have Been – A Review and Breakdown
In April of last year, the Twitterverse erupted with charges of cultural appropriation in Jay Kristoff’s debut, Stormdancer. I took the accusations with a grain of salt, since the term…
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
“If Arya Stark were a mecha pilot.” Xiran Jay Zhao’s debut YA science-fantasy, Iron Widow, is the first book I’ve read in a very long time that I didn’t want…
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
“West Side Story meets Fists of Fury.” Australian-born-and-raised, American-educated, ethnically Chinese author Chloe Gong became a social media sensation with her TikToks drumming up anticipation for her YA historical fantasy…
Monkey Around by Jadie Jang
Journey to the West meets Paternus meets The Greatest American Hero. Journey to the West is perhaps the forbearer of the xianxia genre, and its main character Sun Wukong is…
The Heretic Peacekeeper by Jeremy “Deathblade” Bai
“Blade Runner meets Cradle.” Falling under the umbrella of progression fantasy, the cultivation subgenre (also known as xianxia) has risen in popularity through Chinese webnovels. Centered around the concept of…