Interesting blend og Eastern and Western fairy tales.
Someone recommended me this book with the words 'It's Sapphic Chinese fairy tales!" So, naturally, I had to get my hands on it! And I am very glad that I did! Though short and with a minor flaw or two, it was interesting, captivating and queer, so I really enjoyed it!
👍 What I Liked 👍
Fairy tales: There were so many great fairy tales combined in this story, even one I didn't know of. What I especially liked was that the setting of this book was Eastern and one of the main fairy tales is Eastern as well. Yet, the rest of the stories are Western and are given a sort of Eastern feel and gloss. It was interesting to see this familiar stories in a new setting.
Dark: I always love when fairy tale stories are given a dark twist or when the heroes turn out to actually be the villains. The fact that this book gave some of these stories some darker twists was particularly interesting to me.
Journey: Our two main characters, Rosa and Hou Yi, embark not only on a physical journey but also on an enlightening one. Both women are battling internal demons and need to find absolution and redemption. This journey allows them to see inside themselves and journeys like that are always fascinating.
Queer: 'Nough said.
👎 What I Disliked 👎
World building: This is obviously such a rich universe with many stories and facets to it. Sadly, much of the universe was never really developed. Sure, this is perhaps more a novella than a novel, but the universe still deserved to be expanded and explained because it was really quite interesting.
Beginning: With this being a novella I really needed it to lay down the land early on and quickly set the stage. That, sadly, did not happen and the result was a kind of rocky and slightly confusing beginning.
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review