Recap of the Bookazine Author Event (July 7, 2023)

 

I'm thankful for a nice turnout at the Bookazine Author Event held on July 7, 2023! Attendees were apparently interested in wuxia fiction! There was resonance from the audience when I mentioned Jin Yong. I even got a smart question from a young kid regarding The Heavenly Sword! 

 

 

 

A Booktuber's Ten Most Anticipated 2023 Releases

 

 So excited to see The Heavenly Sword on this Booktuber's list (the 2nd one)!

 

Book Review - "A Bond Undone" by Jin Yong

 

I read this second installment of Legend of the Condor Heroes in Chinese, as I wanted to savor Jin Yong's writing in the original.

Like A Hero Born, this volume is also action-packed with a mind-blowing panoply of martial arts feats, while the story follows Guo Jing's breathless adventures in Southern China in the company of his beloved, Lotus. They stumble across the supreme kung fu grandmaster and Beggar Clan Chief, Count Seven, and in no time they hit it off with each other. He accepts them both as his disciples.

Back stories of the villainous Cyclone Mei as well as of Lotus's father, the vicious lone wolf Apothecary Huang titled as Lord of the Peach Blossom Island, are disclosed. Just as Guo Jing feels secure in Lotus's love for him, he happens upon a formidable contender from the far west, who has the support of Lotus's father. This contender is also the nephew of one of the four supreme kung fu grandmasters - Viper Ouyang, who is a matchless expert in the use of poison.

There was a passage that particularly caught my eye, and it was a description of Apothecary Huang's hallucinating flute melody called "Ode to the Billowing Tide". The writing in Chinese is quite magical. I've checked the English translation in A Bond Undone and found it equally good. Below is the English translation:

The song began as a perfectly calm sea, undisturbed by even the gentlest ripple. Then, the tide crept closer, the water moved faster, churning and frothing. The once gleaming mirror now splintered into white spray and snowy crests. Fish leaped, gulls swooped, the wind howled. Water sprites and sea monsters stole forth as the tide swelled. Icebergs drifted by. The sea boiled, bubbling and steaming. Mermen and mermaids frolicked in the undertow, intermingling, embracing, their lovemaking more arousing and sensual than it could ever be on land. As the tide receded, a dark current prowled unseen beneath the calm surface, tugging, pulling with each ebb and flow, ensnaring its heedless listeners.

 

What Inspired Me to Write "The Heavenly Sword"

 

The Chinese wuxia genre of fiction has a long history that dates back to the Tang dynasty. One of the earliest wuxia novels was "Legend of the Dragon-Beard Wanderer" written by a late-Tang writer named Du Guangting (850 - 933). In the modern era, Jin Yong (1924 - 2018) has been hailed as the grandmaster of modern wuxia fiction.

One of the hallmarks of the genre is the blending of historical events with tales of chivalrous adventures of righteous martial artists with superhuman skills, embedding themes of brotherhood loyalty and gallant altruism.

 

Jin Yong is a celebrated name for my generation and several subsequent generations of Chinese people. He has been compared to J. R. R. Tolkien of Lord of the Rings fame and I do think the comparison is apt in that both authors were endowed with prodigious power of imagination.

As one of Jin Yong’s more well-known wuxia series—the Condor Heroes trilogy—goes through the process of being translated into English and published, his novels have at last begun to gain wider recognition in the English language book world.

My own writing career began with historical Chinese fiction as I have always been a devoted dabbler in Chinese History. As Jin Yong’s’ readers would know, all his wuxia novels have the marks of well-researched historical settings and casts that include historical characters. The enduring popularity of his novels as well as wuxia C-dramas seems to speak to the proven viability of mixing history with wuxia fantasy.

One day I went down memory lane to revisit my childhood days when my cousins and I, goaded by Jin Yong’s novels, used to amuse ourselves by playacting martial arts heroes and heroines. We would spar with wooden ruler swords, don capes of torn towels and hop from chair to chair in imitation of qinggong stunts. Beset with nostalgia, I started toying with the idea of writing wuxia fantasy novels.

That was how the notion of writing the Sword Maiden from the Moon duology was first spawned. Later, as more creative ideas developed, the realist in me pleaded for the story to be grounded in a civil war and rebellion that happened in the early Ming Dynasty, while the dreamer in me nudged me to create a female knight-errant as the lead and a magical world where mortals, immortals and demons are staged, with retelling of popular Chinese myths.

As much as the heroine of my story is imaginary, she is nonetheless inspired by a real but little known woman rebel leader who escaped capture under the Yongle Emperor’s reign. I have retained her real name “Tang Sai’er” (唐賽兒) in the novel and she was also truly a leader of the White Lotus Sect (白蓮教). I thought her story of chutzpah was worth telling. But information about her life is so lacking though that it afforded me much creative liberty to paint her character. Her “Chang’e” (嫦娥) side was prompted by a Chinese novel titled The Unofficial History of the Female Immortal (女仙外史) written by a Qing novelist named Lu Xiong 呂熊 (1642-1723).

Book Review - "A Hero Born" by Jin Yong

 

It was a lifetime ago that I had read Legend of the Condor Heroes in Chinese. I've long forgotten the plot and the myriad of characters. The only names that I still remember are perhaps Guo Jing and Huang Rong (renamed Lotus in this English version). As a primary school student reader, I certainly hadn't been able to grasp the significance of the historical background the story was set in. But what have really stuck in my mind all through the years are probably the themes of brotherhood loyalty and knight-errant righteousness.

I found that this first volume of the 4-book series was still very gripping as a wuxia story with its huge cast and complex plot twists. I was particularly impressed with the Temujin story, which closely adheres to The Secret History of the Mongols. The historical character Qiu Chuji (an irascible Taoist martial arts expert in the novel) was given a colorful treatment. The story was set against a tumultuous background of incessant conflicts/wars between the Song (Han Chinese), Jin (Jurchen) and Mongolian regimes and expounded on how the chaos impacted on individuals and society.

It appeared to me that Jin Yong's story structure with intertwining plot lines was more evocative of Dumas (Count of Monte Cristo) than Tolkien (Lord of the Rings).

The fight scenes, which make up half of the book's contents, were vivid and cinematic and never boring. On the other hand, the narrative did not lack poignant episodes. The only thing lacking was perhaps romance, at least in this volume. However, the final episodes seemed to have set the stage for the relationship between Guo Jing and Lotus to bloom into something more than friendship.

Some reviewers have complained about the literal translation of the character names. Perhaps the decision to do literal translations of names was out of concern that non-Chinese-speaking readers might find pinyin romanization a bit hard to follow.
 

 

Immortal Characters in The Heavenly Sword - Nezha

 

Do you like story within a story? Nezha is a main fictional character in Rebecca Kuang's The Poppy War trilogy. Did you know that Nezha is a popular mythical figure in Chinese mythology? 

 

In my upcoming novel The Heavenly Sword, there is a retelling of the much loved mythical folklore about Nezha and the Green Dragon. In the novel, Nezha is an immortal who visits the human and demonic worlds to carry out a secret mission.

 

  

COVER REVEAL TIME!

 

I am super excited to share the gorgeous book cover of The Heaven Sword with you! The hardcover edition will be released in January 2023.

 

Cover Artist: Wenwen

Cover Designer: Silvia Brandmeier

 

 

My Debut Fantasy - THE HEAVENLY SWORD (SWORD MAIDEN FROM THE MOON, #1)

 

 

I'm very pleased to announce that my debut fantasy novel - a mix of  wuxia and mythology genres - is slated to be published in JANUARY 2023!! Pre-order on Amazon will begin around September/October. We're hoping to reveal the book cover some time next month!

 

THE HEAVENLY SWORD is the first part of a spellbinding duology weaving Chinese mythical folklore and speculative history into a sweeping tale of family love, fellowship loyalty, loss, sacrifice and kung fu rivalry.

 

This project is my tribute to the late Jin Yong, the iconic grandmaster of wuxia novels, and it is very near and dear to my heart, as his novels were a part of my growing up years.

 

If you are a fan of wuxia or xianxia movies and dramas like me, chances are you'll like this duology!

 

I will be sharing a few tidbits of some of the key characters over the course of next month. Please watch this space!

 

 

 

Upcoming Novel - Book 1 of a Wuxia-Myth Fantasy Duology

 

This is a teaser poster displaying key mortal and immortal characters in the novel.

 

I hope to be able to reveal the book title and date of publication soon!

 

Book Review - "The Jasmine Throne" by Tasha Suri

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I'll admit that there were a few times that I wanted to just put away the book. It's not to say that there's anything wrong with the plot, characters or worldbuilding, but most parts of the story dragged out so much that the narrative in its entirety felt boring and tedious.

This in no way reflects on the author's crafting skills. In fact the writing was elegant and emotionally evocative and the world of magic was spun with dexterity. It's just that I couldn't get invested in any of the characters or even the sapphic romance. At times it just felt that the two main characters had spurious reasoning and suffered from a victim syndrome.

 

It gets 3.4 stars out of 5 from me.

 

 

Book Review - "Heaven Official's Blessing" by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

 

This was certainly the most bizarre story I've ever read. The pacing was a bit slower than Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, but the plot twists were gripping nonetheless.

It's largely a gay romance story set in the "Three Realms" in popular Chinese folk beliefs. They are the Immortal Realm, the Mortal Realm and the Ghost Realm, each with its own set of governing rules and social customs. A Mortal can normally "ascend" to the Immortal Realm or "descend" to the Ghost Realm according to his/her deeds in life.

But the story hinges on exceptions to the norm, and that's what makes it interesting to follow the trajectories of the two protagonists. One is a kindhearted Crown Prince in his mortal life who struggles to "ascend" and is three times banished from the Immortal Realm. The other is an all-powerful Ghost King who derides and flouts all rules and who falls for the beleaguered Crown Prince.

I think the key message embedded in the novel is that things done with good intent may well end up causing harm to oneself.

But for Western readers, this novel might present some difficulties in terms of the cultural nuances and belief systems. Perhaps they would find the appended notes and glossary/terminology useful.

I'm giving this novel (Vol. 1) 4.3 stars.

 

Book Review - "Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation" by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

 

One reviewer had commented that it's impossible to separate the reading of this novel (Vol. 1) from his fond memories of its live-action adaptation The Untamed. All I can say is I couldn't agree more with him.

Between the end of 2020 and the start of 2021 I had watched and re-watched the wildly popular TV adaptation on Youtube. It still left me wanting to watch for a third time.

As soon as Seven Seas Entertainment announced that an official English translation of the novel was released (i.e. on December 14, 2021), I lost no time in getting my hands on a printed copy at my local bookstore, not least because the novel achieved New York Times bestseller status a few days after release. Wow, the book cover art and the interior illustrations just blew me away! The book was worth the money just for the artwork alone.

The strengths of the novel (Vol. 1) that stood out for me included:-

- the subtle and witty bantering dialogues and hilarious interactions between the two lead characters (commonly referred to by fans as Wangxian, which combines one character from each of their names);
- the loyal and enduring friendship between them that survives a baptism of fire;
- the complex politics that surround the various cultivation clans and sects;
- the constant questioning of the meaning of good and evil; and
- the love and burden of the convoluted familial bonds (with blood ties or without) that encumber the main characters.

For Western readers who may not be familiar with wuxia or cultivation stories, I would recommend them to first watch The Untamed before starting the novel, because the huge cast of characters with foreign (hard-to-pronounce) names may be a tad confusing.

For me though, it was nothing less than a full 5-star read and I can't wait for the sequels to come out.

 

Book Review - "The Unbroken" by C. L. Clark

 

This fantasy novel tells a North-Africa-inspired story of colonial powers' glossed over prejudices and silky cruel oppression of those they subjugate. The heavy themes of empire and colonialism make this a grim and heart-wrenching read.

Touraine, the conscript who is made to serve Balladaire from childhood and who returns to her homeland Qazal on assignment, discovers she doesn't belong anywhere. Her master and cohorts abominate her at heart while making her toil for them; her folks in her homeland recoil from her as she is too foreign and not even speaking their language. Her struggles with the meaning of "belonging" are to impact on the hard choices she has to make when an uprising becomes inevitable.

Luca is the calculating Queen regnant who is a naked believer in empire but tries to polish the patina with empathy. She makes her share of bad choices with seemingly good intentions and Touraine, her lover, has no qualms tearing off her hypocritical mask.

Touraine finally throws in with the Qazali rebels' lot when she concludes that her loyalty lies with her own people.

This couple of sentences sums up the central theme:

Touraine was starting to think it was impossible to come from one land and learn to live in another and feel whole. That you would always stand on shaky, hole-ridden ground, half of your identity dug out of you and tossed away.

The writing is emotion-evocative and the author has done a superb job at characterization.

I'm giving this novel 4.6 stars, rounded up. 

 

Book Review - "She Who Became the Sun" by Shelley Parker-Chan

 

This was absolutely one of my favorite reads in 2021! Finally I've found an author whose vibrant writing I want to study closely by re-reading. The publisher compares her writing with that of Madeleine Miller (I had read The Song of Achilles, and suffice it to say that Miller's style was a little too fluffy for my taste). But Parker-Chan's style resonates much more with me for its from-the-heart frankness and deep vibrancy in depictions of human nature and emotions.

The novel is marketed as fantasy, but in fact the fantasy element is minimal. A more accurate description would be alternative history fiction with a dash of sapphic romance.

The history of Zhu Yuanzhang's legendary rise from peasant status to become a rebel leader who eventually ends the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty and takes the throne as the first Ming Emperor would be well-known to most ethnic Chinese readers.

This novel upends the gender of this iconic historical character and creates an epic story out of the premise "what if he were a she?"

A discerning reviewer has commented that the novel is probably targeted at a bilingual audience, as Chinese slang/profanities and aphorisms are sprinkled throughout the novel. I have to say that this interesting observation was one of the things that nudged me to pick up the novel sooner.

Many secondary characters are real historical characters (like Ming Empress Ma, Zhu's closest allies Xu Da and Chang Yuchun, Yuan Mongol warlord Chaghan Temur, his nephew Wang Baobao etc.) A search of history texts has revealed that Esen Temur was actually the brother of the Yuan prime minister Tuo Tuo (or Toqto'a) who was not related to Chaghan Temur, but is fictionalized in the novel to play the latter's eldest son.

The novel basically centers on Zhu's internal struggles at first with an assumed identity (she took her brother's identity to survive) and then with her own justification in trying to acquire the throne at all costs. The main character General Ouyang is an entirely fictional character, and much care has been put into molding this deliciously dangerous and tragic antagonist who is a eunuch general fighting for the Yuan Mongols and who is tortured by hatred and unattainable love. The Ma character (whom Zhu would eventually marry) is given a portrayal of personality very close to real history.

The plot twists around thrilling political machinations and internecine feuds in both the rebels camp and the Yuan camp as well as field battles that keep readers on their toes, while also delving deep into sexual urges of lesbian and gay lovers, with overarching themes of loyalty, betrayal, racial oppression, vengeance and compulsive-obsessive ambitions.

This was one of the best reads for me in 2021. I'm giving it 4.7 stars rounded up. 

Book Review - "These Violent Delights" by Chloe Gong

 

I enjoyed the plot but thought the writing was over-the-top flowery and pretentious, which really created a snag in the flow of the narrative. This was especially problematic in the first half of the novel.

I liked the sense of time and place that the novel evoked. The history element was also handled with a lot of respect to accuracy.

The romance part was alright except that it also included a lot of teenage theatrics. I couldn't feel any connection with Juliette because her personality was just not likeable. The character of Roma was a lot better by comparison.

As for the fantasy part, the "madness" stretched the imagination a bit, but since it's the fantasy genre, I couldn't complain.

All in all, it was a curate's egg. I'm giving it 3.4 stars, rounded down.

 

Book Review - "The Burning God" by R. F. Kuang

 

First off, I must say that Rebecca Kuang is a brilliant writer. It takes someone with serious talent to pull off this very complicated history-fantasy plot with myriads of characters. She seemed to have done it effortlessly. She has my admiration.

This final volume The Burning God of The Poppy War trilogy takes readers through another roller-coaster of endless bloodsheds and gore and hatred. Rin has evolved into a recalcitrant and power-obsessed general who is becoming more and more cold-blooded in her blind strife for revenge against domestic foes (Vaisra Yin and Nezha Yin and their Republic) and foreign ones (Hesperians) alike.

In her desperation, she leads her Southern Army to trek through rough terrain all the way to Mount Tianshan to seek help from Riga the shaman tyrant (the long trek parallels Mao Zedong’s famous long march), but the quest is fruitless. Undaunted, Rin heads straight to Nezha’s military base in his hometown Arlong to challenge his protector the Dragon god. She wins the battle, forcing Nezha to flee to Speer Island. She also sees Nezha as an involuntary puppet at Hesperia’s beck and call. But she finds no loyalty from the Arlong people. Paranoia begins to set in. She heads south to her own hometown Tikany in search for support, but what awaits her is a war-weary and destitute populace. She decides on a face-off with Nezha on Speer Island.

The entire series explores themes of obsession with and illusion of power, racism, class bigotry, cultural conflicts and values gap between nations. The wide range seems a tad ambitious.

I found this third and final volume a bit tedious at times, especially when reading repetitive expressions of melodramatic emotions and reactions of the protagonist. I’ve always had an aversion to series, because the narrative often tends to drag unnecessarily just to fill pages (which translates into higher profit for publishers). This is also true of this trilogy, notwithstanding plot complexities and colorful characters, especially when each of the three books is over 600 pages long. I would definitely have liked it better if the story was condensed into just two volumes.

Specifically, the long trek to Mount Tianshan in this final volume, which is chronologically inaccurate from history’s perspective anyway, seems to have been inserted as a page filler in an afterthought, rather than developed organically from the narrative flow.

I’m giving this Book #3 of the trilogy 3 stars.

 

PS: Since finishing all three books in the trilogy, I've had second thoughts about the author's plot points choices. It's well understood that the story is based on the Second Sino-Japanese War in general and the Nanjing massacre in particular. In The Popper War there's the insensitive playing upon the Nanjing massacre victims's sufferings for melodramatic effects. The whole idea of making a gender-bending parody out of a prominent albeit unlikable historical character (Mao Zedong) and of exploiting a piece of traumatic Chinese history for the sake of profit-making doesn't sit well with me.

 

 

 

 

Book Review - "The Dragon Republic" by R. F. Kuang

 

This is sequel #2 in The Poppy War trilogy. It was as compelling as the first novel. The writing is lush and scenes are graphically presented. Rin’s internal torment and physical pain felt so real on the page!

The plot thickens as the Nikan Empire is stricken by the aftermath of the Mugenese invasion and the power struggles between the northern Warlords led by the Empress and the southern Warlords headed by the Dragon Republic leader Vaisra, Nezha’s father.

We see Rin guilt-ridden over her using the fire power of the Phoenix vindictively to annihilate the whole Mugenese island. While at a loss as to what to do next, Rin gets reunited with Kitay in the city under the control of the pirate queen Moag. Nezha appears at this juncture and convinces them both to join forces with the Dragon Republic to resist the imminent attack mounted by the Empress and her allies. Rin learns that Vaisra intends to enlist the help of Hesperia, the blue-eyed foreign nation, but she remains wary of the latter’s true intentions.

Meanwhile, her fire power is lost due to a god’s blockage. A fierce naval battle between the two sides breaks out at Lake Boyang. The Empress’s side has the help of the wind-commanding shaman Feylen, which gives her the edge. The plot then branches off to tell the history of enmity between the steppe shamans and the Nikan imperial rulers. By chance, with the help of a steppe shaman, Rin’s fire power is restored and enhanced by a spiritual bond forged with Kitay. They are ready to protect the Dragon Republic, but in the end find they have backed the wrong side. Unexpected perfidy forces Rin to assume a life-changing role in the civil war.

Here are some passages that I found resonating:

The sheer arrogance, Rin thought. It must be nice, possessing all the power, so you could approach geopolitics like a chess game, popping in curiously to observe which countries deserved your aid and which didn’t.

It’s not about who you are, it’s about how they see you. And once you’re mud in this country, you’re always mud.

‘Those devils are going to destroy our world. The Hesperians have a singular vision for the future, and we are not in it.’

The Nikara had been fighting among themselves for a millennium. Were they going to stop just because they could vote for their rulers? And who was going to vote for those rulers? People like Auntie Fang?

He could spout all the ideology he wanted, but she knew better. The Nikara were never going to rule themselves, not peacefully, because there was no such thing as a Nikara at all.

I’m giving this novel 4 stars. 

 

Book Review - "Descendant of the Crane" by Joan He

The book blurb describes this novel as "Chinese-inspired fantasy", but frankly, I would have liked for the cultural settings to relate to a real Chinese historical period and/or some real Chinese historical figures. Most of the time, I felt like reading contemporary fiction (because of the Western flavor of the dialogues and behaviors) set in a weird make-believe medieval world.

The story is about a (supposedly) Chinese princess who vows to find the murderer of her father but then finds herself entangled in a web of lies and betrayals during the investigation. When she's caught in a dilemma between upholding her subjects' trust and seeking redress for one particular group of oppressed victims (the soothes, or fortune-tellers), which situation is further complicated by the prospect of war with a neighboring state, she realizes that her ideals are useless and something has to give.

The first third of the novel moves at glacial pace, but picks up considerably about mid-way. But I was unable to feel connection with any of the characters and found the writing a bit disjointed.

I'm giving this novel 3 stars.