Historical Fiction, Magic, and High Fantasy; and Other Books

 Re-reading

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, May 1, 2018; Harper Voyager

Genre: historical fiction, fantasy, high fantasy, magic 

I had started this historical fantasy but not finished. Now, I'm in the mood for fantastic martial arts, magic, Chinese mythology, fantastic creatures, gods,  and feats, and a female main character who went from a poor village to the highest military academy and honors. It's a mistake, I find, to try to link the events and wars and places to real Chinese history and places, as they have been so changed for the purposes of fiction. 

(post reprinted from Book Bird Dog ( Book Dilettante), my other book blog.) The Poppy War is an epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic. I had to read this to see why it received all the awards and accolades. Apart from being a Goodreads Choice Award for 2018, the first book received 

Nebula Award Nominee for Best Novel (2018), Locus Award Nominee for First Novel (2019), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (2019), Compton Crook Award (2019), British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds Award) (2019), and several other award nominations

The other books in the fantasy trilogy are

The Dragon Republic and 

The Burning God. All three books won the Goodreads Choice and the last two were also nominated for awards.

R. F. Kuang is also the author of Babel, Yellowface 

Also reading

Set in the Toronto neighbourhood of “Little Jamaica,” Frying Plantain  (June 4, 2019) follows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in a predominantly white society.

ZALIKA REID-BENTA, a Canadian writer, whose debut novel RIVER MUMMA has been shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award and  received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist Magazine. RIVER MUMMA is an Amazon Books Editors' Pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy and was selected a Best Book of the Month for Apple Books in February 2024. It has been listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 on platforms, including CBC Books, Indigo Books, Kobo Books and The Walrus.

Reid-Benta's debut short story collection FRYING PLANTAIN won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Literary Fiction in 2020. It was longlisted for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and shortlisted for the 2020 Toronto Book Award, the 2020 Trillium  Book Award, the 2021 White Pine Award and the 2020 Evergreen Award.

In 2025, Tundra Books will publish Zalika's first picture book, TWELVE DAYS OF JAMAICAN CHRISTMAS.

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh, a review

 Book post reprinted from my other book blog, BookBirdDog (Book Dilettante)

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published June 11, 2020; Mariner Books

Genre: Indian literature, historical fiction, award winning novel

A young Indian marine biologist, Piya Roy, travels to the remote Sunderbans area of West Bengal, India near the border with Bangladesh, to find and study the habits of two rare river dolphins, one of them the Irawaddy dolphin. She gets help from an illiterate yet knowledgeable boatman, Fokir, who knows and understands the extensive mangroves, the shifting tides of the river, and the multiple small islands that make up the marshland area. He is able to take her to where the dolphins regularlly gather to feed.

I loved the extensive and detailed descriptions of the Sunderbans islands, the poetic vision of man and nature and their interactions. The tenacious and determined personality of Piya and her bravery and courage in her research fits well with the astute and competent boatman Fokir, and their attraction to each other does not come as a surprise.

The force of nature and its effects on humans and their frail habitations in a wilderness of wood and water is made over and over again when the incoming tides completely cover many of the islands each day. The main event for the inhabitants is when a cyclone threatens their lives and houses in the Sunderbans. The mangroves are also home to ferocious tigers, crocodiles, and snakes.

The main character is the land - the land of wood, water, and the tides that swallow them up at will. The love story between Piya and Fokir is also heart breaking. But the redemption of having environmental groups fund Piya's further study of the Sunderbans is a reward for her efforts.

 

AMITAV GHOSH was born in Calcutta, and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; he studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria. He is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including the Booker-shortlisted Sea of Poppies, the first novel in  The Ibis Trilogy, The Glass Palace and The Hungry Tide. His non-fiction writing includes The Great Derangement, The Nutmeg’s Curse and Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories, which was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize.
Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages. He was a finalist of the Man Booker International Prize and was the first English-language writer to be the recipient of the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour. In 2024 Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Erasmus Prize. 

Historical Novels, Fantasy, Mystery

Historical Fiction 

Not yet published

A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang, Jan. 27, 2026; William Morrow, NetGalley

Genre: literary, fantasy, historical fiction

A dark, magical realist debut family saga that moves through the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Cultural Revolution, and the present day to explore the effects of intergenerational trauma, the legacy of colonialism, and the inescapability of fate.

 I am interested in the history of China from the 1930s and onward.

Not yet published 

Eureka by Victoria Chang, publication Jan. 27, 2026; Macmillan Children's Publishing; NetGalley

Genre: children's historical fiction

Description: Eureka is a gorgeous and emotionally resonant novel-in-verse by multiple-award-winning poet Victoria Chang that sensitively and lyrically renders the tragic events surrounding the 1885 expulsion of Chinese Americans from Eureka, California.

I wanted to know more about this event in 1885 California.

Soft Burial by Fang Fang, March 18, 2025; Columbia University Press, NetGalley

Genre: historical fiction, mystery, amnesia

Soft Burial begins with a mysterious, nameless protagonist. Decades earlier she was pulled out of a river in a state of near-death; upon regaining consciousness, she discovered that her entire memory had been erased. The narrative follows her journey through recovery. Intergenerational trauma from the Land Reform Campaign in China, late 40s to early 50s.  

Amnesia cases, fictional or real, have been fascinating for me.

State of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang, published June 3, 2025; World Editions, NetGalley

Genre; literary, historical fiction

Jeremy Tiang's debut novel dives into the tumultuous days of leftist movements and political detentions in Singapore and Malaysia. It follows an extended family from the 1940s to the present day. 

The history of the Chinese in Southeast Asia is  equally intriguing. 

A Telegram from Le Touquet by John Bude, May 20, 2025; Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley 

Genre: historical mystery, first published in 1956

Nigel Derry finds himself on a vacation cut short by murder as a cold shadow of suspicion eclipses the sunny beauty of the Côte d'Azur. Enter Inspector Blampignon of the Sûreté Nationale, the formidable French detective who embarks on a thrilling race to discover the truth. 

My dream vacation spot is the Cote d'Azur.

I enjoy historical fiction and also love a good mystery. 

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

Nicole Baart: Women's Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers

 I enjoyed Nicole Baart's most recent book, not yet published, and found I have her other two. I hope to get to them soon.

Where He Left Me by Nicole Baart

Nov. 4, 2025; Atria Books, NetGalley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sadie Sheridan, in a remote cabin in the Northern Cascades, is left bewildered and frightened when her husband Felix did not come home one evening. Left alone with winter storms raging, she must fend for herself in the rustic home. When a teen and a young boy, Henry and Fin, show up in her backyard, she takes them in, nursing Finn to better health as he has a raging fever and communicates only by signing.

Sadie suspects they have run away from an abusive environment and home, but gradually relies on Henry, who is accustomed to living in the woods, to help them survive during the relentless winter storms.

These two dire situations - Felix's unexplained absence, and the strange boys who come into Sadie's home during harsh winter storms- leave Sadie with more than enough on her hands. The setting, atmosphere, and characters in the novel are unique and challenging. Sadie is a sympathetic but struggling character in her environment.

How the story develops and unfolds is interesting and gripping. The added suspense toward the end gives a thrilling ending to the book.

Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart, Nov. 2, 2021; Atria Books, NetGalley

Genre: mystery and thrillers, women's fiction

Description:

Juniper Baker had just graduated from high school and was deep in the throes of a summer romance when Cal and Beth Murphy, a childless couple who lived on a neighboring farm, were brutally murdered. When her younger brother became the prime suspect, June’s world collapsed and everything she loved that summer fell away. She left, promising never to return to tiny Jericho, Iowa.

You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart, Oct. 16, 2028; Atria Books, NetGalley

Genre: women's  fiction 

Description: Years ago, Gabe’s birth mother requested a closed adoption and Jessica was more than happy to comply. But when her house is broken into and she discovers a clue that suggests her estranged husband was in close contact with Gabe’s biological mother, she vows to uncover the truth at any cost. A harrowing story of tenacious love and heartbreaking betrayal

What's on your TBR list for this coming month? 

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

Mystery and Suspense Novels: Sunday Salon

 

The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia, Jan. 20, 2025; St. Martin's Press, NetGalley

Description: The next gripping domestic suspense novel from Jessie Garcia, author of The Business Trip.

It's always sunny in Detroit for Faith Richards. The popular TV meteorologist, endearingly referred to as "The Fair Weather Friend" by her viewers, has the world by the tail. But one night, Faith leaves work on a dinner break and never returns. Her body is found the next morning. 

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia, Jan. 14, 2025; St. Martin's Press, NetGalley

I enjoyed the narrative told in several voices, notably those of Jasmine and Stephanie, two women who meet on a plane with startling results. Jasmine's clever way of escaping from a controlling and abusive boyfriend includes stealing Stephanie's ID on the plane, and then her complete identity later. Friends of theirs back home try to keep up by emails and text messages with the two women. Stephanie seems to have become a different person with an unbelievable reason for why she is not back at work. 

The entire suspense plot rests on the machinations of Jessica to plot and get away with stealing Stephanie's identity so that she can escape to Mexico, her ideal final destination. Stephanie's next door neighbor and cat sitter, Robert, is a main character too, who even tries to fly to San Diego to find Stephanie. 

 Showing unbelievable ways to fool people, this is a great book for travelers on what to look for to protect themselves from scammers and thieves. Jasmine is a truly Machiavellian character. 

Great plotting and character development.

Books from the Library

I borrowed quite a few books this time, being tired of reading only ebooks and wanting to have a physical book in hand for a change. 

The Rivals by Jane Pek, Dec. 3, 2024; Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor

Description

ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S 10 BEST MYSTERY NOVELS OF 2024 • A witty and thought-provoking mystery that reimagines the spy story to explore the nature of relationships in a digital age: the follow-up to Jane Pek’s “thoroughly modern twist on classic detective fiction,” The Verifiers (New York Times Book Review)

“Jane Pek’s writing is really fun and will keep you hooked.” —Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Claudia Lin has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. She and her colleagues uncover a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets.

Peking Duck and Cover: A Noodle Shop Mystery by Vivien Chien, July 23, 2024; St. Martin's Press

Description:

Chinese New Year is supposed to be a time of fresh beginnings and celebrations of good fortune to come. Naturally, the shop owners of Asia Village jump at the chance to create a memorable holiday event for all. 

However, when a member of the Lion Dance performance group is found shot, festival planner Lana Lee agrees to solve the murder before anyone else gets hurt. 

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

Sunday Salon: Three Chinese-American Novels ( two serious, one rom com)

 

 Book Comments/Reviews

Bad Bad Girl  by Gish Jen, Oct. 25, 2025, Knopf, NetGalley

 This novel, in which the author speaks candidly with her deceased mother,  is roughly based on the life of the author's Shanghainese mother, who had left war torn Shanghai in the late 1930s just before the Communist take over of the city. The story also covers the extended family who had stayed behind in China, how they fared and what they experienced after the Communist takeover and the different stages of that era, including the great land reform and the Cultural Revolution. 

The author's tense relationship with her mother is the major theme. A mother who calls her Bad Bad Girl! whenever the mother is dismayed by the things that her outspoken and curious daughter will say. Far from being a traditionally obedient daughter, who defers to her parents and her traditional Chinese culture, the author asks too many "Why Why Why" questions, and is too opinionated and unorthodox in her views. "No one will marry you" is her mother's constant chant. 

History, culture, immigration, mother-daughter relationships - just some of the topics handled with humor and also with some sadness, nostalgia, and regret. 

What We Left Unsaid by Winnie M. Li, Aug. 19, 2025, Atria, NetGalley

This book is by another Chinese-American writer, about a family in America.  In 2015, three adult children make a cross country road trip to visit their sick mother in California. The mother has asked them to make a detour to see the Grand Canyon on the way. 

The urgent call from their father in California had the three siblings meeting up in Chicago to begin the long drive. The mother's wish is for them to see the Grand Canyon on the way to California, to complete a family trip that was cut short in 1991, when the family abruptly turned around in Arizona before reaching their destination.

This nostalgic trip for the three at the request of their mom raises questions about what had happened in 1991 to end the original family vacation. Along the route, they put together their memories of a remote gas station stop in Arizona in 1991 and why that triggered a decision to end the drive to the Grand Canyon. 

Family relationships, family secrets, and Asian immigrant experiences are all under a microscope in this telling and revealing novel.  Another eye opening and dramatic view of an American family. 

Next on the reading list

Alice Chen's Reality Check by Kara Loo and Jennifer Young, June 3, 2025; Quirk Books, NetGalley

A reality TV contestant fake dates her rival and begins solving a real murder that happens on set. Romantic comedy with a murder mystery twist. 

“Fake dating + reality TV drama + murder mystery = an absolutely addictive read.”—Mia P. Manansala, author of the award-winning Arsenic and Adobo. 

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

Last Boat by Helen Zia, and Other Books: Sunday Salon

 My review of this historical account of the people of Shanghai during and before WWII

Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution by Helen Zia

The life stories of four young people in Shanghai during the 1930s - Benny, Ho, Annuo, and Bing - are told in historical detail by the author, whose research and intensive interviewing made this history so poignant, informative, and moving.

The four young people share their families' fates during the Japanese invasion, and then during the Nationalists and Communists fighting for control of all of China. Fleeing from Shanghai to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the U.S., many people left Shanghai in a mass exodus during this time.

The author also shows the four as new immigrants to other countries, how they were received and their later accomplishments to fit into their new lives. She also shows how the Chinese are not a monolithic group as they differ in lifestyle and language and experience depending on the different parts of China they come from.

I am impressed by the amount of research and interviews that went into the telling of this history, and the amount of people who contributed information about their lives in Shanghai during wartime and after.

Daily Life  in the Summer Heat

 

I count the days till autumn weather, being tired of the extreme heat and dryness, the elevated air pollution from wildfires all over in Alaska, Seattle, British Columbia. All these make me more of a shut-in than I would like - there goes the garden, dry as a bone and needing a lot of tending, alas. There go my daily walking and outdoor activities.  I like being in air conditioning but only tolerate being in the house most of the time! 

Now, I'll be forced to finish the downsizing we started over a year ago, slowly  giving away all we no longer use or need. It's a chore, as I don't want to get rid of things I like, but then..... I also have to get back to the family history and family trees that are my current projects. There are so many things to do outdoors too, as who wants to be inside all the time! And travel? Where is there decent weather and no fires or floods or tornado watches? This is a terrible summer for me, as I'm not ready to head for Iceland as yet.

How about you? How are you weathering this summer? Watching a lot of Netflix? 

New Books Downloaded 

Notice they are all thrillers, except for the last book - romance and adventure in the South of France. 

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

Poetry and Books: Sunday Salon

The Best American Poetry 2025 is a landmark edition that not only showcases the finest contemporary American poetry but also honors David Lehman’s achievement as the anthology’s founding editor. 

Familial Hungers: Poems by Christine Wu

Description

Poems that reckon with identity, race, and fractured relationships through the lens of food.

Bittersweet, numbingly spicy, herbal and milky, Familial Hungers is a lyric feast. Ginger scallion fish, Sichuan peppercorns, ginseng tea, Chinese school and white chefs - the reader's appetite is satiated with these poems' complex palate. 

There are the bubbling expectations for immigrant daughters, the chewy strands of colonial critique, and dissolving crystals of language loss. Wu relentlessly searches the grocery shelves for the hard-to-digest ingredients of identity and belonging, offering us her nourishing honesty and courage pulled from the marrow.

In 2023, she was the winner of the RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award

The Master Jeweler by Weina Dai Randel, June 24, 2025; Lake Union Publishing, NetGalley

Genre: historical fiction, Shanghai, WWII

Review: 

Captivating story of a 15 year old girl, Anyu, who leaves home in the north of China for the glittering world of Shanghai, where she learns the art of jewelry making from a family of Jewish artisans. She becomes a master jeweler with her designs and artwork and rewards the family by making their name famous in the city. The detailed descriptions of the work that went into making fine necklaces, rings, tiaras, bracelets and more using basic materials from scratch make the novel particularly interesting. 

The plot itself of a young girl who is trained to become a top artisan in her field is intriguing. The somewhat sad ending as China is invaded by the Japanese pre-WWII makes the story realistic and puts in historical context. The descriptions of Faberge eggs designed for the tsars in pre revolutionary Russia is detailed, as is Anyu's efforts to reproduce the intricacy of the jeweled eggs for her own work.

Informative and well written, an enjoyable novel of historical fiction.

Audiobooks on my list

  

Transplants

by Daniel Tam-Claiborne

A novel following two young women in pursuit of kinship and self-discovery.

On a university campus in rural Qixian, Lin and Liz make an improbable pair: Lin, a retiring Chinese student, and Liz, a Chinese American teacher grieving her mother’s sudden death. They each meet with hostility on campus for several reasons and forge a friendship.

They then swap places. Lin goes to Liz's Ohio hometown, and Liz searches for answers in China re what drove her parents to leave China before she was born. 

Transplants is a story of migration, belonging, and the parts of ourselves that get lost in translation. Alternating between Liz and Lin’s perspectives, it is an exploration of race, love, power, and freedom that illuminates the limits and possibilities of what can happen when we open ourselves to the unknown.

Se my review in Goodreads.

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

To Be Read Books: The Break In; I Did Warn Her; Wanting

 TBR List

The Break In by Katherine Faulkner, Aug. 26, 2025; Gallery Books, NetGalley.  Mystery, thriller, suspense

After killing an intruder in self-defense, a wealthy London mother must unravel a terrifying mystery filled with twists and turns, from the author of the “deliciously twisted thriller” (People) The Other Mothers.

I Did Warn Her by Sian Gilbert, June 17, 2025; William Morrow, NetGalley, thriller

A superyacht in the middle of the Atlantic.
A stewardess running away from her past.
A fatal secret.

Below deck, nothing stays hidden for long. (publisher)

Book beginning:

SASHA:

I don't deserve it: the sparkling sea lapping against the pier, the smell of salt and petrol, the freedom that awaits me. I don't deserve any of it. 

Wanting by Claire Jia, July 1, 2025; Tin House Books, NetGalley, contemporary, multicultural

A searing novel of envy, longing, and regret across three lives and two countries that asks how far we’ll go for a friendship, a romance, a dream.

Ye Lian is thriving in Beijing and wants for nothing – until her childhood best friend, Luo Wenyu, comes back after a decade in California. Luo has a successful career, a millionaire American fiancé, and a mansion in the Beijing suburbs–throwing Lian’s own reliable choices into high relief.

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, Book Blogger Hop

Meme: book beginnings by Rose City Reader