Rien:
ginkgo_leaves:
@penel,
I thought I would post the comments once I complete the book, “the hen……” along with its review.
I am midway rt now. (Kinda going slow, as started reading after a long long gap)
Will come very soon with the review of the book, till then I will be a just a lurker
Looking forward to your thoughts and comments about it!
Heyo~ I finished a book this month! I bought it a few years ago and finally decided to give it a read. The prose was very different from what I was used to but was pretty good. As I read it, I kept thinking "this would be awesome as a 2D animated show." But it's super super dark.
I've heard this been called West African high fantasy and a lot of people have disagreed with this take. I'm not sure why. This all took place on a secondary world with complex magic systems, which to me means it's a high fantasy. I guess some people forget that Tolkien took inspiration from druids and all kinds of folklore and mysticism as well, expect it was European? idk, if you happen to know a good reason why Black Leopard, Red Wolf wouldn't count as high fantasy, please tell me because I don't understand what people are hung up on.
It was fun being able to recognize some of the reinterpretations like Nan Si as Anansi the Spider. Was kind of surprised by the main character's struggle with murder despite his history of it. Like every single element of revenge he either didn't take or someone else did for him. I didn't understand why Marlon kept the protagonist so passive in these specific instances, or what we're supposed to expect in the future from our protgonist. Maybe Marlon wants to say our protagonist isn't just evil for evil's sake, but has a heart even if he burries it deep inside himself? But then other people do the revenge for the protagonist so I guess I just don't see the point. I don't know it was a weird world that kept me interested. A bit worried about it being a trilogy. I don't really see where the story is going to go next despite the mentioned war. To be honest the war element of high fantasy is a little not my thing, but the good news is that there's all kinds of other things to keep me interested.
I hope there are other fun characters to like in the next book since all the ones I liked died already.
Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James
For the month of may, I read little, but I still finished "Monument National" by the French author, Julia Deck. I really liked this short fiction that is inspired by the end of life of two celebrities, Johnny Hallyday and Jean Paul Belmondo. While making many winks to French news, the author has managed to build a real social satire very funny and gripping
Hellooo~~! I don't think I read much in May. Since last month was AAPI month, I tried to focus on characters that were Asian American or Asian.
 ★★★☆☆ |  ★★★☆☆ |
The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi - This is the third an final part of The Henna Artist trilogy. This is about one of the main characters trying to make a career for herself in Paris. As she is doing so, she is troubled by various issues that arise with raising biracial kids in France. Also, she is troubled by memories of her past. This book is a somewhat similar story as the first one, except that it's in a foreign country. In my opinion, the second one is my favorite, but this still makes for some good femonist Book Club lure.
The Heiress by Diana Ma - It's about a Chinese American actress who finally gets her big break in starring in a movie, except she has to travel to Beijing to film it. Ironically, she's never been to China and has been forbidden by her parents from going. She secretly goes anyway and, while there, she discovers there's this local celebrity influencer that looks just like her. People keep confusing her for that celebrity. This book was very teenage romcomy. It felt like fanfiction at times....I wouldn't call it amazing, but it was good chick lit. It might have tried to bank on the popularity of Crazy Rich Asians, but it was still enjoyable.
Misunderst0_od:
I don't think I've ever heard this term before, but I like it! As a lover of fantasy, I wish I was exposed to more west african high fantasy. I'm sure there are some amazing stories out there.
Yes! I'm more familiar with West African inspired Science Fiction tbh, but there's also Children of Blood and Bone which is inspired by Yoruba culture and faith. It's YA and while its missing one of the elements of high fantasy, it's still a complexly made secondary world with a cool magic system. It gets compared to Harry Potter a lot which is kind of weird but I like the series. Waiting on book three ^_^
