and they have plenty to tell….
Shelley Parker-Chan's finale to the Radiant Emperor duology flips the board from the first book’s showcase of the dazzling brilliance of ambition and passion to a brutal, haunting dive into the muck of humanity's darkest. Parker-Chan takes their characters’ plights, desires, and choices into its brutal, yet natural and fateful conclusion as the race to rule Imperial China nears its end.
Daubed in gold and dipped in honey, Nghi Vo delivers a smooth and clever reimagination of an American classic tangling race, sexuality, magic, and class. I deeply enjoyed her sumptuously decadent writing, all the way until the party glamour dies and the gold drips its last luxury.
She Who Became the Sun offers a dazzling and exciting re-imagination of Chinese-Mongolian history, yet it stays true to its dark, blood-soaked roots. Parker-Chan deftly blurs the boundary between sweeping fantasy epic, historical fantasy, and literary fiction as she pushes the limits of said genres.
These Violent Delights do have violent ends indeed.... and Chloe Gong's debut masterfully sings their tune to the pandemonium of 1920s Shanghai where malice both monstrous and human swirl together in vicious harmony.
The Once and Future Witches is a a beautifully haunting, intricate tapestry best fit to tell the tale of sisterhood, justice, and the much, much righteous female rage.
The Books are Rising 