yuerstruly

Another year has passed by, and though I probably have over 10,000 words worth of notes for the books I read in attempts to put together individual book reviews, that did not happen, so I will be doing what I did for 2023: a "short" review for each book I read.

I finished 12 books in 2024, 9 being in English and 3 being in Chinese. In addition, I started 3 books, two of which I will continue reading, and one of which I dropped. I’ll also cover the 4 books I did not finish last year, with one I have definitively dropped for personal reasons.

Books I finished:

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. Hadn't read an SFF trilogy in quite a while, and the last time I did was in high school, so it'd been at least four years by then. I really liked The Fifth Season. The different POV voices were clearly differentiated, and this was my first time reading something that blends science fiction and fantasy together, though it's easy to argue that science fiction is a type of fantasy. Still, most books in said genre tip toward one or other on the scale, with fantasy emphasizing "magic" of sorts. In this book, moving rocks is magic. I liked that characters were queer because why not and that we got a sexy poly relationship, even if it wasn't the focal point. I think the biggest struggle to overcome for anyone, me included, was the second-person narration for the character Essun. While not to everyone's liking, it was an effective storytelling method, and why it was used became clear in the second and third books. It's also good contrast when put side by side by Syenite and Damaya. I got really hooked by the writing despite the descriptions being a headache to get through, and am really happy that this was my first introduction to Jemisin.

The Broken Earth Trilogy (The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky) by N.K. Jemisin. A separate section because I didn't want to cram it all into one, and I felt that covering the remaining was easier by looking at the story as a whole. I won't touch upon any major spoilers here, moreso making comments on pacing, which actually worked in my favor because I felt some things needed that much development, whereas some people might think the second book in particular was a drag. As mentioned above, there's also a lot of geology, and really, the various names within the science were the only things helping me in my visualization. It also made me realize school never really teaches up geology because I had to search up "chalcedony." The writing throughout the series swayed me so hard on how I felt about certain characters, a notable one being Schaffa. He was quite creepy in the first book, but I ended up loving him as a character despite all his flaws. My favorites throughout were definitely Hoa and Alabaster, each driving pivotal changes in the main character's life. Different personalities, but each charming in its own way. Though much to be praised about, the trilogy was far from perfect. As with many others, each book will build on the worldbuilding done in the previous book, and oftentimes, they'll end up introducing things but never exploring more of it. This was the case, particularly in The Stone Sky, where I felt that the author unraveled too little of Hoa's backstory. He may not be the main character, but I felt more was explored. Overall, I recommend this trilogy from start to end. It's a good introduction to Jemisin and a breath of fresh air among the SFF we're seeing in the market these days (I think).

Ballad of Sword and Wine 将进酒 by Tang Jiuqing 唐酒卿. The danmei of all time. Just kidding. Kind of. Admittedly, I am not really a danmei reader because baihe has essentially consumed me. Still, I find QJJ to be my favorite danmei. It falls into one of my favorite genres (historical political intrigue) and has a lot of sexual tension between the two main characters, Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye. Their enemies to lovers arc happens quickly in comparison to the overall length of the novel, but I loved it nonetheless, along with the romance that followed. QJJ is something that would give a lot of people a headache, but I think it worked for me. I found the politics pretty straightforward, and all the motives were clear to me. Each character played a crucial role in driving the story, with compelling and complex characterization. I'll probably reread it sometime in the future so I can write fic for Qiao Tianya/Yao Wenyu and Qi Zhuyin/Hua Xiangyi. Anyway, I'll hopefully do a proper review of them, since whatever I am saying here is not doing justice to the novel and how much I appreciate T97 for what she wrote.

M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang. Okay, this isn't actually a book, but a play with its own spin on the original Madame Buterfly, which is sexist and racist. I went into this knowing the gist of the story (thank you, Alice), but it was still nice to see how it drew inspiration from the original while critiquing it. Though the format of M. Butterfly is a play, I wouldn't say reading it prevented me from enjoying the story. Still, I would love to watch a performance of this someday. After all, a play is written to be performed and enjoyed theatrically!

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. This … maybe had potential? At the time that I’m writing this (2025-02-02), there is apparently a television series based on this book, and I am belatedly realizing that, though this was first published as a book, it may be easier to enjoy the storytelling via television with its screenplay format. Funnily enough, the main character is written exactly the way he’s supposed to be—forgettable, kind of generic, some side character meant to be nothing more.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. This book was a turning point for me, as I'd read nothing for two months prior to this, except for, sporadically, the updating chapters of To Embers We Return. Granted, I was also studying for the GRE, so my brain concentrated on vocabulary repetition over anything else. But about the book itself. PKD is the antithesis of my "every cishet White sci-fi male author writes bland stories" take. Praising him as a good writer isn't good enough because a lot of people say that about William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, but I'm not really seeing the appeal yet (I'll give them a revisit but I don't think it'll vastly change my view). PKD is a strong writer because he introduces a story that is focused and clear, and despite him not really having a STEM background, I found that the vision shown in his writing was clear, unlike a certain author who seems to throw gibberish together for "advanced" concepts. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was proof that men CAN write compelling and complex stories, and am ever so grateful for the intentional humanization of androids compared to humans in the story, who have ironically become the robotic beings.

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. A rare gem honestly, amidst all the Asian American sob stories and unnecessary of Chinese classics. I'm glad that Ted Chiang was able to write sci-fi that wasn't just a show of how ~unique~ Asian Amercain perspective short stories can be. I think that, while our values can seep through into the writing (this isn't a bad thing, and I actively seek it in writing), we can write things that aren't so focused on identity and concepts tied to our motherland. I think it goes without saying that Chiang is a great writer—the concepts are refreshing and his prose is magnetic. My favorite stories here were "Tower of Babylon" and "Hell Is the Absence of God." The former is a twist on the Tower of Babel myth using a geometrical approach, which I really enjoyed as a math nerd. The latter stood out to me because I am a Jesus HATER (sorry?). It questions religious faith and the role of God, and the main Jesus anti in the story, Neil, felt like my spokesperson when it came to God (Christianity), fate, and fairness. Why are some people sacrificed while others are blessed? Is it reasonable and justified? These aren't necessarily questions that need to be answered or reasoned with, but it's something I often think about since I always come across answers that feel pretty flawed.

A Taste of You 食局 by Sibai Bashi Si 四百八十寺. This is probably the only 480 work I'll ever read since she seems to like writing about women in the work force, except it's in the tech force. In the Silicon Valley of all things. No thanks! A Taste of You is a little different though, in the sense that the main character, Lai Wang, is a depressed butch lesbian who owns a "small" restaurant that banks on reservations made in advance. Max one party per dinner. I loved reading about the dishes Lai Wang makes, as well as the struggles between her career dreams and what will make a living because, hey, we don't always get what we want, and we don't always have the money or means to make it happen. Despite that, it was still touching to watch her make an attempt to pivot back to her architectural dreams. The narrator voice also came out really strong in this one, which worked for me until she got so depressed and self-loathing to the point where I couldn't enjoy her humor. I didn't care as much about the direction of the story toward the latter half, and was unimpressed by the horrifying plot twist in the last 90% (?) of the book. I also hated that there was just no cooking anymore toward the end … I was here for the food!! The food descriptions were so detailed, both in terms of dish setup and taste. It wasn't just describing the food as "good/yummy/tasty." My mouth was watering reading the descriptions, and I wished I was someone rich who could hire someone to make such specific dishes for me. Anyway, I recommend this to people who are interested in reading for the cooking/food parts. You can drop it if you get bored when it starts fading, unless you want to witness the Yorkshire Lesbian Interlude (term coined by douqi).

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. I didn't like it. I'll give Asimov another try (Foundation), but if that doesn't click for me, I think I can say I don't like Asimov after giving him a fair chance. I don't know what to say except that I shouldn't have expected more from early science fiction writers that are White men, but I can't say that after reading PKD. But really, what's up with White men in science fiction writing the blandest characters ever? In this case of I, Robot, the only merit it had characterization wise was Susan Calvin's personality. Even the robots had more personality than the supposed humans working with said robots! Terrible collection. I don't recommend.

Stay True by Hua Hsu. This was a memoir recommended by a friend because like the author, I grew up in the Bay Area and am Taiwanese. Sure enough, the memoir gave me all sorts of whiplash. Despite growing up in different generations, reading about the Bay gave a sense of familiarity, and it's a feeling I often have to let it settle because of my internal conflict I have with the community I grew up in. I really liked the struggle between the sense of self and lack thereof, and that it wasn't just about being Asian or Taiwanese. There were a few lines that didn't really click for me since I don't really like the narrative that diaspora often struggle to communicate with their grandparents and relatives because they were raised overseas, but that wasn't enough to ruin my reading experience.

To Embers We Return 焚情 by Ning Yuan 宁远. I've already written a brief review here, but I still wanted to talk a little about this here. Cyberpunk baihe? Pretty rare. HISTORICAL cyberpunk baihe? I … simply don't think that exists, if we aren't including novels full of systems and the like. Ning Yuan is one of those authors who I feel doesn't "specialize" in a particular genre, and I'm so glad I got to witness something as novel as this in this lifetime. I also cried over every single couple at one point, and wished I could have physically eaten every word in this work.

Books I plan to continue reading:

Mysterious Lotus Casebook 莲花楼 by Teng Ping 藤萍. I bought the physical books last winter (over a year ago) after seeing some comments about the original series under Douyin videos of the TV show. I bought the Traditional Chinese print, so it has four volumes instead of the five I see online. I'm getting through the first volume, which I started after my GRE. This was also shy of a month before my two-month Taiwan trip, and I wasn't about to lug a physical book around. Most of the plot differences are rather subtle, but the original novel is way more centered around Li Lianhua in comparison to the TV show selling the Li Lianhua-Fang Duobing-Di Feisheng trio. I'll try to get through these books before I start graduate school!

At Her Mercy 我为鱼肉 by Ning Yuan 宁远. At the time I'd meant to post this, I was not even 100 chapters into this novel. Though I haven't broken 200 at the time of writing out my thoughts, my plan hasn't changed—I will continue reading At Her Mercy, with hopes of finishing it before May (I know, I know, I'm slow). More than halfway into this novel, I can see why this is so many people's favorite, and this is no surprise that this is most people's top political intrigue baihe webnovel. Vibe wise, this is like To Embers We Return's evil twin. I'll be sure to post a full review when I finish.

Books I dropped:

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I don't know what to say about this book other than the fact that I hated the spider POVs. It didn't feel novel to me. I don't like spiders, and I was grossed out. The concept overall was alright, but it's so hard to resonate with a scientist who is just a constant dick to others. Don't think I'll bother reading this author again, unless someone I personally know recommends a separate series, thinking I would enjoy it, or at the very least, find some merit in spending time reading said book.

Unfinished reads from 2023 and where they are now:

Time-Limited Hunt 限时狩猎 by Tang Jiuqing 唐酒卿. Last I checked, I've read 5 chapters of this novel and it hasn't changed. Did I love the sexual tension from the get go? Yes. Have I made progress reading this? No … lol. I will get to this soon, I swear.

The Abandoned 弃仙 by Mufeng Qingnian 沐枫轻年. I believe I dropped this about halfway in, and I don't see my progress going anywhere anytime soon, unless I am left with nothing much to read, which is not really the case. I do feel like I'd only come back to this if I came across multiple disappointing xianxias, but none of my upcoming reads are panning out to be xianxia.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. A book of literary merit, except the reading experience made me feel otherwise. I might come back to it for my supposed cyberpunk literature pioneers breakdown, but it will depend on my mood.

Pat Me On the Back 帮我拍拍 by Qi Xiao Huangshu 七小皇叔. I refuse to read this author now. Call me petty, but I hold a personal grudge for her calling me 土 after gently making a suggestion about how bad of a title "When We Met" is. Who's fluent in English? It's me, not her. Her Weibo posts were also so annoying I had to move her to a separate category, where I put all the annoying authors because they whine too much. I mean, complaining about fighting with your girlfriend to someone you are supposed to turn in a professional script to? Why are you telling your client that? Who do you think you are? She also has a cult following, and if you criticize her for anything, they'll come after you because she can do no wrong apparently.

Books Read in 2023: A Summary