january 2025 reading roundup
Feb. 3rd, 2025 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thingexplainerthought i might revive posting here. i don't have too much time to read lately, or it comes and goes in waves, so i'll see if a monthly cadence will work. there will be some spoilers.
disorientation by elaiane hsieh chou
i don't know how often i mention how much i dislike yellowface (by r.f. kuang). this is relevant because i went into the new year with a desire to read actually good books about the asian-american ~experience~ and was recommended several books, one of which was disorientation. the gist of the book is that a somewhat hapless and naive taiwanese-american phd student tries to write her thesis on a very famous chinese-american poet, who turns out to be a white guy faking it all. this upends her life and her (previously nonexistent) relationship with being asian.
i liked that it didn't try too hard to make the main character relatable. she is in fact, intensely unrelatable, which most of the time wraps around so far that it remains funny and doesn't turn into something annoying. the characters are funny and quite pointed about the specific aspect of being asian american they're meant to poke fun at. i would be incredibly happy to recommend this to people who think they might like yellowface.
the lotus empire by tasha suri
read this to finish out the trilogy. i like the fantasy worldbuilding, and i like the decision to expand into even more povs in this book. i think some of the more war/operational sections dragged a little or felt a little too much like moving pieces around because they had to end up in places, but that wasn't a huge deal. i do like lesbians who yearn and angst and i didn't mind that the happy ending felt as neat as it did.
the dragonfly gambit by a.d. sui
novella sized, i don't remember where i heard about this one. really enjoyed this! pacing was great, although it wrapped up just a little too quickly. bitter, disabled mechanic/engineer vs an empire, specifically, the empire's hot sexy genetically engineered war general/princess, and the novella is split into parts titled after phases of a chess game, which maybe gives away enough about the mind games going on in the plot. it's space revenge plot by means of toxic yuri. what else do i say.
disorientation by elaiane hsieh chou
i don't know how often i mention how much i dislike yellowface (by r.f. kuang). this is relevant because i went into the new year with a desire to read actually good books about the asian-american ~experience~ and was recommended several books, one of which was disorientation. the gist of the book is that a somewhat hapless and naive taiwanese-american phd student tries to write her thesis on a very famous chinese-american poet, who turns out to be a white guy faking it all. this upends her life and her (previously nonexistent) relationship with being asian.
i liked that it didn't try too hard to make the main character relatable. she is in fact, intensely unrelatable, which most of the time wraps around so far that it remains funny and doesn't turn into something annoying. the characters are funny and quite pointed about the specific aspect of being asian american they're meant to poke fun at. i would be incredibly happy to recommend this to people who think they might like yellowface.
the lotus empire by tasha suri
read this to finish out the trilogy. i like the fantasy worldbuilding, and i like the decision to expand into even more povs in this book. i think some of the more war/operational sections dragged a little or felt a little too much like moving pieces around because they had to end up in places, but that wasn't a huge deal. i do like lesbians who yearn and angst and i didn't mind that the happy ending felt as neat as it did.
the dragonfly gambit by a.d. sui
novella sized, i don't remember where i heard about this one. really enjoyed this! pacing was great, although it wrapped up just a little too quickly. bitter, disabled mechanic/engineer vs an empire, specifically, the empire's hot sexy genetically engineered war general/princess, and the novella is split into parts titled after phases of a chess game, which maybe gives away enough about the mind games going on in the plot. it's space revenge plot by means of toxic yuri. what else do i say.
