Pop + Culture + Monday: R.F. Kuang
Three books in and she can do no wrong
Disclosure: All links are connected to my Bookshop affiliate accounts.
Okay, R.F. Kuang is ridiculous.
It’s one thing to write one book that has me sitting in the driveway of my house because I can’t pull myself away from the audiobook, but three drastically different ones and counting?
Again, ridiculous.
It all began with Yellowface, a novel about an unknown white author stealing the book of her Asian friend and the results of that act. Filled with twists, turns, and lots of wonderfully cringy moments, it was NOT what I was expecting at all. So good.
I was hooked.
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I then downloaded Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, and, while there is a little overlap with the topic of words and some Asian characters, the story and world are not the same as Yellowface. Same great writing and pace, but this one was about a magical world and the role of translation in maintaining empire. Brilliant, and, yes, many extra minutes were spent in my driveway listening.
So by the end of this one, I am seriously hooked and need more Kuang in my ears.
So I went ahead and picked up the Complete Poppy War Trilogy: The Poppy War / The Dragon Republic / The Burning God, and, yes, you’ll find me taking the long way home so that I can listen a little longer. I am not a big fantasy person, but it’s just as compelling as the others with the right balance of social commentary, Asian themes, and world creation.
If you need a cant-put-it-down read or listen, you will not be disappointed.
There you go, enjoy.
*In an attempt to not give all my audiobook money to Amazon via Audible, I use Libro.fm where each purchase goes to support a local bookstore of your choosing. If you want to join Libro.fm feel free to use my referral code [lfm370410] or click here to join. Again, all of the book versions of these titles are listed on my Bookshop.