Wyrd and Wonder: Upcoming Fantasy books by Asian authors

2:35 pm | | Comments 13

For a huge crossover post today I’m mixing Asian Readathon, Wyrd and Wonder and Can’t Wait Wednesday for a list of Upcoming Fantasy books by Asian authors published 2021 that are on my TBR.

Wyrd and Wonder is a month-long event celebrating fantasy books. Check out Imyril’s intro post for all the details. The event is hosted by Imyril of One More, Lisa of Dear Geek Place and Jorie Loves a Story, and you can follow Wyrd and Wonder on Twitter

Pegasus images by Svetlana Alyuk on 123RF.com

Can’t-Wait Wednesday, aka Waiting on Wednesday, is a weekly meme originating from Jill at Breaking the Spine and now hosted by Wishful Endings. If you’re interested in participating, stop by Wishful Endings to link up your posts.

I’m also participating in the Asian Readathon this month, you can learn more about it and my plans here.

Tidesong  by Wendy Xu

Features an ambitious 12-year-old who moves to a seaside town with her aunts for an apprenticeship in magic and realizes that it may be more than she bargained for.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

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Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

“I refuse to be nothing…”

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness.

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

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Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they’re fighting for a common purpose–and falling for each other–in Zoe Hana Mikuta’s high-octane debut Gearbreakers, perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu’s Legend series.

We went past praying to deities and started to build them instead...

The shadow of Godolia’s tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolia overlords.

Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within.

As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia’s reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer–as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more…

The Tangleroot Palace: Stories by Marjorie M. Liu

New York Times bestseller and Hugo, British Fantasy, Romantic Times, and Eisner award-winning author of the graphic novel, Monstress, Marjorie Liu leads you deep into the heart of the tangled woods. In her long-awaited debut story collection, dark, lush, and spellbinding short fiction you will find unexpected detours, dangerous magic, and even more dangerous women.

“The Tangleroot Palace is charming and ruthless. Tales that feel new yet grounded in the infinitely ancient, a mythology for the coming age.”
—Angela Slatter, author of The Bitterwood Bible

“Marjorie Liu is magic! Her writing is passionate, lyric, gritty, and riveting. She belongs high on everyone’s must-read list.”
—Elizabeth Lowell, author of Only Mine

Briar, bodyguard for a body-stealing sorceress, discovers her love for Rose, whose true soul emerges only once a week. An apprentice witch seeks her freedom through betrayal, the bones of the innocent, and a meticulously-plotted spell. In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex. A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom’s deep, dark woods.

Concluding with a gorgeous full-length novella, Marjorie Liu’s first short fiction collection is an unflinching sojourn into her thorny tales of love, revenge, and new beginnings.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

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Author of Empire of Sand and Realm of Ash Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, beginning a new trilogy set in a world inspired by the history and epics of India, in which a captive princess and a maidservant in possession of forbidden magic become unlikely allies on a dark journey to save their empire from the princess’s traitor brother.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of the powerful, magical deathless waters — but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one among several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to clean Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, so long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides.

But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled. One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne. The other is a priestess seeking to find her family. Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

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Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.

Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society―she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.

But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.

Nghi Vo’s debut novel reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.

Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy.

Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there’s only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god–and she’s decided Jess is going to help her do it.

Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she’ll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.

Comments

  1. Lisa Mandina says:

    There are some awesome sounding books here, but that Iron Widow sounds really intriguing and original! I’ll have to add it for sure to my TBR.
    Lisa Loves Literature

  2. Tammy says:

    This is a fantastic list! I’m hoping to read The Chosen and the Beautiful and the Jasmine Throne😁

  3. I think I might be excited for all of these as well, especially The Jasmine Throne. I loved Tasha Suri’s Empire of Sand and can’t wait to get my hands on this one. Also, every time I see Gearbreakers, I get so excited, it just sounds so cool. Hope you enjoy all these!

  4. Literary Feline says:

    So many great sounding books! I am really excited about The Tangleroot Palace. I love the author’s Monstress graphic novel series. I recently read Black Water Sister and enjoyed it. I hope you will too.

  5. I’m so excited for The Jasmine Throne and I can’t wait to dive into my eARC of She Who Became the Sun! There’s so much brilliant Asian and Asian-inspired SFF being published this year.

  6. I’m really excited about Gearbreaker as well. Hope you enjoy it!

  7. Greg says:

    Tidesong looks amazing. so does Iron Widow, frankly.

    I love the sound of Liu’s short stories too!

  8. Some very striking covers here! I think I have already commented on The Chosen and the Beautiful haha. She Who Became the Sun is also on my radar.

    1. Dianthaa says:

      I dunno, if it’s my tastes aligning with current trends or covers, are just very good this year, there are so many I love! I used to not pick books based on covers but it’s getting too tempting.

  9. Ahh yes I know what you mean. I feel like with social media nowadays, book cover design has become a lot more important, so perhaps publishers are upping their game. (Thankfully so, for us readers! :P)

  10. Lexlingua says:

    Wow, I hadn’t heard of so many of these books. I’ve liked other works by the same authors, so I really need to look these up. Thanks for talking about these~

  11. Dianthaa says:

    It sounds so original, should be wild! I follow the author on Twitter and this is a clear case of twitter selling books

  12. Dianthaa says:

    I really need to get She Who Became the Sun too!

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