Yan Ge

A few thoughts:

This is listed as sci-fi but there is a lot going on in these stories. Some are more like fantsy, some more magical realism.

There are also occasional tastes of horror.

I love that I live at a time when this type of writing is accessible to someone like me. Especially since these stories aren't really "for" me. I don't think so, anyway. I'm assuming the intended audience is other Chinese people living in China, or at least have a strong connection to the language and culture.
So show more there is a layer of weirdness that is deeper than the fact that they're sci-fi stories. "Weirdness" might not be quite right. But there are assumptions, associations, and frames of reference that I just don't get. And I kinda like that. I like there are elements that allude to themes that go right by me.
But even with the stuff I'm missing there is enough for me to connect with and enjoy. show less

What at first seems a weird and fantastic compendium of various beasts from the fictional city of Yang’an, China quickly morphs into a tale that asks of its readers one of literature’s favorite queries, “What defines humanity?” Echoes abound from Shelley’s Frankenstein to Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go as the characters edge along the cosmic loneliness of merely existing, but Yan Ge crafts a wholly original novel that is self-aware without being gimmicky, and touching without being show more precious about it.

It will appeal to those looking for a wild ride into the strange, anyone interested in an off-kilter mystery, as well as those who like a multilayered story to contemplate long after reading. show less

In one Chinese city, a young woman who is an amateur cryptozoologist, is asked by a former professor if she would document and uncover the stories of the cities famed 'beasts" who have lived among humans. The beasts are very human-like (although they have green skin); female beasts can breed with human males, but male beasts cannot breed with any but their own kind. Our documenter, who describes each kind of beast in detail, begins with the "Sorrowful" beasts. Others are "Joyous". show more "Sacrificial", "Impasse" and "Thousand League" and so on.

[Strange Beasts of China] is a wonderful, intriguing and clever combination of fantasy and mystery. Like our intrepid amateur, we the readers are drawn deeper into the story and the mystery of these beasts. Are they some vestige from a human past? A mutation? Are we really one kind? There is something being suggested here and it made the story irresistible.

I thought the story muddied a bit near the end but it doesn’t take much away from the enjoyment of this fresh imaginative novel. show less

Such an odd collection of related stories: each chapter a tale told by a newspaper columnist about one sort of unusual quasi-human beast found in the industrial Chinese city of Yong’an. The beasts have evocative names like “heartsick beasts” and “returning beasts.” I suppose that, strictly speaking, this is fantasy, but I can’t help but feel that it’s more allegory than fantasy. No doubt due to my ignorance of Chinese culture, I found it fairly opaque in places, and I also show more found the first-person narrator’s sudden shifts in emotion and attitude rather alien and abrupt, which kept me from fully engaging with this intriguing book. I suspect it would improve with a second reading. show less