Burning Roses

This is a fun fairy tale retelling mash-up, which combines Western and Chinese fairy tales into one fantastical universe. If you don't know the Chinese legends referenced here (namely the Legend of Chang'e and archer Hou Yi) you will not get half the references in the story. (I highly recommend Googling that legend before reading this novella. You can get the basics at least from a quick search, and you'll get a lot more nuance from the novella that way.) Most readers will already be familiar with the Western fairy tales retold here (Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty & the Beast, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears with a dash of Puss in Boots) and that could lead to a very unbalanced understanding of the characters.

I love that the show more characters are nuanced older women with more depth to them than you usually get from fairy tales. This has been pitched as a sapphic book, so I had expected a romance between the two main characters, and was pleasantly surprised when I realized I was wrong about that. (I just think it turned out better this way.) I also had not anticipated the ending, but like the book's result better than the one I had predicted. show less

As soon as I first saw this cover, I knew I was gonna read it because just look at it - it’s absolutely gorgeous. I love the colors and all the elements within it, which made even more sense once I read the story. And I was ecstatic when I got the ARC coz I never thought I would.

The one good thing I did was read a couple of reviews before I started, and realized that it doesn’t have as much action as the blurb implies - it’s just not that kind of a story. And once I set my expectations right, then this was a beautiful stunning story. Owing to its very short length, we don’t get much detail about the world but we do understand the context within which the story is told, so I can say that the exposition was just enough. I also show more loved how seamlessly the author manages to combine multiple fairytales, crossing the bridge between Western and Eastern storytelling perfectly, overall creating a very believable narrative. The pacing is slow and contemplative, but it never feels boring or less engaging.

This is a story about two women (possibly in their late middle age) who are brought together by circumstances on a quest to save innocents, but the truth is that they are running from their past actions and their grief. The guilt they feel about what they have done is what forms the emotional core of this tale, and it was very interesting to get to know their backstories as well as how they are dealing with it all. It’s about them helping each other not only to realize their faults, but also to encourage the other not to give up hope, and maybe do something to overcome their guilt to move onto a better future. I love how the author was able to show us the flaws of both Rosa and Hou Yi clearly, but also make us empathize with them and want them to find peace.

To conclude, this is an intricately woven tale about different kinds of love and families, grief and loss, and how guilt can eat you alive. It’s an introspective story of two women finding their path back to their humanity, after years of thinking themselves incapable of it. If you love such very personal stories with queer BIPOC protagonists, then don’t give this a miss. show less

I received a galley through NetGalley.

Burning Roses is an inventive queer mash-up of the folklore of Little Red Riding Hood and Hou Yi, with the two figures of legend teamed up to take on ravaging sunbirds and an apprentice gone mad. The writing is eloquent and beautiful--really, an immersive voice from the very start. Both women have darkness in their pasts that they must work through in the course of their journey. This is by no means a fluffy fairy tale retelling, but one centered around pain, regret, and most of all, love of family and friends.

The one thing that niggled at me as I read was that I wished more of the story was centered on the present and their growth; flashbacks are heavy throughout the novella. Even so, the end is show more wonderful and brings everything together nicely. show less

Two complicated women who aren't entirely protagonists on a literal and metaphorical journey together. What starts as monster-slaying turns into rather a lot of plumbing of emotional depths for a novella. Rosa's past is full of fairytale-ish flashbacks: red riding hood, goldilocks and the three bears, beauty and the beast, puss in boots, rose red...

A quick and compelling read. I loved reading about two lesbians who have wives and families and don't ever develop romantic/sexual feelings for each other. Lesbians can be friends, yay!

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review for a trade outlet. This is not that review ;) )

Burning Roses by S.L. Huang is a fantasy novella that was not at all what I was expecting it to be. I would normally blame this on my intentional forgetfulness of blurbs, but in this case, I think the blurb also buries the lede. I would describe this book as an amalgamation of Asian (Chinese) fantasy and European fairytales, with a heavier dose of the latter than I expected.

The story in Burning Roses follows our two protagonists, Rosa and Hou Yi, as they attempt to hunt down magical sunbirds and stop them from wreaking havoc across the country. A seemingly straightforward task, until Rosa starts questioning whether the sunbirds are sentient. As we learn throughout the story, Rosa has a dark past with talking animals

The extent to which show more the world was supposed to correspond to real countries was not entirely clear to me. My general impression was that most of the story was taking place in fantasy-China (or fantastical China, depending on how you want to interpret it), while Rosa has travelled all the way from fantasy-Spain to be there. Having Rosa be a traveller from foreign lands was an interesting and unexpected element. She provided a reference point for readers more familiar with European fantasy, which was the part I wasn't really expecting. In any case, the fantasy aspect of the novella was clearly the pertinent point, since the backstories of both characters have them being involved in several well-known fairytales.

I enjoyed this novella, even though it wasn't what I had expected — more fairytale than wuxia. I recommend Burning Roses to fans of fantasy stories with non-European settings, especially those that also enjoy a sprinkling of fairytales.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog. show less

When I picked up this short novella I had no idea it was a third in a series called Hunting Monsters. However, the other two seem to be short stories and this one being the only novella can stand on it’s own. I wasn’t confused about the world building and characters or anything.

I listened to this on audiobook and Nancy Wu was a pretty good narrator that kept me engaged.

This is a story about Rosa (Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi the Archer. In this story they are both old ladies and Hou Yi is a trans woman. They are friends and married to other women that are mentioned in flashbacks. The plot is about what happened in these characters past that made them who they are while they go on a quest to stop the sunbirds ravaging the show more countryside.

I really like that the main characters are middle aged and I like the fairy tale retelling aspects. In this world there are human-cursed grundwirgen that are similar to animals and that puts a new spin on the well-known tales of Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Beauty and the Beast. However, I wish this book was longer so that the plot could be expanded and slower paced and that the character could be more fleshed out.

The writing style is simple and this is a quick read with some interesting characters so overall I enjoyed it and I will probably reread it in the future. show less

Retelling of Eastern and Western fairy tales - normally I'm a sucker for fairy tales, but this one left me cold. I think the protagonists were maybe too broken, and the frame narrative was honestly really boring, even though it was another fairy tale retelling itself.