Rick Riordan Presents: The Dark Becomes Her

4.5/5
A story of strength, friendship, love, and responsibilities placed on you by family against the backdrop of Vancouver's Chinatown and Taiwanese folk beliefs.

CW // blood, gore, body horror, ritual death, ghosts/spirits, family pressure, violence, ritual self-harm, demonic possession, loss of parents, mental illness

Ruby is the typical Taiwanese older sister. She's expected to keep her grades up, get into the best schools, all while ensuring her sister and younger brother stay safe. Yet Ruby's sister, Tina, has other plans that don't involve Ruby or their parents path for her. Ruby becomes increasingly worried as their relationship becomes more strained and she's starting to see spirits again. With the help of new friends, Shen and show more Delia, Ruby is ready to fight for her sister and get to the bottom of her bizarre behaviour and hopefully stop the spirits that keep attacking her.

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This book is beautiful. It's dark and creepy and even bloody in parts. It uses traditional Chinese characters in the perfect way. Sometimes it's explained exactly, sometimes it's vaguely understood, and others it's simply there. This created the perfect mix for me as I'm also from an immigrant family. Sometimes you understand completely, sometimes you get the gist, and other times you have no idea what people are saying and you feel that shameful burn of being an outsider to your own culture. It was painfully beautiful in the ways she captures this experience within the Asian diaspora.

The darkness was perfect. I loved how she turned Vancouver's Chinatown into a truly haunted place, speaking a lot about the hopes and dreams of immigrant families through the generations. I loved the spirits and the folk traditions. I think her author's note is important to remember. The setting and atmosphere was great and really made for great scenes and images.

Overall, this book is amazing. It's Canadian. It's written by a woman. It's authentic. It's dark and full of great themes. I loved that she included a glossary! I wholeheartedly recommend this book!

So happy to have found this at my local library! Check your local library or bookstore, I hope you love it as much as I do! show less