I just finished R. F. Kuang’s The Poppy War, a book which I picked after I seeing of people raving about it. The good thing is that it is an easy read. The prose is simple and to-the-point, a…| A Naga of the Nusantara
3 posts published by A Naga of the Nusantara during May 2021| A Naga of the Nusantara
Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary is about a man who wakes up to find himself on life support while being cared for by a not-very-bright AI. He has retrograde amnesia—he does not know where he is or how he got there. He does not even remember his name. What he does remember is a lotContinue reading "Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind: a Review of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary"| A Naga of the Nusantara
I read this 600-page book twice in one year because I didn’t know what to make of it the first time I did. It was both impressively thought-provoking and infuriating at the same time. On my first ride around the block, I definitely didn’t like it as much as I did the two previous booksContinue reading "A Great Cosmic Sociological Thought Experiment: a Review of Liu Cixin’s Death’s End"| A Naga of the Nusantara
I was born on the 14th of July and growing up, my grandmother told me that if I was born on the 14th day of the 7th month (七月十四) according to the Chinese calendar, my birthday would coincide with the Ghost Festival when the gates of hell are open and ghosts would be free toContinue reading "Spirited Away in 19th Century Malacca: a Review of Choo Yangsze’s The Ghost Bride"| A Naga of the Nusantara
When publishers or authors reach out to me to ask if I am interested in reviewing an advanced reader copy of any book, I rarely assent—not because I have anything against that but because I already have a mountain of backlogged books I have been studiously neglecting. I make exceptions sometimes though, and this isContinue reading "A Malaysian-Chinese Immigrant Speculative Fiction Story: a Review of Elizabeth Wong’s We Could Not See the Stars"| A Naga of the Nusantara
We used to have a rescue, a Siberian husky, whom we named Lucy. And it was quite apparent to all who met him that Lucy is a boy and because we live in a deeply gendered society, people naturally wondered why we named him that—and I, naturally a troll, enjoyed everyone’s bafflement so much thatContinue reading "The Controversial Politics of Fantastical Wish Fulfillment: a Review of T. J. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea"| A Naga of the Nusantara
I have read little vampire fiction aside from Ms Kostova’s The Historian, the first Twilight book, and one of George R. R. Martin’s earlier published work, Fevre Dream, but vampires aren’t alien to me since they often pop up in other fantasy works as villains or side characters. Full disclosure: the Dracula I am mostContinue reading "The Grandaddy of Vampire Stories: a Review of Bram Stoker’s Dracula"| A Naga of the Nusantara
Last year, I read Mr Tregillis’ alternate history fantasy series The Alchemy Wars which was fun romp through a world where Dutch horologists discovered the secret to building clockwork automatons which made them the dominant power in the world while the French (with their metallurgical arts) fight a losing war against them. Before Mr TregillisContinue reading "British Warlocks Vs. Nazi Psychic Super Soldiers: a Review of Ian Tregillis’ Milkweed Tryptich"| A Naga of the Nusantara
The pitch for the regular person on the street is that this is “a Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale reimagining of the rise of the only female emperor in Chinese history”. And even though that spoke to me, what spoke to me louder was the alternate pitch the author put out: it is moreContinue reading "Empress in the FRANXX: a Review of Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow"| A Naga of the Nusantara
Last year, John Boyne made the news for making the mistake of including ingredients from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild video game such as Octorok eyeball, hightail lizard, red lizalfo tail, and Hylian shrooms into his serious literary historical fiction novel, The Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom. It appeared that heContinue reading "A Fable of Auschwitz: a Review of John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"| A Naga of the Nusantara
I have never read a self-published book before and when I asked for recommendations, this one title floated above the rest. The Sword of Kaigen is a fantasy standalone book set in M. L. Wang’…| A Naga of the Nusantara
Fantasy and sci-fi reviews by a Malaysian book wyrm| A Naga of the Nusantara
A Deadly Education (2020) by Naomi Novik I decided that Orion needed to die after the second time he saved my life. I am a fan of Naomi Novik from the very beginning. To date, I’ve read each …| A Naga of the Nusantara
