February Reads; Two Tales of Thievery

A Double Review of "Yellowface" by R.F. Kuang and "The Stolen Heir" by Holly Black

Images from their respective Amazon pages.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Star rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Spoiler-free review.
Audiobook version.

Yellowface, the story of white author June Hayward stealing her deceased Chinese friend’s unfinished manuscript, was my introduction to prolific author R.F. Kuang. The five-star reviews and online praise didn’t disappoint.

The narrator, June, is a selfish and paranoid struggling writer who blames her lack of sales on her ‘plainness’, or whiteness. Her narrations, actions, and dialogue irk the reader into hatred and cringe-worthy levels of second-hand embarrassment. June is calculated, spiteful, and greedy. She’s performative and fake. She assumes everyone has the hidden agendas she does and she’s paranoid others are plotting her downfall.

I loved to hate her.

Yellowface occurs over a few years with fast pacing. Readers are given a few sentences to describe entire months before moving onto the next scene. The side characters are few and far between since June doesn’t have many friends or a romantic partner, but the stakes and intrigue keep readers engaged despite this. There’s a tense feeling when reading, like you expect things to go badly for June and you want her to be called out, but you don’t know if you’ll survive the second-hand embarrassment and June’s frantic, pathetic excuses.

After Athena Liu, June’s literary acquaintance, suddenly dies in front of her, she snags her unfinished manuscript for ‘The Last Front,’ a historical creative non-fiction work about Chinese laborers during World War 1. At the suggestion of her editors, and with little pushback from June, she changes her author name from ‘June Hayward’ to ‘Juniper Song.’ June is given several times throughout the book to confess both publicly and in private and to own up to her (quite evil) mistakes, but she chooses denial. Some readers might think June is a cartoonishly evil person—she’s racist, has little empathy, and constantly steals from others. But June read, to me, like an all too real depiction of a truly selfish and bigoted person. I believe everyone has the capacity to change. Some people just don’t want to.

Athena Liu was the most interesting character by far. We’re given snippets of her personality both on and off camera through June’s biased narratives and commentary from Athena’s critics. She was complex, flawed, and performative. She was brilliant, charismatic, and talented. Her presence haunts the narrative with a karmic force that weighs on June’s shoulders like concrete blocks. Scenes with Athena never failed to catch my attention.

A lot of readers took issue with the book’s ending. Without getting into spoilers, I disagree. Not enough books explore negative character arcs with the depth Kuang does.

Overall, Yellowface is an engaging read meant to shock and anger you—and make you laugh, too. I’m definitely interested in reading more from Kuang.

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The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

Star rating: ☆☆☆☆
Review contains spoilers for The Cruel Prince.

Being a fan of The Cruel Prince trilogy, I should have gotten my hands on The Stolen Heir (the first in its sequel duology) sooner. Alas.

While some spinoffs can serve as standalones (like Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, a spinoff from Shadow and Bone), this book can’t be read without background knowledge of The Cruel Prince. With that in mind, I’m going to treat it as a continuation and make comparisons to its original trilogy. Expect series spoilers.

The Stolen Heir is, in many ways, the opposite of its predecessor. Wren is a passive protagonist without battle knowledge and one of the Folk (fae) who wants to be human, contrasted against Jude, a battle-hungry human who wants to be one of the Folk. Wren is observant, cold, and haunted, but she isn’t unkind. Her passivity was necessary to the plot and didn’t make her unlikeable or a Plain Jane (looking at you, Bella Swan.) Still, there were times I wanted more from her.

Oak, our familiar blonde fae prince, is all grown up. He was a dynamic character with complex goals, realistic faults, and the unpredictability that’s expected from the Folk. He serves as Wren’s love interest and a driving force behind the plot’s movement. Oak and Wren’s relationship was a rollercoaster that had me grinning.

The Stolen Heir takes readers away from Elfhame and to the mortal realm. Wren and her allies stalk through fae camps, forests, and markets among the mortals. It’s interesting to see how the Folk make do away from Elfhame and the ways they…utilize mortals as weapons, entertainment, and even decoration.

The character with my upmost attention was Bogdana, the Folk witch who worked with Wren’s mother and helped raise her. Bogdana is ancient and powerful with wild hair, mysterious quippy lines, and a scheme up her sleeve at all times. Her relationship with Wren bordered on maternal and malicious. Bogdana and Wren seemed like a foil to Jude and Madoc—a child who wants another life (Jude wishing to be fae, Wren wishing to be human) with a paternal figure that might kill them, depending on their mood (Bogdana being unpredictable and Madoc adhering to a strict (im)moral code).

My only criticism is the plot feels loose. Readers know what the protagonists are doing and where they’re going, but the why is a mystery even to Wren. Having the protagonists’ goal as the main payoff was an interesting choice that made me confused, which I think was the intention, but it made it hard to keep track of what the point of it all was. Why do I care if they make this lady happy or get through this forest? What are the stakes? Readers uncover more along the way, but it made the beginning a confusing slog.

Still, I enjoyed my read. I’m excited to see what comes next in The Prisoner’s Throne.