The Good
– Middle-aged main characters
– Focus on family
– Everything wraps up tidily
– Elegant, purposeful writing style

The Bad
– Main characters a bit too similar in personality
– No tension or emotional conflict until near the end
– Some weak spots in writing

(Thank you to NetGalley and Tor.Com for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review! Burning Roses comes out September 29th, 2020!)

A fairy tale mash-up led by two uncommon protagonists, each carrying their own burden of regrets.

Story—★★★☆☆
Burning Roses is about Hou Yi (from the Chinese legend) and Rosa (Red Riding Hood.) Both are middle-aged women with regrets about choices they’ve made in the past regarding their families. Both are sharpshooters—Rosa with a gun and Hou Yi with a bow and arrow. When someone from Hou Yi’s past shows up and threatens the region with sunbird attacks, the two set out on what’s likely to be their final hunt. Along their journey, Rosa tells her full story to Hou Yi, and Hou Yi relates parts of her own as well.

In this way, Burning Roses is very much a book where you get what’s written on the label. There’s lots of digging into the past, if you enjoy that element. (I actually love that.) Lots of lamenting about the choices they made and how those choices screwed up their families. Burning Roses is straightforward in this regard and fairly easy to enjoy in a single, short sitting.

Huang does a tidy and efficient job of presenting Rosa’s past and working in various fairy tale references. Burning Roses didn’t overwhelm me with emotion, but it does have a few parts ready to pluck at your heartstrings—particularly the bittersweet final line.

Characters—★★★☆☆
I should note that this isn’t a romance, even though both Rosa and Hou Yi are attracted to women. It’s about two friends in similar situations for similar reasons—with a few key differences that lead to some tension down the line.

Huang has summed up Rosa and Hou Yi’s relationship in a few tidy lines:

Hou Yi was running from something the way Rosa was, only Hou Yi ran by hunting the sunbirds and other creatures that threatened the people, extending herself beyond call, beyond reason.

***

They were meant to be able to hide from each other, together.

The two women are very similar and their character arcs are similar, and this works for the most part, although there’s a lack of tension in the story (and between them) until closer to the end. I found this parallel satisfying, as well as the conflict Hou Yi feels at Rosa joining her: she is scared that Rosa will see her fail and she is also scared she will falter if Rosa is not here.

Writing Style—★★★☆☆
Burning Roses is told in third person, past tense from Rosa’s point of view.

Huang has a solid style which blends elegance and frankness. She’s produced some excellent phrases that really hit home and brought moments to life with some key word choices that really bring the scenes to life. However, there are also several spots with weak phrasing or word choices, which turn a strong visual into an awkward sentence. There’s also a tendency toward short, choppy sentences between paragraphs.

Themes and Representation—★★★★☆
There’s some nice representation here. Both Rosa and Hou Yi are middle-aged and same-sex attracted women, possibly lesbians since there’s no mention of attraction to any man. There’s also a line from Hou Yi about how Rosa’s Western tongue would refer to her as a man. I don’t know if she’s transgender or if this refers to not-traditionally-feminine appearance. Hou Yi is Chinese-coded and Rosa is Hispanic, although I don’t know if she’s South American or Spanish.

The key themes in Burning Roses focus on family, past choices, how and why they were made, the regret surrounding them, and the possibility of second chances. Huang’s handling of these themes is solid, if a little heavy-handed at times.

Overall—★★★☆☆

Recommended For…
Readers who want family-centric or flashback-centric reads; readers who want to see more middle-aged women as complicated, competent, badass leads.

In this novella, Huang melds North American and Asian folklore through the story of two older women who are hunting down the sunbirds that are wreaking havoc on the land. As they chase the sunbirds, Rosa tells her story of hunting human-animal shapeshifters in a quest for vengeance against the talking wolf that killed her grandmother, while archer Hou Yi reflects on the circumstances that caused her to lose her family. It's a well-told tale of regret, personal demons, and love, and my only complaint is that I wish it was longer.

This was so beautiful!

The prose is gorgeous and the writing style of the author truly captivates the reader, not only with the imagery but also the character's very essence. We see two adult women who have seen horrors in their lives—horrors caused by others and horrors they caused themselves onto others. I found Rosa and Hou Yi so interesting because they're flawed characters. One might even call them villains or antagonists. These are two women who have done horrible mistakes, and throughout the story (their journey and their backstories shared between them), we get to see how it affected them and the lives of the people around them.

I also love how there are multiple fairy tale retellings here. I feel like the author really gave these fairy tales new, dark twists and was able to incorporate morality and human sins in each one of them at the same time.

I do wish there's more to the world-building. From what I've garnered here, it's so magical and fascinating. I needed more of it. (It's quite understandable though, since this is only a novella.)

There's not much a high stakes plot here, but instead we see an exquisite story about family, regret, and redemption.

OH, AND THIS IS SAPPHIC! There are two sapphic couples here and I loved it. And of course, we have Asian and Latinx rep. I've heard that this is inspired by Chinese mythology and that's always nice to see!

I'm just a sucker for lgbt fiction. It's a vibe. Like I fucks with narratives written by people of color and hunger for them. Bonus elder lgbt folks having adventures and just BEING. The narrative presence of being, existing in a white dominated genre is a power move. The language was grounded and easy to follow. The world wasnt too dense where you get lost through and cant keep with the characters. Like white folks especially dudes lollygag and wallow so hard in their indulgent white narration it's hard to even keep with it. Like all that world build and all the sexism still persists in a fantasy--like the inability to actually fantasize a world that doesnt harbor white supremacist and gendered bias is so evident in white fantasy. No flavor. Pass. What I'm sayin is--this was a delight and I'm here for women of color recapturing what fantasy can be and exploring worlds that include lgbt/ brown people just roving that fantastical realm.

Oh, BURNING ROSES, how I adore you. Seriously, this book was like sitting down to indulge in your favorite snack. I love SL Huang's writing, beautiful and accessible, and also loved how she wove multiple fairy tales together and made them queer. As a huge fan of the Cas Russell books, this was a lovely change of pace. Bravo. I would like more please. Feed me.

(More review and many posts on my Instagram to come.)

This was a gorgeous queer fairy-tale, told mostly through flashbacks and storytelling and I loved it.
This follows Rosa (Little Red Riding Hood), and Hou Yi the Archer from Chinese mythology. For such a short novella there is so much packed in, the world is wonderful and I would have loved to spend more time in it. The true strength of Burning Roses is the women, as we learn their stories, their triumphs and regrets, their loves and their shame, they are such wonderful complex characters.

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 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.

A novella length piece which combines much of the magic of Grimm's tales and more. The story is set is in an world where magic allows people to change into animals and sometimes control them.
The main characters are Rosa (red riding hood), who is an Annie Oakley style shooter from either Europe or North America, and Hou Yi, an archer whose exploits make me wonder if there is east Asian folklore in which she is based.
These two women, both in their middle ages, ate hunting sunbirds and protecting people in their region. But, both their posts catch up to them I'm this exciting and emotional novella.
I enjoyed this story enough that I immediately began looking for more books set in this world. Great mash-up of fairy tale and modern fantasy.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read a pre-release copy of this book.

Wholesome queer content alert! Many years after being the heroes (or villains?) of legend, Rosa and Hou Yi, retired adventurers who protect the land they live on and coexist in relative opacity, go on one last journey together. Confronting their past wrongs (Rosa as a villain wracked by guilt and Hou Yi as hero with a secret), these two women confront the loss of their wives and children to their own hubris, ambitions, and cowardice.

While I'm not big on fairytale retellings (and this is very much a mash-up fairytale retellings), Huang brings new depth to these characters. And making them darker (and queerer) is always a plus in my book.

Most of the story is told in flashbacks as Rosa tells Hou Yi her own story while they travel. It made the story feel a bit unbalanced, but Huang does well by interrupting the flashbacks with commentary and present action. Forcing these characters to confront their misconceptions, prejudices, and themselves in a totally fairytale way to round out this solid and binge-worthy novella.

HOLY SH***********T.
BURNING ROSES was incredible. This Asian-inspired retelling of a very bloody Little Red Riding Hood just destroyed my childhood in the best of ways. Huang does catharsis reads like no one's business. This novella needs to be on your TBR.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author S.L. Huang for providing me with an ARC of the title Burning Roses!

What a beautiful retelling of classic fairy tales. I really enjoyed this! This is a short story, but it for sure manages to pack a punch regardless. This was definitely a different pick for me, but I did end up enjoying it.

Thank you again for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Burning roses is a short, queer, feminist story about to older women who live in a magic land. This world is based on Eastern lore and Western fairytales. Both of them have a complicated past which has made them both leave a wife and child.

I really liked the world this story took place in. It has a great mysterious feel to it with different magical animals and foods. And woven into the story are different fairytales. The main characters portray a version of a red riding hood and a Robin Hood retelling, but you can also recognize other characters from different stories as Beauty and the beast.

I particularly liked the main characters and their friendship. The fact that we got two lesbians yet there wasn't a moment you thought they'd be more than friends was great! Rosa and Hou Yi have a great dynamic because you can see how they are different in many things (one used to be an assassin, the other a hero), while also having similarities. Many times they have discussions and small fights and they joke around. Little by little they get to know each other better and through flashbacks you learn more about how they got to the place they are. It was very interesting to see these characters behave the way they did and later learn why. I also found it very unique to read about characters who have already been through a lot. There's also a big theme of family.


❝Too much truth to both sides. Rosa, an exiled stranger in this land, her family stripped away, and with no purpose left, nothing but her rifle; Hou Yi, who had too much purpose, cheerfully throwing herself and her bow in the path of every ravening monster or magical scourge until Rosa had begun to suspect she had a death wish.❞

At first the main story felt a bit chaotic to me, but as you learn more about the past, you understand little by little how it plays into their future. This felt really great as it was ment to be mysterious. The world itself however, still felt mysterious and unexplained at the end. Though for some people just having a magic world is enough, I would've liked a bit more of an explanation for how it works.

though this story is very short, it felt developed and I took my time with it. You could easily read it in one day, though it took me longer than that as I wanted to read just a little every day and have time in between to think about it. This might not have the biggest or best explained magic system, but it sure did have a magical feel to it and I loved how the different fairytales were woven into it.

❝They fit together—tagging onto Hou Yi’s obsession gave Rosa’s life borrowed meaning, and Hou Yi was growing too old to succeed in such recklessness alone.❞

(I have not read the other books in this world and honestly this one has made me very curious!)

This tells a story of Red Riding Hood, and Hou Yi, a legendary archer from Chinese mythology (traditionally a man, but a woman in this telling). They’re both older now, friends living together, and more-or-less retired. Their retirement ends abruptly when sunbirds begin attacking and burning the countryside, and it’s up to them to go out and save the day. Except they’re not the people they used to be; they are old, and filled with shame and regret over the lives they’ve lived and the persons they’ve been. The story is about the two of them opening up to each other and acknowledging their own faults much more than it is about heroics. It’s sad, it’s bittersweet, and it’s beautiful. Comes out September 29.

I was going to rate this book 3,5 stars but then it managed to make me cry on the very last sentence so that deserves at least 4 stars.
Burning Roses is a beautiful and twisted retelling of Red Riding Hood. It’s about regrets, grief, about owning your sins and mistakes, and learning to live with both the good and bad parts of yourself. It’s about family and friendship.
The story follows Rosa and Hou Yi, and as they both go on their journey we slowly learn about them, about their lives before they found each other, and about how they both ended up there.
Burning Roses is a very short story and yet it still manages to convey so many emotions and to involve you in the story and into these women’s lives so completely, to the point of tears even, at least for me.

This was an interesting novella which I enjoyed but did not love quite as much as I hoped based on the description.

This is a retelling of some of the most known / family favourite fairy tales but with a lovely twist. You are following two women in their "later years" and this was an element I thought worked very well as it allowed for you to have a perspective of what happens after the fairytale we know and love ends.

I wish it hadn't felt as rushed but I will definitely keep an eye out for Huang's next work.

Thank you to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for an early copy of Burning Roses. 3.5/5

This was a great retelling of “classic” western fairytales. This was a deeper and more harrowing look into those fairytales of many western childhoods. The nuanced look into the “good guys” vs. “bad guys” narrative of yore was especially refreshing. The hard line rules of good vs evil are an oversimplification and this book highlights that. I also just love to have another interesting queer book. A book that is queer just by existence and not by force, if that makes sense. Really enjoyed this - I hadn’t read the earlier books because I didn’t realize it was a series - I look forward to going back and catching up on those.

Thanks to both netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Recommended for fans of Seanan McGuire's WAYWARD CHILDREN series, which admittedly didn't really work for me but I could definitely see a certain audience liking this novella.

Conceptually, this novella was really interesting. A fusion of Eastern and Western fairytales, namely Hou Yi (a legendary archer who shot down the suns and is connected to the goddess of the moon, Chang'e) and Red "Rosa" Riding Hood. Because of the length of the book, you don't really get a sense of the wider world in which this story is set—just that there is a loose geographical West (where magical creatures/shapeshifters are discriminated against) and East (where magic tends to be more mundane), and a smattering of notable fairytale characters between, i.e. Goldilocks, Beauty and the Beast.

Hou Yi and Rosa are two women who have aged out of the heroic stunts of their youth. They are middling age, living a life of quiet obscurity as they protect people from the treat of dangerous creatures known as sunbirds. Ultimately, their quest to hunt down the sunbirds leads them to open up to one another about their pasts—what drove them into isolation, what they are running from, and ultimately, what their deepest secrets are.

This is a book about families, about expectations, and especially about regrets regarding families and expectations. It's also a book about reconciliation—how it isn't easy, often leads to disappointment and heartbreak, but offers a lot of hope. There is a strong ethos that relationships built on love can survive anything, even hurt, which I found very charming.

Burning Roses is set in a world not unlike ours, where all the fairy tales take place. The primary stories are of Red Riding Hood and Hou Yi, which I was not familiar with prior to this, but many many other fairy tales and symbols are woven in to the story. Rosa and Hou Yi are older now and end up on a quest, and the quest reveals much about both women; their scars, their demons, and their hopes. While Huang has a number of themes she uses this tale to discuss, ultimately Burning Roses is about the relationships with family and friend, how we are hurt and hurt other, and the importance of forgiveness.

Huang’s prose is beautiful as always and it was interesting to see the folklore and fairy tales woven together. I think I’m not super fond of the “older main characters reminiscing about their life” storyline. I would have preferred a more linear storyline, more like a standard retelling; but I think that Huang wrote this novella this way for a reason and was right to do so. I was not into many of the themes earlier on in the book - they were sometimes wielded with a little bit of heavy hand - but part 5 focused on family, reckonings, and forgiveness, and that saved the book for me. For me, Burning Roses was solid but not stunning.

Thanks to TOR and Netgallery for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fairytale featuring Rosa (Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi (legendary archer) on love, family, revenge, and forgiveness. Rosa and Hou Yi are now middle aged, fighting dangerous monsters occasionally, and ruminating on the lives they once lived. When firebirds attack a local village, it kickstarts a mediation on their old mistakes and sacrifices.

I love retellings and reinterpretations of fairytales and Burning Roses delivers on that front, presenting new twists and perspectives on old stories. Knowledge of their respective tales intensifies the impact of their stories in Burning Roses. It blends Western and Eastern fairytales and mythology so it just seems right that Rosa and Hou Yi end up in this tale.

I appreciated, especially, that Rosa was depicted as middle-aged - as Red Riding Hood is usually depicted as a forever young girl-child. Rosa and Hou Yi are now speaking 'one of' Hou Yi's languages, and the language shifts and readjustments make for a more immersive and sophisticated reading. In a favourite scene, Hou Yi, shrugs off Rosa's invitation to visit the West as she finds it bothersome that she'd have to introduce herself as female /every single time/ to people. This retelling is unabashedly queer after all.

And it is also a story about families. Hou Yi and Rose have made mistakes, and their slow revelations of their past on their journey, reopens old wounds but it also allows for hope and the possibility of forgiveness.

Burning Roses is not a romance but a heart-breaking tale filled with sadness but also hope. Rosa and Hou Yi, two middle aged women, set off on a journey to stop Feng Meng, Hou Yi's son from sending his fire birds to destroy villages. Along the way he hear both their stories, though chiefly Rosa's and learn of all the awful things they have done in their lifetimes. The ending does not erase the atrocities that they have committed but it does give hope of reconciliation for the both of them with their families.

The book is lyrical and fantastical, a wonderful fairy tale filled with the darkness of the Grimm but none of the sexism and plenty of the queer. A short book, but beautiful nonetheless. Sometimes, I was a bit annoyed at the flashbacks since I wanted to be with them in the hear and now but in the end I felt satisfied and filled with hope.

I recommend this to anyone that wants a dark queer fairy tale with beautiful language.