Absolutely amazing to read about the traditional tales that inspired the horror genre. The authors have done a splendid job at compliling the stories. Being a fan of Asian horror, this book is a must read for all horror lovers

A very unique and different book of mini stories in Chinese folk lore and had a very gothic foreboding feel to it. I enjoyed how short and sweet each story was and I ended up reading the book very quickly. The author was very easy to understand and each story flowed well. Didn't need to look much up about the folk law either.

This book is comprised of short stories. The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is my own fault… I have a v short attention span, so good luck keeping me from using the end of one story as an excuse to get distracted 😆

This was a very interesting read. It didn’t have as much occult or horror elements as I was expecting - the blurb made me think this would be something like a Qing Dynasty Lovecraft - but it was nonetheless very interesting, and I enjoyed reading it.

This book is a translation of many of the writings of a 18th/19th century Qing Dynasty official named Ji Yun. He was well-known and well-regarded; a comparison is made to Benjamin Franklin for an American of similar stature. More as a personal project than as part of his official duties, he collected tales of the supernatural and other assorted strange events. This book is a translation of many of these stories he collected, with accompanying contextual information.

There’s no central thread or overarching narrative here; it’s literally a collection of anecdotes, stories, folklore, rumors, and Ji Yun’s personal experiences. Mixed throughout are Ji Yun’s own ideas and opinions. He’s skeptical about many of the things he recorded, but also open minded. If there’s one central theme to this book, it’s that there’s much more to this world than we know.

As much as anything else, I enjoyed this as a window into a culture and period I’m rather shamefully ignorant of. Ji Yun’s worldview is very Confucianist, with a lot of Daoism and Buddhism mixed in, and the way he views the world is very interesting to me. Which made the clear parallels to what I would call “Western” ideas like zombies and vampires particularly striking.

Every item in here is short - none are longer than a dozen pages or so. I think this would be better as something to read while reading something else- a few pages here, a story or two there - rather than as a straight narrative.

This book is really great. It is both intriguing and horrifying. The information in the book is quite extensive and I learned things that I previously did not know. I enjoyed the stories. There were a great many strange tales to read as well. It is a good addition to a personal library if you are into this sort of thing.

Interesting and unique read especially if you are interested in stories from a non-Western culture and perspective.

"How a sign is read depends on who it's read for and under what circumstances. A sign does not exist apart from its larger context. And this context must be fully considered before an interpretation is made--just as one looks at a whole poem before thinking about the meaning of an image within".

Trigger warning: violence, cannibalism

Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum and quickly becoming two of my favourite translators, curating rich Chinese stories and making them accessible to a large part of the public, without taking away any original meaning and intention. Their books are a true ode to Chinese spirituality and touch on a combination of religious and community beliefs. Many areas touched left me with goosebumps and the desire to further research later - especially the concepts of meat vegetables and the tricks of spirits seeking out substitutes. Whilst I adored their other book, Zhiguai, The Shadow Book offered equally fascinating tales from a more historical lens.

The authors place no judgement and push no personal opinion, instead they bring the reader into a world previously unknown to many. Although the book could be devoured in one sitting, it is filled to the brim with stories that left me putting the book down in order to process the knowledge instead of fly through.

Reviews are easy to write for average books but prove difficult for such an exceptional anthology of paranormal stories. It's clear that every single tale remained true to the individual retelling, both when initially collected and later when translated. I felt the fear, excitement and emotion captured in between every chapter and adored the introduction to lesser known Chinese terms around the 'other realm'. My only question - when is the next book coming out?

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved reading this book. It was so interesting to immerse myself into these old stories, try to read between the lines and discover parallels to stories I knew. I learned a lot, and I felt very entertained as well. Of course I liked some stories more than others, but that's only natural considering the sheer amount there is. Some were delightfully creepy, others made me think for a long time.
All in all, I recommend this book to everybody interested in history, in weird/horror stories and in broadening their horizon outside of the US and Europe.

Thank you to the publisher, Empress Wu Books, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such an interesting take on the occult. It's always intriguing to see old perspectives on subjects like this.

This book was enjoyable but a little repetitive. The description says that the author of the book would be the Chinese equivalent to Ben Franklin and I can see that. There is a collection of very short stories and anecdotes. Some are odd, some are cautionary, some discuss religion, and some are just hilarious. One story cautions men against using male enhancement herbs by describing what happened to a rat that got into a man's personal supply. I found myself skimming through some of the tales as they were not interesting or just somewhat repetitive, but overall I found this book enjoyable. I did not find anything overly scary in it but I enjoyed reading a slice of history during the time period this author wrote.

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun is so fascinating. Sometimes the translations can get in the way of content, but that is no issue here. These books are essential for any horror enthusiast as so many of our mainstream tales tend to be borrowed from other cultures, especially Chinese/Japanese culture. Do yourself a favor and check this book out immediately!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

*Copy provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

What an amazing collection of stories! As a horror lover myself, I was sadly not presented to chinese horror sooner. However, and after reading this collection, I do believe it might rank very high on the type of horror stories I love to read. There is a creepy feeling to all the themes, but also nostalgia, sadness and a lot of questionning who or what we are, what is the world like and if what we take as reality is, in fact, all there is. I was marvelled by these and will for sure search for more chinese authors and stories.

This collection of Ji Yun’s strange tales entertained me, but none of the stories sucked me in or left me with the eerie feeling I was hoping for. The stories were brief and easy to read thanks to a solid translation which makes it very accessible to modern readers. It was interesting to learn more about Chinese beliefs and practices in relation to the paranormal and unexplained. I just wish the stories had been more suspenseful overall. My favorite story in the collection by far was Playmates, which was the only installment that came close to creeping me out a bit. Overall, it was a nice light read that probably won’t stick out or be memorable on a long-term basis.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC!

Thank you Empress Wu Books & NetGalley for this eerily beautiful tales & occult knowledge! This is by far not my wheelhouse of books, but I couldn't walk away from the description! I was struggling my way through another book and The Shadow Book of Ji Yun was just the fresh break I needed! I didn't realize this would be packed with so much, it was for sure a pleasant surprise. Very much enjoyed!

Imagine if H.P. Lovecraft were Chinese and his tales were true. Or if a national, political figure like Benjamin Franklin was also a paranormal investigator—one who wrote up his investigations with a chilling, story-telling flair that reads like a combination of Italo Calvino, Lafcadio Hearn, and Zhuangzi. Ji Yun published five volumes of strange tales that combined supernatural and frequently moving autobiographical accounts with early speculative fictions beginning in 1789 revolutionising Chinese speculative fiction. The Shadow book of Ji Yun is the literary translation of some of these stories.

This is a fantastic book of creepy tales, the writing is beautiful and the translations keep the unsettling tone that must have been present in the originals. The combinations of Taoist, Buddhist and other ideas of the supernatural and the after life are fascinating and added to the stories as they are no longer just ghost stories but tales steeped in fact and belief which makes them all the more strange. The lengths of the stories vary but they are all the perfect length and all of them make you want to read the next one.

This collection shows off the incredible power of Zhiguai,  true tales of strangeness beyond our reality, and I can't wait to read more by the authors. Another book by these authors is "Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix" which is another incredible book!

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun is the English translation of an eclectic collection of weird and purportedly true tales of the paranormal and unexplained in 18th century China as told by celebrated scholar, poet, and respected government advisor Ji Yun. While I wouldn’t necessarily describe all of these stories as horror, a few of them are truly disturbing, even to the modern reader.

Ji Yun delves into the world of spirits, the nature of life and death, the process of reincarnation, and the underbelly of human behaviour in short story form. Most of these tales are only a handful of pages, but explore many oddities as experienced by or told to Ji Yun throughout his long and eventful life. Ji Yun’s comments and thoughts on the paranormal and unexplained are very insightful in light of the time in which he lived.

The translators give some background on Ji Yun in the preface to the collection to put the stories into context. At the conclusion of the translation, there is a section providing insight into specific spirits and other subjects touched on in the original stories, a timeline of major events in Ji Yun’s life, and some history of the genre as a whole. Their contributions to this edition definitely add value to the collection.

Even though The Shadow Book was not exactly what I was expecting, it was a great read. I found the majority of the stories intriguing and entertaining, but not particularly scary, although I have to admit that a couple of them did make me squirm! This may be due in part to their brief nature, as it’s difficult to build suspense in just a few pages. It also may be that Ji Yun was more interested in sharing similar collected experiences in an attempt to explain or confirm various paranormal phenomena than providing entertainment, as later became popular with greatly embellished stories of a similar nature.

If you are a fan of the weird, paranormal and disturbing, this collection is for you! It’s easy to pick up, read a few stories, and come back to it later. They also lend themselves to reading aloud, as my husband and daughter can attest!

The Shadow Boo of Ji Yun is a wonderful collection of weird tales, horror stories and myths. It;s creepy, fantastical and bizarre. I grew up reading Grimm's Fairy Tales and adored them. I re-read them all over again a couple of years ago in my adulthood and they still held a special place in my heart.

This book hit the same feelings for me, but gave me something new and interesting to read too. This book gives us an insight into what life might have looked like for people living in 18th/19th century China. It was so interesting reading these stories and seeing the differences between them and the western counterparts. Though they still had the same feel about them.

Thank you to the publishers, the authors and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up I have heard many of the Chinese ghost stories, but have never found a satisfying English version of these stories, so was delighted to come across The Shadow Book of Ji Yun. The translation is smooth and the voice is compelling, so much so Ji Yun felt like a real person to me recounting these tales.

The stories themselves are a fun mix of observations and anecdotes, with some rather poignant insights.

I enjoyed this so much I'm going to pick up the authors' other work Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This has been a truly fascinating read for me, that I'm sure I'll return to again and again. After reading through a first time, it's written in such a way that I could pick and choose my favourites to reread. It's been written so beautifully, you could more than likely do this easily without a first full read-through, but I feel like the introduction, references and chronologally of the sections work so well in giving a full experience, it's really worth experiencing the whole thing.

The concept of Zhiguai, the stories themselves full of strange and wonderful themes, are incredible in their own right. I love the variety and depth to them, and they were woven so beautifully into the telling by Ji Yun. They vary in length and impact, but all have an interesting point to make. Some were really chilling! There's loads in here, so it won't be something you whizz through too quickly either - it feels substantial yet consistently interesting.

I found the introduction to be elegantly and informatively written again, an element I found in the authors' other work (Zhiguai, on similar themes in a modern setting). I also really appreciated all the informative notes towards the end, detailing historical or linguistic tidbits that helped to explain further, especially for a Western reader.

Ji Yun's life sounds very interesting, and I hope I get to learn more about him and his work in future. The tales show a unique and wonderful perspective into a significant element of Chinese history and culture, and this is clear from the way the tales and themes still show in Chinese media today (what little I have experienced of it, at least).

I think anyone with an interest strange tales, collected stories, Chinese myths & legends, or in modern xianxia and wuxia novels, would appreciate this fantastic book, and I will happily recommend to anyone I feel will enjoy.

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun: The Chinese Classic of Weird True Tales, Horror Stories, and Occult Knowledge

[Blurb Goes Here]

Now, this was a very interesting read. According to the book, Ji Yun, a man who lived in the late eighteen century, compiled these stories of "the strange". What makes this book different to an anthology is that anthologies are just compendiums of different genres, with good to bad stories.

These stories of the strange, in contrast, are lifeless narrations of events, events that are later explained by Ji Yun as if he was trying to leave the reader with a moral and a "rational" explanation, only rational if you believe in the things depicted in the stories.

Still there's much to learn in this Shadow Book of Ji Yun, since the Chinese legends he mentions are similar to the ones from other parts of the world. The existence of a creature akin to big foot, UFO abductions, vampires, just to name a few.

Thank you for the advanced copy!