Mind blowing! As an avid reader of fantasy and historical literature, I am so excited we finally have the works of Ji Yun in English to add to the cultural lexicon!

This collection of stories by Yi Jun are a fascinating insight into the lives of the Chinese people of the late 18th and 19th century. The horror stories take up about a third of the book and what follows is a collection of broad moral fables, ghost stories and superstitions. I very rarely saw the Lovecraftian connection, but that might be just me.
The most interesting aspect of the book was when the stories touched on the traditions and lifestyles of the Chinese people. A man with a house built on a lucky day and pointing in the correct direction can be treated better than someone who builds his house on an unlucky day. Then there are the levels of cannibalism during this time.
A good read with an interesting collection of stories.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed this one and read it in one day. Look forward to much more by this author.

A stunningly good translation of an incredibly fascinating book and brilliantly put together. Could not put it done, and never have read anything quite like it. Mostly horror and weird prose, yes, but more than that too--genre-defying and genre-crossing. For college literature professors, students will I think adore this--especially those who love speculative literature and anime or East Asian culture in general. For me, reminiscent of both weird writers like Junji Ito and Lovecraft, yes, but also metaphysical writers like Borges and Murakami. The short interview in the reader's guide toward the back is invaluable for its explanation of the Chinese weird tradition as well.. Well done! A new. classic I think.

Such a great read. Interesting and creepy! I was kept interested from page one! Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for this read!!

This book is a collection of the best stories from the five volumes that Ji Yun published back around 1790. These volumes were all filled with weird and paranormal tales narrated at the time in China, written like they were narrated directly to the author or assisted by him.

Various of these are really interesting and entertaining and some can make the reader wonder how they could be conceived back in the XVIII Century; like, for example, one of the story is basically an alien abduction, only described in a way that was not yet polluted by the modern pop-culture while still talking of the same event.

Most of the more interesting stories, in my opinion, are focused in the first 30% of the book while the rest seem more like satirical pieces or moral tales.

The first part of the book synopsis speaks of Ji Yun as a Chinese H.P. Lovecraft but take it with a grain of salt: if we use this comparison to say that both speak about creatures and horrors that we maybe could only imagine I totally agree, but stylistically Ji Yun is more similar to Yamamoto Tsunetomo.
Like in Yamamoto’s Hagakure we can find stories to teach some kind of ethic to the Samurai, in Ji Yun’s tales are doing the same for generally all the reader but leaning to the Confucianism teachings.

The book is surely entertaining and not a bad one but you have to know beforehand that it’s a series of really short stories and the ones that will give you the same vibe as Lovecraft or Kafka are really few. If you are only looking for many different weird tales I will almost recommend you to skip this one, but if you are also interested in getting to know a bit the China of the XVIII century’s end from an unusual point of view, this could be the right book for you.

This book is utterly fascinating. It gripped me from the start and I devoured it in one sitting. A must read!

I found it fascinating, creepy and gripping. The world building is fascinating and the stories are great.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine