A vivid historical fantasy/mystery, this book and its characters wholly immerse you in its imagining of 1920s China.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I will happily leave a review for this when the racist remarks by one of their employees is addressed. I want to support the author, but also want to know they don’t support this behavior.

The premise of this book is killer, but all the cool pieces just didn't come together for me, personally.

I loved the idea of historical fiction mixed with magical realism and I enjoyed Jingwen as a character (really all of the dancers were interesting) but it felt like each time I wanted the book to zig, it zagged instead.

I think the problem for me is that it felt like there wasn't ample time to give each of those two narrative elements (history and fantasy) the proper space to be fully developed. So the book reads a little choppy -- we're deep into the details of choreographing a dance, and then we're jumping back into eye ball and lip-less girls. (I STILL don't know if they're ever getting their faces back!)

I guess, for me I felt like there was A LOT of world-building, and much of it was just dropped in there, without fuller exploration. (Maybe this is an editing issue?) I wanted to get to know the grandmother more. I wanted more exploration of the goddess. I wanted to know why the gang members each had one silver hand.

Overall I did enjoy this book, but it felt a little bogged down by its ambitious narrative reach. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Mysterious Shanghai, secrets, violence, history, gangs, and a bit of magic in the dark of night. The setting so rich, the story so complex, almost an experience rather than a book.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Jingwen is scared when things start happening to her co workers. She decides to do her own homework, but encounters several stumbling blocks in her way. A nice read

Fascinating novel of life in Shanghai. Fictional life, of course.
A mixture of romance, criminal activity and some voodoo and witchcraft thrown in. A rich look at the life of a chorus girl and her challenging existence.

DAUGHTER OF CALAMITY
BY: ROSALIE M. LIN

About 3.5 Stars!

This far-fetched story takes place in Shanghai narrated from the first person's point of view by a young woman named Jingwen. Jingwen is a dancer at the Paramount with several other Chinese young women. Her grandmother is a black market surgeon who replaces anatomical bodily parts with ones made out of silver. Jingwen's grandmother mostly operates on gangsters who inhabit Shanghai called the Society of the Blue Dawn. The Blue Dawn makes an original cast of antagonists. There are too many gods and goddesses, although I enjoyed the Chinese mythology interwoven throughout the narrative. I felt at times that some of the references to the mythology could be trimmed down since this makes this rather long tale less cohesive. I wasn't prepared for the excessive amounts of gratuitous violence and too many gruesome explicit scenes for my comfort level. It could have been that I wasn't expecting such vivid descriptions even though I have no trouble reading thrillers. This is my opinion and personal reaction, which may be problematic for some readers and may be acceptable to others.

The author Rosalie M. Lin's overuse of crafting sentences using the word "like," to convey imagery for the reader was much too excessive. It was glaringly obvious within the first two percent of the novel which weakened the writing and was distracting. The premise is interesting and with some editing this could have the potential to be a better novel, that's if these points are addressed before publication it would be a much more polished narrative.

One has to suspend belief if this blend of storytelling is going to work for each individual reader. The Chinese mythological aspects make for an intriguing and interesting addition to the plot. Jingwen is a likable main female protagonist and her character development is impressive along with adding a positive slant to a dark subject matter that inhabits the plot. In summary this could be a promising debut if some of the points I have enumerated are addressed before the final draft is published. I did enjoy the idea of this unique story and wish this author the best of luck. One last thing that would vastly improve this historical fantasy/science fiction novel. It would flow better if there is an English reference following the Chinese terms if this is geared towards an American audience and for readers everywhere that don't speak Chinese. I noticed that this writing device was used to translate the meaning of the many Chinese names, even with characters that are secondary for example: the mutilated girls obscure names are followed what the Chinese name means in English. This has a great *skeleton* already creatively imagined by Rosalie M. Lin. It just needs to incorporate the filled in flesh which is the job of any successful novelist. A debut that has the possibility of reaching a wider audience if the above suggestions that I've made are considered. Haunting and mesmerizing I'll not soon forget this diverse reading experience. I was asked by the publicist to read this who suggested that based on my previous choices of reading, that I was most likely going to find this to be rewarding. I'm grateful for the consideration and although this isn't something that would be my usual choice, I found it to be overall a novel that I'm happy to have read. "Daughter of Calamity," had a well executed and satisfying ending, but I feel the points that I've made if addressed could make it more appealing to reach a wider audience, which it deserves.

Publication Date: June 18th, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Rosalie M. Lin and St. Martin's Press for generously providing me with my eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#DaughterofCalamity #RosalieMLin #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

This was an unusual yet appealing story. Shanghai is a city of sin and vice, but also a city with beauty. Jingwen's grandmother, Liqing, is a skilled surgeon affiliated with the powerful Society of the Blue Dawn gang, replacing damaged limbs with silver replacements. She also trades in bones and other items. Jingwen serves as a courier for those bones. However, she is also a dancehall girl, and in that role, she meets foreigners living in or visiting the international section of Shanghai. Her introduction to Dr. Bailey Thompson will expose her to hidden truths about Shanghai and its power brokers. She will also meet Nalan Zikai, who is part of a group trying to return the old gods to Shanghai. Jingwen will also witness the return of the Mother of Calamity, the patron goddess of Shanghai. However, the way this comes about and what it means are not at all what she expected. It will upend her life and the future of Shanghai.

Genres and generations collide with this story of 1930's Shanghai. In a world where wolves are made of mist and shaman and the Mother of Calamity reigns Jingwen, a dancer, learns the history of her culture, The Blue Dawn gangsters and the Court of Exiles clash. It is a world where human hearts can be replaced with a swan's heart, li[s and eyes are stolen and arms are replced with silver arms. Unsettled is the best word I can find to describe the feeling you get as you emerge yourself into this mystical world. With authentic Chinese words of desription I was very thankful for my online dictionary. This is a cross between historical fiction and fantasy that you won't want to miss.
Thanks to #NetGalley#StMartinsPress for the eARC and the suggestion.
#DaughterOfCalamity

I was so excited to read Daughter of Calamity. The synopsis sounded like an intriguing mix of fantasy/thriller set in Shanghai. But unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, and I felt it moved way too slow. I also don't know much about Shanghai or the culture, so the lore failed to hold my interest. But that being said, I feel like me and the book just weren't a match, but I know there are others who will love this book. I have one friend in particular who I know would devour this in one sitting, and I will most definitely recommend it to him. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Daughter of Calamity takes the reader to the occult underground of 1930s Shanghai and the author does a great job at evoking the moodiness of it all. The sensory descriptions of the locations and settings in this story created an eerie atmosphere that pulled me in as a reader. I only enjoyed the first one hundred pages or so because the atmosphere was nicely balanced with the creepy plot. The story got more and more complicated when many myths and folkloric aspects were included that made things confusing. I lost interest when many new elements to the story were introduced. The complexity of the plot took away from the dark atmosphere of the story which I felt was the star of the show.

I will never understand why authors do not ask appropriate, knowledgeable specialists for a read-through to make sure terminology is used correctly. In this case, the author is apparently a dancer, but her use of language about music is a big mess, and it pulled me right out of the story. Numerous other small things that made no sense (dancing barefoot on a stage used by tap dancers? um, no. Huge hazards there.) as well as uneven character development and world-building. The premise is good--a magical-realist Shanghai, full of angry gods and exploitation and gangs. Things happen a little too unbelievably fast at the beginning, and the pacing throughout is awkward and sometimes hard to follow. The characters don't have much depth, and they change their minds and loyalties with every cliche that comes from their mouths. There are characters who don't actually do much except smolder dramatically or are mysterious, but they have no charisma and are too often just filler--even those who are supposed to be important, such as the protagonist's mother and the protagonist's potential love interests. There's no spark. There's a very brief reference to queer sexuality, but everyone else lacks sex appeal, even when they're supposed to be making their livings off of it. The magic and power and technology of the world is revealed somewhat clunkily, and some of the metaphors involving those aspects are heavy-handed enough to make you bang your head on the wall. The geography of the city is unclear, and the city as an entity is uneven. There are continuity errors--one most noticeable one comes near the end, when a character holds up his hands in a surrender gesture, but then in the next sentence is just then pulling them out of his pockets. I feel like this needs one more really good developmental edit, to cut away the flotsam and jetsam, and it would be much better.

3.5/5 rounded up
Historical fiction with a thrilling peek into 1930’s Shanghai’s corruption and greed. Jingwen is a showgirl with multiple jobs as a dancer, plus one as a Money runner for her grandmother, who is working with the Blue Dawn gang. There is another gang who wants control of Shanghai and will stop at nothing to get it. This book I would describe as a historical crime fantasy with a splash of gods and deities.

For fans of slow burn historical crime fantasy, if you like one of these genres, I’m sure you will enjoy this book.

Thanks to St Martins Press, NetGalley, and the author for the arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.