Daughter of Calamity is an irresistibly dark and atmospheric reimagining of 1930s Shanghai filled with glamour, gods and gangsters - perfect for fans of S. A. Chakraborty and Fonda Lee. In Shanghai, danger wears many faces . . . Jingwen spends her nights as a showgirl at the Paramount, one of the most lavish clubs in Shanghai, competing ruthlessly to charm wealthy patrons. To cap off her shifts, she runs money for her grandmother, the exclusive surgeon to the most powerful gang in the city. A position her grandmother is pressuring her to inherit . . . When a series of cabaret dancers are targeted—the attacker stealing their faces—Jingwen fears she could be next. And as the faces of the dancers start appearing on wealthy foreign socialites, she realizes Shanghai's glittering mirage of carefree luxury comes at a terrible price. Fighting not just for her own safety but that of the other dancers—women who have simultaneously been her bitterest rivals and only friends—Jingwen has no choice but to delve into the city's underworld. In this treacherous realm of tangled alliances and ancient grudges, silver-armed gangsters haunt every alley, foreign playboys broker deals in exclusive back rooms, and the power of gods is wielded and traded like yuan. Jingwen will have to become something far stranger and more dangerous than her grandmother ever imagined if she hopes to survive the forces waiting to sell Shanghai's bones. 'Decadent, dangerous, and addictive' - A. Y. Chao, author of Shanghai Immortal
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I just finished Daughter of Calamity by Rosalie M Lin - paperback arc and audiobook and here are my thoughts!
Jingwen works in an upscale club in Shanghai while running money for her grandmother to a gang that runs the city.
Things start to get even more dangerous when some of the Cabaret dancers come under attack from unknown assailants who cut pieces off their faces off. When the pieces of those faces start appearing on wealthy women, jingwen comes to understand that luxury comes at a price that someone else is paying.
Narrator was great. I really felt drawn into the story in a real and tangible way.
I thought the plot was really clever. a young woman works in a club, her own grandmother does dirty dealings with dangerous gangs. She knows a lot but for some reason she comes across a little vapid. Then she comes back online and seems like she wants to know what's going on and then oops! Something bad happens and it's business as usual? There didn't seem like any consistency to her character. Whether that was deliberate or not I don't know but it was hard to connect to a woman who seem so on it one minute and then ditzy the next.
I really enjoyed the storyline though. I needed to know what the heck was going on. The story weaving was exceptional and the ending was pretty great. I also felt that things started and ended quickly, too quickly like the one sword fight. It almost felt like they were filling in words until they could go back to describing things in detail again.
More action would have been amazing and letting some of the interesting scenes play out more would have really rounded this book out. I still really enjoyed the book but it really could have been the best book of the year with some changes.
4 stars
Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for my gifted arcs
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