I loved Sunyi Dean’s The Book Eaters, and I devoured this one (pun intended). It’s a magical story of vengeful spirits, but it’s also a story of history, survival, family ties, and forgiveness. It’s as beautiful as its cover. Get ready for a story that jumps backwards and forwards in time, crossing islands and wars. It can be a little confusing to follow, but it was worth the effort.
Mercy Chan lives in the walled city of Kowloon in 1975. She’s in her fifties, a refugee from an island near Hong Kong who has no memory of her life before World War II. Along with her ghost cat Bao, she works as a “ghost talker” in this city overrun by angry spirits. Instead of exorcising the ghosts, she helps them find justice so they can rest. She learns of a demon who is drowning people in their baths, creating a panic that will enable corrupt goverment officials to destroy the walled city, leaving its people with nowhere to go. This demon is also stalking her, which has to be connected to the angry voices and visions in Mercy’s head that urge her to drown people.
Mercy sets out to find the demon and save Kowloon. But the demon knows more about her past than she does. What follows is a fantastic story, so I won’t tell you more.
I loved Dean’s use of Chinese folklore in this book, particularly the Chinese goddess of mercy and the mythology around different types of ghosts, spirits and demons. I especially appreciated that she explained some of her sources at the end. She also explains about her use of names and Chinese language throughout the novel.
I also loved the history in the book about the Japanese and British occupation of China during and after World War II. I didn’t know anything about Kowloon Walled City, but that is historical as well, and I found it fascinating. It’s a small city of just a few blocks, enclosed by a wall and so overpopulated it was basically 14 stories of solid living space with over 33,000 residents. There was no sunlight due to the densely packed building, and no real law enforcement. Buildings sprang up quickly with no safety requirements, and essentially leaned against each other. People got around via alleyways and rooftops. The walls came down after World War II so the Japanese could build an airport, but the city itself wasn’t demolished until the 1990s.
I think a great horror novel is about the inhumanity of man just as much as that of monsters, and that’s very true of this book. There are superstitious villagers who attack a child because they think she’s bad luck. There are soldiers who torture and kill, there’s organized crime, and governments who do little to help unless it lines their pockets. Not that humanity is all bad; Dean’s characters also show kindness and loyalty. Violence in this book is a gray area, especially in the time of war. One character uses magic to fight the Japanese soldiers during the war, causing countless deaths. When is violence justice, and when is it just revenge (and best let go)?
War does not finish. It is not a game that stops when enough players quit. It is a wound, sinking into flesh, leaving scars and rot that cause pain for a long time.
The structure of the book is complicated, with multiple perspectives and timelines, and some of it narrated in the second person. That can be a little disorienting at times, and it definitely requires careful attention to the names and the dates. I listened to the audiobook, which had an excellent reader, but sometimes a more complex book is easier to follow in book form. Certainly it took me a while to learn all the names.
This was an amazing follow-up by Sunyi Dean, who appears to be a master at world-building and unique fantasy stories. I loved the complicated themes of justice, trauma, and forgiveness. It’s not an easy read, if that’s what you’re looking for, but I found it exciting and was drawn in quickly by the story. I highly recommend it.
Note: I received an advance review copy, in audiobook format, from NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Audio. The book published May 5, 2026
