This is one of those books where I think I ultimately like the pay off more than the reading experience. Let me explain.

The Writing:
This novel has a slightly unconventional approach to storytelling from a Western perspective. It draws a lot of inspiration from its First Nations and Chinese descended characters, and I feel like a lot of that is echoed in the format. It's very common for the main storyline to be interrupted to tell the stories of the characters, but almost in a fairytale/mythology sort of way. While I ultimately do really like it and appreciate these little tangents, it wasn't something I was used to or ready for so it initially disrupted my immersion into the book.

The Characters:
I quite like the cast being assembled here and can see how they'd make for a decent core to start a new urban fantasy series. Everyone has been impacted by Aunt Tigress, no matter what walk of life they're from, and they all have incredibly different reactions to her antics.

The Reveal:
But what really made me appreciate the book and firmly lodged it in my brain is the reveal. I feel like I'll be chewing on that all week and would love to re-read the whole thing, knowing what I know now.

Art:
Also I just really need to call out that banger of a cover. Excellent, excellent work.

Audiobook:
The narrator is so natural that it took me a while to pull myself out and actually analyze what they were doing. They provide such an excellent and seamless narration, each character given their own easily identifiable voice without needing to hear the character name. It reminded me of Natalie Naudus, so now I feel like I'll need to check out Jen Zhao's work.

Audio review: narrator Jen Zhao did a nice job bringing this book to life! I enjoyed the narration and it was great quality.

Book review: I've got a bit of mixed feelings about this one. I loved the premise, and in some ways it delivered.

The blending and inclusion of Chinese and First Nation mythology was really interesting and I really liked all the stories included in the book. I do think they could have been placed better at times to not disrupt the flow of the story. The mythological creatures and beings were really cool to read about! I found the love interest so unlikable, and really wanted better for the MC! It is a kind of long book, but I didn't mind.

This was a lot of fun! I really liked how the folklores of different cultures were handled; it felt very respectful and relevant to the story. The plot is fast paced with a lot of threads coming together nicely throughout, and Aunt Tigress is an intriguing villain. I also liked how different characters' back stories were woven in as separate chapters, though other readers might find that jarring. None of the main characters particularly stood out to me (and some readers might find Tam a bit too much of a sad sack as a main character), but it didn't affect my enjoyment of the story, especially there are some very fun side characters.

The audio narration was fantastic - the narrator both emotes really well without overdoing it and does a really good job of differentiating characters with different voices that don't sound fake. She actually reminded me a bit of Natalie Naudus, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for other books she narrates.