Thank you as always to NetGalley for an advance copy!
Utterly captivating and extremely well-crafted. I was shocked to see that this is a debut novel, I was hoping that Yang would have had an extensive back catalog of books that I could tear through. So I guess now I’ll just have to wait for Yang to write another novel
Each of the POV characters are crafted and written with care, and many of the characters in the supporting cast are strong as well. There were a few characters that I thought could maybe use a bit of a rework (Qianzhe’s mom in the present day comes to mind), but I understand that side characters don’t need to carry that same weight as the main cast. This novel shows us the deep scars of the past, and doesn’t shy away from gruesome details. The magical realism in this was another interesting point, it could be a little confusing at times but when it worked it really worked

This is a fabulous and captivating story with multiple POVs a complex timeline and wonderful magical realism elements. An exciting debut from this author!

This is a mesmerizing, magical-realist debut that journeys across generations and continents—from Manchuria under Japanese occupation, through the Cultural Revolution, to present-day North America—as Qianze reconnects with her long-absent father, who brings with him haunting family histories and a cryptic prophecy. Alice Evelyn Yang weaves atmospheric folklore—fox spirits on commutes, a nightmare-haunting jackalope—with lyrical prose and intergenerational trauma to explore how personal and political legacies shape identity. Raw, uncanny, and deeply felt, this is a novel that unsettles even as it lingers. 

Thank you to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for an e-book ARC of this book for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars
When reading this blurb I felt really intrigued and excited to dive into such a unique read. As a Filipina and Chinese woman I wasn’t expecting to see parts of both my cultures represented on the page!!!
The author’s talent for creating descriptive portraits of her characters really elevated the book and made my reading experience by making each character’s point of view so vivid to the reader. It was so unique and frankly very cool seeing Chinese terms casually on the page in conjunction with sentiments I’ve lived through in my real life with my own mother– leaving the past in the past, finding out snatches from my family’s life before the United States slips in conversation, purely by chance. I took my digi highlighter to the page with so many bangers.
There were some qualities which I felt could have used tweaking. Some of the mystery elements did not consistently feel alluring or strange as they kept making repeated appearances with little progress to the plot being made. I’m aware this is a slow study of several characters and is objectively written so well!! I just think it maybe was not 100% my thing when we switched to Weihong’s chapters. The visuals being created in the Weihong chapters read very red-scare sometimes. Even though he is an unreliable narrator, it was just a little hard to get through for me.

This is a complicated story of cycles of hurt and I felt like it really did make me think, it wasn’t a straightforward book with generic brush strokes, it was a crafted novel.

This is a complex story of intergenerational trauma told in alternating timelines and points of view. In the present, a young American woman of Chinese descent (Qianze) is struggling with her rootlessness when her father, who mysteriously abandoned the family when she was eleven, returns in the throes of severe alcoholism and delusion, talking incoherently about a "prophecy." Qianze herself is experiencing visions of a jackalope, foxes, and mysterious, elderly Aunties who appear to deliver prophetic messages.

The story weaves its way several generations into the family's past, detailing a rich and deeply personal family saga through the horrors of the Sino-Japanese war and the Cultural Revolution. The writing in this book is amazing. The characters were so real, and the vicarious experience of their lives was immersing. (There is some very graphic violence in describing the war atrocities, some of which I had to skim over.) It's remarkable the way Yang is able to interweave these complex narratives, yet keep the reader fully oriented and grounded in the story.

The reason I didn't love this book as much as I wanted to has mostly to do with the supernatural thread. I was so intrigued by the Chinese folklore-inspired magical realism. When this thread appears, it's spooky and real and wonderful, but it feels disjointed and oddly not central to the meat of the story, more of a spice than an ingredient.

In all, a beautifully written book about the yearning and struggle to connect to one's roots despite the pain embedded in them.

This is an incredible, strong debut. We get a tale of fractured family across generations, generational trauma, the wounds that history and colonialism can inflict on people and what it takes to look at all of this head on. I like that we don't quite get a full resolution in the ending here, but that it shows the current generation trying to move forward and make sense of what's happened to their family across generations. Pick this up when it comes out in January!

This was slow to start, but once the magical realism started, I was hooked. A very beautifully written family saga, with magical realism thrown in. There were some really horrific parts to this book so there is trigger warnings if graphic violence and gore disturb you.

A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing completely swept me away. The prose is gorgeous, so vivid and alive that it carried me through the story even when the subject matter was heavy. Alice Evelyn Yang weaves together folklore, history, and family in a way that feels effortless, moving between the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Cultural Revolution, and the present day without losing the emotional core.

Qianze’s complicated relationship with her father gives the book its heart, but the story stretches across generations, showing how trauma and colonialism leave marks that never fully fade. The touches of magical realism, from fox spirits in the streets to a jackalope in the shadows, slip in so naturally they feel like part of the real world.

Beautiful, haunting, and impossible to forget.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

A sharp and unsettling story weaving together family secrets, political tension, and the haunting legacies of trauma in modern China.

Yang’s prose is precise and evocative, capturing the unease simmering beneath the surface of everyday life and the way past wounds ripple through generations. The narrative focuses on complex characters caught between loyalty, survival, and the desire for freedom.

The story moves at a deliberate pace, layering mystery and emotional depth, though some readers may find the subtlety and slow reveal challenging. The cultural context enriches the novel, adding weight to the personal and political struggles portrayed.

If you’re drawn to literary fiction that blends intimate family drama with broader societal issues, this book offers a thoughtful and nuanced read.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Alice Evelyn Yang writes with an impressive efficiency - concise, yet always vivid. No matter which specific character was experiencing the plot, what tangle of emotions they were wrestling with, or what location or time the narrative had shifted to, everything always immediately became as alive and as real as anything - including the magical realist elements. Every time I picked up the book to carry on, it was an immediate and engrossing immersion into the thick of it all.

However, that of course meant being always at least neck-deep within the themes that tie through the story from start to finish - the horrors of colonization, war and the atrocities it brings in tow, and of course, trauma. Trauma upon trauma upon trauma, not just affecting the characters in horrendous moments, but trauma that then cycles on down through the next several generations. “A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing” didn’t just make me uncomfortable at times - it felt like it was trying to actively tear at my very heart as I watched the core characters endure an array of mental, emotional, and at times physical agonies. And it was their resulting anguish that mostly felt the most real of anything else - that, but also thankfully the little moments of joy and relief as well. This book was both soul-wrenching, yet beautiful, and no matter what had just happened in the narrative, it was never long until I came right back to read another chapter or several.

This is not only a fantastic debut for Yang, but I would definitely call this one of my most memorable reads to date so far. I definitely hope to see more titles from her in what I hope to be in the near future. In the meantime, I would love to see her first work gracing our popular reads shelf here at the library once it’s published.