The Unnamed Bears Favor

**Disclaimer: I was given a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Title The Unnamed Bears Favor

Author J. Lyon Layden

Description from Amazon

Mythical China, 9000 B.C.E. Summoned by the village priestess, a nameless outcast must undergo initiation into the Rik-Sika, a band of hunter-assassins. To earn his place, he must travel with them to the ruins of his people's stronghold, which sits on a plateau near the roof of the world. On the perilous journey, he encounters restless ghosts, monstrous devil-bears, and the dreaded ogres who rule the mountains. Faced with unimaginable odds, the unnamed boy discovers his true name and with it, a powerful secret buried by his ancestors long ago.

Armed with a dark and powerful knowledge but burdened by its weight, the boy must choose between his own life and the fate of the tribe.

Initial Thoughts

I have been reading a lot of books set in Asia recently so "Mythical China" seemed super on theme for me.  I was also intrigued by the fact that this book is classified as a "novelette".  I do like a good short story.

Cover Art

Since I have an e-book of this, the cover is not super relevant to my review, but I wanted to touch on it a bit.  I don't love the artwork.  I'm not 100% sure what it is.  It might be some kind of animal skeleton with antlers but it's too ambiguous for my taste.

Some Things I Liked

I liked the tribes and the inter-tribe politics described in this book.  There were numerous detailed traditions that were both interesting and significant to the story.

I also thought the length of the story was perfect.  Not too short where there were not enough details but not to long that it felt dragged out.

Something I Wasn't Crazy About

Relationships - I get the idea that our nameless main character constantly struggles with isolation and loneliness, but he did seem to have some relationships with the other characters.  I wanted to see more of his interactions with them, especially Esrin.

China - I know that it's 9000 BCE but why bother to mention specifically China in the dust jacket?  Personally, I didn't feel like anything in particular felt like China.  The story would have been the same if that detail had been left out.  I actually think I would have enjoyed it more if the world was entirely fictional.

Final Thoughts

This story was different from anything else I have read.  It had an interesting premise and was very to the point.  I didn't dislike it, but I also didn't love it.  However, that being said, I could easily see myself loving more stories about these characters in this setting.  I think there is a lot of potential here.

⭐⭐⭐

Recommendations for Further Reading

Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean - this story also takes place in an Asian-inspired setting with mythological creatures and traditions.  There are similar feelings of leadership, justice, and a lack of romance that made me think of this book after reading The Unnamed Bears Favor.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson - this is another story of a main character who feels like an invisible outcast and struggles to find their place in the world.  Both are stories of survival and leadership.

The Unnamed Bears Favor
by J. Lyon Layden

This is the story of an unnamed boy who yearns to be named a man in his stone-age (?) tribe. The story begins when he is chosen to join a group of mystical hunters, who offer him just that chance. However, he must go on a journey fraught with peril and haunted by magic and mystery.

This novella is a lushly worded, tightly paced journey into mystery, in the most traditional sense of the word.
The author evokes the worldview of a paleolithic person in a way that feels authentic, although we can never know what authentic actually means here. The world built in this compact story is unknown and unknowable, dangerous and beautiful and enchanting. I wish there were more.

One of the things that I find most compelling here is the author's reluctance to explain. Things are left unsaid, and things that we, the readers, do not understand are taken for granted. The characters do not explain things that they already know, just as would happen in real life, so the reader is left to wonder. What was real? What was confusion, or hallucination, or actually magic?

The use of language is also well wrought. The differences in dialect, hinting at connections beyond the tribal level, are interesting and fun. I found some parts where the language was perhaps a little too overwrought and got in the way of comprehension in a way that felt unintentional, though, so that line is a fine one.

I also spotted some basic typos, but such things are often unavoidable and so I didn't find them to detract overall from the story.

My only drawback, and the reason I'm not going for 5 stars, is that the ending felt rushed and vaguely flat. I felt that this might actually be enough of a world to merit a full novel, if a short one to maintain that mystery.

Overall, this was a genuine pleasure to read. I am grateful to the author and the publisher, Aurelia Leo, for the review copy on Netgalley.

This book is just meh. The setting is marvelous, but the characters are not well developed and the plot is flimsy at best. I think that if this book would have been much, much longer, it would have been more interesting and compelling, but in 77 pages the author doesn't manage to capture your attention. A pity, because the writing style is very good.

This is a creative story mixing magic with prehistoric history.
I've seen a few people state that this novella does not follow Asian history well, and although I have not been schooled in this topic well, the description at the back seem to verify its close resemblance to the story.

This reads like a prequel to a series in my opinion. Although I enjoyed the storyline, it felt like I should have already known the characters and the magic system. I was missing the connection to our main character, and background information into the world and culture.

I do think this could be a good prequel to a more developed story in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this arc. As always, all thoughts are my own.