A review by jessica_flower
Burning Roses by S.L. Huang
3.0
CW: murder, violence, domestic violence (in the past), xenophobia, toxic/manipulative friendship (in the past), strained familial relationships, morally grey MCs, self-destructive behaviour, themes of grief, toxic shame and guilt
In a world blended with Western and Eastern folklore, two middle-aged women go on a journey to defeat some destructive fire birds that are terrorizing the region they live in, and along the way, they reveal their past lives, mistakes and bad decisions to each other. In doing so, they realise only by confronting their trauma and taking steps to rebuilding relationships that were broken can they overcome their pasts.
When I first heard about this, I thought that this pair of older sapphics were in a relationship together, or on their way to becoming one. Instead I was pleasantly bemused to discover that, though they are both sapphic, they are just friends. And I'm fine with that. WLW can and definitely should be friends with each other; we don't get enough of that the same way we don't get enough stories of older lesbians and sapphics in media.
Part of me wishes we'd gotten Hou Yi's perspective in the book, not only Rosa's. That would probably make this an actual novel and not a novella, but I personally wouldn't mind. And, given that it's partially based off Chinese mythology, I wish that we'd gotten more Chinese words in the story itself. Some little things that I wish could've been explored more: I wish we got more development of Mei and Rosa's relationship; why/how did they come to love each other? Where exactly did Xiao Hong come from? How did Hou Yi and Chang E meet and adopt Feng Meng?
Anyway, the ending made me cry.
In a world blended with Western and Eastern folklore, two middle-aged women go on a journey to defeat some destructive fire birds that are terrorizing the region they live in, and along the way, they reveal their past lives, mistakes and bad decisions to each other. In doing so, they realise only by confronting their trauma and taking steps to rebuilding relationships that were broken can they overcome their pasts.
When I first heard about this, I thought that this pair of older sapphics were in a relationship together, or on their way to becoming one. Instead I was pleasantly bemused to discover that, though they are both sapphic, they are just friends. And I'm fine with that. WLW can and definitely should be friends with each other; we don't get enough of that the same way we don't get enough stories of older lesbians and sapphics in media.
Part of me wishes we'd gotten Hou Yi's perspective in the book, not only Rosa's. That would probably make this an actual novel and not a novella, but I personally wouldn't mind. And, given that it's partially based off Chinese mythology, I wish that we'd gotten more Chinese words in the story itself. Some little things that I wish could've been explored more: I wish we got more development of Mei and Rosa's relationship; why/how did they come to love each other? Where exactly did Xiao Hong come from? How did Hou Yi and Chang E meet and adopt Feng Meng?
Anyway, the ending made me cry.