My review for book with a single sentence would be Kuang never disappoints. It was such a unique, originally interesting and highly intriguing read for me that I couldn’t seemed to put it down as throughout my entire read it kept me on my toes. So, overall I really loved it.

Having loved Babel, I was excited to read another RF Kuang novel. This was not what I expected.

While Yellowface provides an interesting moral dilemma - author dies, friend steals her first draft manuscript and passes it off as her own - and it was undeniably readable, I struggled with the book. It felt overly preachy at times and honestly made me cringe a bit reading it as the main character was just too horrible. From about 5% in, it was blatantly obvious that she was hurtling towards *something* awful, though I truly didn't expect (or enjoy) the final twist.

It wasn't a wholly negative reading experience, and it would make a good book club choice for discussion but I expected to enjoy myself more than I did.

The fast paced nature of this book had me enraptured from the first chapter, I absolutely devoured this book in about 6 hours and I think I may explode.

The character voice felt believable while reading the book, I could feel the panic, the feelings of disgust and entitlement that the character felt.

The characters were very well written, you’re not meant to like them (and I can assure you, you won’t), but the writing draws you in and somehow you’re 3 hours into a reading stint and you’ve forgotten to stop for lunch. Suffice to say, addictive.

I had so many eye roll moments when watching Juniper essentially set the stage for her own downfall, it was really hard to feel bad for her considering how she tarnished Athena’s memory and white washed her work.

I liked that the book highlighted the need for more POC in the book industry and the lack of support for debut authors.

Having seen booktwt in action, this is an entirely accurate portrayal of how things can go down once an accusation is made (although in this case it was 1000% true).

This review is more my mismatched thoughts whilst reading, but in summary- great book, read it.

I flew through this book in less than two days. I found it impossible to put down. This book will mean different things to different people, and for me, it was the juiciest amalgamation of every awful bit of Book Twitter discourse and navel-gazing essay on the craft and ethics of writing. Yes, some of the pop culture references will be dated very quickly, but the sharp, angry observations about the worst tendencies of creative people desperate for validation will probably (and sadly) never will. Highly recommend this one. My eternal gratitude to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this so far in advance!

This is a very interesting and intriguing read. Which I think anyone who wants to be an author or anyone who just loves reading should read. Because it is a very well written eye opener of a read.

As a newbie author whose eyes are opening to the realities of this industry, this book was brilliant! I think it should be compulsory reading for debut authors! I liked how informative and 'bare-all' it was without apology, and how it explored real issues within the industry but in a compelling and satiric way. At times I think it read like a non-fiction book, which didn't bother me at all as I am absorbing all the information I can, but I did question how non-writers would relate to it.

R. F. Kuang is probably one of my favorite authors. The Poppy War is my top favorite fantasy series and in my opinion, Babel has redefined what is dark academia. When I found out she was releasing another book, this time in the genre of literary fiction, I was naturally excited. I was even more excited that I was able to get an advanced copy of it.

But unfortunately, Yellowface has failed to impress. RFK's personal voice shines through in the writing, and if you're familiar with her background, you can definitely see her (valid!) frustrations and how she's folded it into the book. Borrowing what another reviewer said, parts of the book just felt like a very long rant. Another thing I noticed is that some of the events just seem to be repetitive — especially the book twitter drama. Another thing I didn't like was the multitude of pop culture references, which may just probably be a personal thing for me. The ending and the events leading to it, I felt, could have been a lot stronger than that. It was good and vindicating in some way, but also felt rushed.

There are positives — RFK still has her usual way with prose that it's quick to read and engaging. She's successful in creating a very easy to hate character in June. I disliked her so much that I thought about just giving up on the book entirely, a testament on how strong RFK can be when it comes to characterization.

I liked the book's themes about publishing and its treatment of BIPOC authors. RFK has certainly hit the mark on that and she managed to share the message she wanted to get across, although it sometimes felt clumsily blunt.

I reviewed a very early copy of the book though, so perhaps once it's released a lot of the things I've pointed out have been rectified. Still, while this is my least favorite RFK book so far, I am still eagerly looking forward to whatever she comes up with next.

The premise of this book is fascinating and I was really looking forward to reading it but unfortunately it's execution fell a bit flat for me. While there are some interesting moments exploring the thought processes of June/Juniper and the issue of diversity in the arts/cultural appropriation are undoubtedly important to address, overall I was left a bit bored, with little interest/investment in any of the characters (as villains or otherwise). Not a terrible read, just a bit meh which is a shame when there is so much promise in the concept.
Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and HarperCollins UK for the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Advanced review copy provided by Netgalley for an independent, honest review
A twisted character study that will hold a mirror up to your own moral grey. Excellent at zeroing in on the publishing industry, ego, and the desire for fame in the age of BookTok. No one is likeable... but that's the entire point.

I sat for an entire 24 hours after I read this book and had the initial impression that I hated it. It actually made me angry! Speaking as someone who has a similar background to the character of Athena Liu (Chinese ethnicity, Western education) it almost felt too close to home. Then I sat at my dining table with my sister and we spoke about the book for a whole half hour. It dawned on me then that this novel was actually astonishingly clever... it made me feel, it was pretty unforgettable, and it was entirely effective at making me feel deeply uncomfortable.

Even writing this review puts me in an uneasy mood: the book speaks about Goodreads, ARCs, the ruthless publicity lifecycle of middling authors and rising star ingenues. It was also a self-aware commentary of wokeness and cultural appropriation that I will think about for a long time.

Kuang's just flexing right now. I've not read Babel yet but considering the complete 180 this book was from her Poppy War series, I think she's just getting started when it comes to surprising her readers. This book was a wink, a nudge, a shove... and if we're going to hell with her as readers what a hell it would be.

Can I just say that this confessional-style satirical novel was wildly entertaining?? I enjoyed this so much!! I filed it under ‘Lit with Teeth’ because there is so much bite. The story is told from the perspective of the villain, June Hayward, a struggling white writer who has an intense love-hate relationship with Athena Liu, her much-more-successful Chinese-American friend. One day, Athena dies while they are alone, leaving behind her manuscript. From that moment on, June begins a series of thefts in a bid to rise to Athena’s level.

June has been insanely jealous and resentful of Athena for being more desirable and successful than her. They may be friends on the outside but in her mind, June hates how Athena became the darling of the publishing world through “unfair” means. This means that Athena was diverse (read: not white) enough to “cheat” her way into success by selling Asian struggles, all the while poor little June was dismissed and ignored for being yet another dime-a-dozen white woman writing about her meh childhood.

At first chance, June rebrands herself as Juniper Song, banking on the ambiguity of her middle name to pass off as potentially mixed. She butchers Athena’s manuscript on the plight of Chinese labourers in WW1, making sure to whitewash it to ensure a greater reach. She is met with instant success, gets drunk on it, and spends the next few years trying to get another hit. June becomes obsessed with her public image and obsessively tries to eliminate her haters, afraid that someone will see through her ploys. Her subsequent days are filled with fear, writer’s block, and damage control. She provokes the ire of some Asian-American critics who find her very sus and disapprove of her writing about a culture that is not her heritage.

As a writer, June is completely barren if left to her own devices. Her life is just too bland and uneventful, and even her debut novel on her childhood was a total flop. Like a vampire that must feed to live, June needs Athena to maintain her literary career. She accuses publishers and readers of reverse racism and in the same breath, consciously uses her white privilege to crush her detractors. Our delusional protagonist wheedles and begs for our understanding and forgiveness for having all these nasty thoughts, justifying herself constantly. At some points, she does succeed in victimising herself, particularly when it is revealed that Athena had a tendency to “steal” others’ horrible experiences to turn into fodder for her bestsellers, like a vulture preying on the injured.

I guess one can argue that Athena was simply inspired by true events, but it doesn’t change the fact that she conveniently and cleverly chose stories with enough shock value and novelty to help her make bank. June also questions whether Athena even has the right to speak of the Chinese struggle on behalf of her whole race, given her extremely privileged upbringing. Did Athena play the race card? Did she exploit her marginality to self-orientalise and get undeserved accolades? These are valid points, but to June, outright plagiarism seems to be a totally acceptable way to get even. Athena is far from perfect, yes, but what June does is undeniably yellowface, and utterly remorseless yellowface at that.

I found the metaphor of the 僵尸 (Chinese zombie) particularly apt as June repeatedly reanimates Athena from beyond the grave to continue capitalising and feeding off her. June’s necromantic post-mortem consumption and regurgitation of Athena grows more and more grotesque in form, starting from Athena’s high-profile death, to Athena’s manuscript, then Athena’s short story, and finally even stretching to include her own personal memories of Athena in a tell-all memoir. For as long as it is possible, June will continue to cannibalise on and exploit Athena in any and every way for profit while centring her white self. She becomes a druggie, hooked on the highs of publishing fame. However, like a bad spell that rebounds on its caster, June’s actions eat at her from the inside out until she becomes something of a zombie herself.

Overall, this was truly a riveting read. The depictions of how the industry works were realistic, almost painfully so. No one in the book industry is exempt from Kuang’s sting, even the reader (think passionate goodreads reviewers, cringey booktokers, and inflammatory booktubers). Very, very, funny and definitely a masterpiece in my books :-)

rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

thank you to netgalley and harpercollins uk for providing me with an e-arc for yellowface by R.F. Kuang !

yellowface is R.F. Kuang's literary fiction debut, a satire on the book industry that offers a significant perspective on their portrayal of diversity and racial sensitivity.

this book is so incredibly relevant to the current events within the book community, specifically surrounding the lack of sensitivity towards potentially racist content. while the significant interest surrounding diversity has always been portrayed to be solely positive, yellowface rather delves into how this can rather place limitations upon diverse authors - Rebecca discusses this issue in a lecture you can find on youtube ! this really steers away from the idealisation of blindly focusing on an author's 'diverseness', and creates a valuable opportunity for people to further educate themselves.

after watching a great number of R.F. Kuang's interviews, i also noticed there were many scenes she drew from personal experience, which made the book feel a lot more real and confronting. it's told from june's point of view, who makes many, MANY repulsive decisions that left me thinking, 'are you kidding me right now?' - and though i have seen many reviewers comment on the overexaggeration of her character, i personally believed it to be quite realistic majority of the time, as a POC reviewer myself.

through this one book alone, i gained a significant amount of knowledge surrounding the publishing industry, and i would most definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in the community.

god this book is ridiculously good. a blunt satire of the current culture in publishing that feels like a 300 page subtweet; rfk continues to be a genius

3.4
Sometimes enjoyable, sometimes boring. But I thought the last part was really interesting.

It was very hard, at first, to separate R. F. Kuang's voice from the narrator. I might not know her personally and this might be my first book by her but I am very familiar with her "online persona" from numerous interviews and panels and yes, her tweets. Fortunately, it fades over the course of the book.

This was enjoyable!

I read this book faster than I've read a book in a long, long time, and I've been sitting on it, trying to figure out how to review it. I feel like this is a book that's so meta (and centered on reviews!) that reviewing it almost defeats the point; I almost feel like I'm becoming a character in the book by trying to review it. It makes my head hurt. I'm going to try to not think about that part.

I loved this book, but I'm not sure I liked this book, if that makes sense? The experience of reading it was physically breathtaking, and Kuang is so sharp and brilliant and has such a clear narrative voice. Reading it was an experience of questioning my own biases and complacency, and, as someone who is sort of peripheral to the publishing industry, fascinating to watch from the inside (?). The first third to half of Yellowface is its strongest, and it does at times feel like a short story that got stretched into a novel (a really good short story! but I wondered how long it could sustain its conceit). I think Kuang pulled off the ending, but I do understand criticism I've seen saying it was a bit fast or abrupt. I've joked that Yellowface feels like a (very good!) book-length subtweet; Rebecca Kuang continues to be a mad genius, and I'm terrified of her in the best possible way.

R.F Kuang 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Everyone walks so she could RUNNNN.

God how can i process everything in this book. I don’ know how to breath. This litfic book is sooooo amazing, aside from her first litfic book, i know i can trust Rebecca for breaking my tears down!! RTC I CAN’T REVIEW WHILE MY MIND IS DESTROYED. Can’t wait for it to be released! I need the physical book asap for annotate my feelings at it 😭😭

I read Yellowface right after Babel and like Babel, it is a fast-paced and addictive book to read. I was reading this on my phone while walking home from work because I could not put it down. A completely different genre though, Yellowface is a contemporary literary book that devels into all the racist bullshit that comes in the publishing world and its intersection with social media. While I enjoyed Bable more this was still a very entertaining critique on modern publishing and if you like keeping updated on drama in the book world, then you’ll probably enjoy this as much as I did. It feels like a dramatisation of the American Dirt scandal (a book referenced in the story) but taken to the nth degree. A white writer steals the manuscript of her dead friend, a famous Asia author, edits and publishes it as her own work. A pretty fantastic concept that R. F. Kuang pulls off in her signature breakneck style.

June is a terrible person filled with envy and will literary steal from the dead to get the acclaim she feels she deserves. While she is awful it’s quite entertaining to be inside her head. It’s amazing the number of flimsy excuses she comes up with to justify her plainly unjustifiable actions. One of the most painful parts is watching June and her editor rip apart Athan’s manuscript, adding racist scenes to make the few white characters more sympathetic and binning backstory for the Asian main characters. It’s a complete travesty and hearing their reasoning behind them makes it so much worse.

Just like in so many real instances of book drama in the real world, June faces online backlash that steadily gets worse and worse. It’s hard not to feel some sympathy for her as people go to insane lengths to attack her and she deals with a mountain of online hate. But then she’ll double down on her shitty behaviour and you want to join in on the hate. She continues to take no responsibility even when the alt-right start to defend her. At the end of the day, she like so many of her real-life counterparts is generally fine after all the drama. She has been traumatised by the mass amount of hate she received but she’s never dropped from her publisher or agent and has enough money to live comfortably. It speaks about the ongoing debate of how the book community should react to authors like June. Is traumatising them online even helpful and does it change anything about how such stories are dealt with by publishers? It’s notable that no one at June’s publishers faces any of the backlashes that June does despite having the same mindset if not worst. The people who decide what to publish and what books to promote are not held accountable and in fact, the one person who does try to push back against the racist content in June’s book is the only one to receive any punishment.

Yellowface is a book I can’t stop thinking about and even if you love or hate it, I doubt you will be able to either. It’s a short quick read and anyone active in the online book community should check it out. Thanks to the publishers for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book enraptured me. I was sucked in from the get go and knew it would be a 6 star (yes it deserves this special rating as an all time fav) the moment I read the first page. This is an edge of your seat, fast paced, literary thriller filled with atmospheric tension and anxiety. The story details the inside outs of the publishing industry in a fascinating manner, exposing its dark underbelly and exploring issues of race in a literary context. I felt like I was reading my soul and my deepest concerns surrounding racism as a POC were being broadcast to me.

The writing style was phenomenal and so gripping. There was never a dull moment, with twists and turns at every corner. The story is in 1st person, and it was really exciting to see Kuang experiment with this pov and satirical narrative tone which felt so vastly different to her other works. There were only a few similarities in the writing to her other books- distinct ‘acts’ in the story, being in the pov of a morally grey fmc who craves validation (June is reminiscent of Rin in that way), the inclusion of a model genius archetype character who isn't as perfect as they seem (Athena loosely reminds me of Altan in The Poppy War), and of course, the little Babel Easter egg.

I loved the commentary on the trendiness of 'diverse' lit and the fashionability of POC cultures in today's society. The hypocrisy is that these cultures have to be distilled down to cater to the white majority, or it won't be accepted and appreciated. Kuang directly shows that when writing about racism, its painful bleak realities have to be stripped away and literally sterilised to become palatable media for white audiences. These themes are something I deeply resonate with and were a subtle thread that I connected to in Kuang's debut trilogy, The Poppy War. Reading this felt like an expansion on what I so deeply enjoyed in The Burning God. The way Kuang unflinchingly narrates these brutal truths is utterly captivating. I massively enjoyed the small details put into emphasising the careful balance between exotic but 'whitewashed' that many POCs feel forced to adopt in order to assimilate.
*Athena Liu is, simply put, so fucking cool. Even her name–Athena Ling En Liu– is cool; well done Mr. and Mrs . Liu, to choose a perfect combination of the classical and exotic. Born in Hong Kong, raised between Sydney and New York, educated in British boarding schools that gave her a posh, unplaceable foreign accent*

Kuang does a magnificent job at highlighting many sinister aspects of the publishing industry, including the need for more POCs in publishing companies and the lack of support many young debut authors receive which often sets them up for failure. I loved how she illustrated the dangers of having white people write the struggles of marginalised communities on their behalf. I was disgusted and horrified at the way June treated Athena's work and the casual, self-justified manner in which she went about it- not even realising how she was ravaging the voice of a poc and diminishing her people's suffering in order to sell a story. Her white saviour complex made her feel entitled. Every vivid detail was harrowing to read. It was honestly gut wrenching at times, I wanted to cry.
*I do think we’ve made the book better, more accessible, more streamlined. The original draft made you feel dumb, alienated at times, and frustrated with the self-righteousness of it all. It stank of all the most annoying things about Athena. The new version is a universally relatable story, a story that anyone can see themselves in.*
It made me angry. A minority people's struggles and trauma are NOT meant to be 'universally relatable'. It felt so unjust, I wanted to scream. The small details Kuang used to show how June altered the manuscript to suit white sensibilities, thereby showing her inherent racist perspective were powerful.

It was unsettling to be in the pov of an indirect and casual racist, but immensely intriguing. I loved the morally grey characterisation of June, it was undoubtedly my favourite part of the story. I really enjoyed seeing her greedy and mildly sociopathic thought processes. Every instance where she deviously outsmarted someone was *thrilling*. Kuang is so skilled at writing unlikeable characters in a way that is humanising and endlessly entertaining. They don't feel like evil caricatures- they feel real and are compelling. June is fake, childish and doesn't accept responsibility. Her inferiority complex, narcissism, preoccupation with what people think of her and propensity for wallowing in self pity are her biggest character flaws. She's unhinged, delusional and often depressing to watch, but in the best way possible. She is ruthless and cunning. If anyone can make a racist character seem nuanced and enthralling to read about, it's R.F. Kuang. I also appreciated how Kuang inserted small details about her character to set up and foreshadow her downward spiral.
*But that’s what I need right now; a child’s blind faith that the world is so simple, and that if I didn’t mean to do a bad thing, then none of this is my fault.*

Another one of my favourite parts of the story was the relationship between June and Athena. It was disturbing, obsessive and messed up in the most intriguing way. Theirs is a surface level friendship born out of mutual convenience with June's insidious, jealous rivalry boiling underneath. To the reader, Athena's true character is a mystery due to the unreliability of June as a spiteful narrator. She is so insecure from comparing herself to Athena; the only way she can achieve literary success is to cannibalise Athena's work through impersonation. I found this dynamic absolutely fascinating. I know that perhaps all of us can relate to enviously admiring someone else's success, being unable to fathom their lifestyle and the dedication it took for them to achieve it. We have all felt a sense of inferiority and a desperate desire for acceptance from our peers; we want to be seen as impressive and important. Reading this book felt both like a cautionary tale and an indulgent romp into the biggest fantasy one has- finally being able to understand what makes a successful person so 'special' and living their experience. I love the trope of breaking down a successful and well admired character to their bare bones, examining their hidden flaws and realising that they are not as perfect as they seem (major Altan vibes, it's why I love him as a character so much). Kuang did an amazing job of this in The Poppy War and I was similarly intrigued by Athena like I was obsessed with Altan.

The queer subtext in June and Athena’s relationship added another layer of complexity that was fascinating. You know the saying- you don't love them you want to be them? In June's case it's the opposite. She desperately wants to be Athena, but her obsession is so perverse that it almost seems *to me* that she wants her too (that's just my interpretation though). The power imbalance Athena had, their mutual need for validation from each other and the world- I adored it. I have a penchant for reading about twisted relationships, so I *relished* the moments of the narrative that focused on them together.

June as an unreliable narrator was captivating. I love this trope so much and it was executed really well. As the reader, we are left to speculate about Athena's personality. There are hints here and there of her own insecurities and flaws, but we can't be certain unless our theories are confirmed by an outside perspective to June's. Kuang does an amazing job of creating these subtle hints through June’s vitriol and confirming them by introducing other people's opinions in the narrative (e.g book bloggers, mutual acquaintances). I loved the commentary on Highlander syndrome, and Athena's potential internalised racism. It is a sad reality that women, particularly those of marginalised communities, are pitted against eachother to fight for the same spot. Those who have achieved success like Athena refuse to pave the way for others in their community and become resentful. Kuang wonderfully explores how westernised POC can view their own culture from a white perspective, which is damaging to the community. Wealthy, well educated western diaspora writing about traumatic histories of working classes from homelands they've barely visited is a potential issue. This book raises so many difficult, complex questions on writing diverse characters. *“Who has the right to write suffering?”*
Should white people be criticised for not writing diverse characters? Is it right for white people to write about the traumas of war and colonialism from the perspective of marginalised communities? At what point does including representation change from respectful appreciation to exploitative appropriation? Do the privileged POC who have no more experience with suffering than white people have more of a right to write these stories? There are no easy answers.

The choice to include consistent pop culture references felt purposeful. It helped cement the story in reality, emphasising the unsettling atmosphere in the book- it is as if this story could happen in real life at this very moment. I feel that it also highlights the fleeting nature of success during an age of cancel culture and the damage social media can cause on careers- pop culture references are similarly short lived but memorable.

The exploration of the effects of social media on authors’ careers was brilliant. Kuang portrayed the relentless pack mentality of cancel culture with complexity and detail through exploring Twitter discourse, Tiktoks and YouTube videos. The second act is a rapid rabbit-hole of online bullying and criticism spiralling out of control. It was intense and incredible and I felt so stressed. I honestly empathised with June, despite hating her actions. I felt anxious and *guilty*, as if *I* was the plagiarist.

As a whole, this book is rich with the numerous themes it explores.
*Perhaps that’s the price of professional success– isolation from jealous peers.*
Plagiarism is obviously a significant theme. A running thread throughout the story is how writers borrow from and inspire eachother, which can be a necessary part of the process. Writing is an exercise of collecting treasured moments rather than creating. Nothing is truly original, ideas are built upon and shaped.
On another note, an unexpected theme that I thoroughly enjoyed was of tense mother-daughter relationships, and I wish it were explored more in the narrative.

The last act of the story was bizarrely terrifying to read. It all felt very meta and definitely gave me Scooby Doo vibes.
*The first two thirds of the book were a breeze to compose, but what do I do with the ending? Where do I leave my protagonist, now that there’s a hungry ghost in the mix, and no clear resolution?*
I felt that the ending was perfect in how ridiculous and fitting it was.

I was surprised at some of the negative reviews on Goodreads (yes it felt very ironic and meta when I read them). The reviews often criticised the didactic viewpoint and unsubtle exploration of the themes. I think the general consensus from readers of literary fiction is that they don't want to be spoon fed the messages they should take away. As a fantasy author, R.F. Kuang revolutionises the genre with her insightful examination on themes of racism and imperialism. In Babel, her lack of subtlety in discussing these themes feels raw and visceral. In a piece of literary fiction however, perhaps the same persistent voice doesn't fit the same way. I however, personally really enjoyed it, but I also feel the criticism is valid.

In conclusion, I truly believe this is a masterpiece. Kuang critiques the publishing industry for its inherent nature of comparison, envy and desire for upward social mobility. She comments on how the childlike, wondrous pleasure of writing is often removed due to the ruthless nature of the industry- from the potential lack of support for young writers to the malicious nature of internet trolls picking you apart as a person, not just your craft. She portrays issues of racism in the industry with brutal clarity. It is clear how Kuang's passion for writing shines through. Ironically, this book made me want to work in publishing, or to start writing; I want to experience the same magic of being able to tell a story.

The first half of this contemporary story I devoured with delight - although I wondered at times how all the detail about the publishing world would resonate with readers not from that world. The characterisations of Athena and June were deftly done and the spiralling of the story left me gripped. The second half however tailed off for me somewhat. The messaging was slightly repetitive and the denouement was a little bit underwhelming. That said it's a book I highly recommend. The writing and pacing was spot on and I raced through it. It's a page turning part thriller and part contemporary and very timely commentary on the issues of diversity and social media.

I absolutely gulped this book down, but the ending felt quietly unsatisfying.
Every character (except perhaps for Athena's mum) was just so awful - I feel that this will make there a firm demarcation between readers who enjoy reading Yellowface, and those who don't. Although I didn't sympathise with June, I was nonetheless riveted by her story.
This is a very on-the-nose book, and not always subtle - the last quarter of the narrative, in particular, was less strong for this. The final sections of the book felt more chaotic, and like you were being bludgeoned with the point Kuang wanted to make. The references made throughout the book also feel chosen for impact - they will date quickly, but I feel that that may be the point (matching the flash-in-the-pan nature of success in the publishing industry).
I don't think that this is a book which I'll re-visit - at times it was an actively frustrating reading experience, however it was intensely interesting and engaging all the same. It was utterly gripping, and I will continue to immediately read R F Kuang in any genre!

Yellowface being Kuang’s first entry in the literary genre sparked a lot of excitement and anticipation. I had very high hopes going into Yellowface and while most were met and exceeded, some were not.

Our main character, Juniper Hayward, is meant to be an extremely unlikable character. June is a self-righteous, narcissistic racist which we learn from the beginning when she steals her freshly deceased friend’s work in progress to pass off as her own. Kuang does a good job of making her audience despise June throughout the novel but at times the feeling of dislike turned to annoyance when the level of frustration caused by June became too much.

I enjoyed June’s motives for stealing the manuscript unraveling throughout the novel and while none justify her actions, it was still interesting to learn some of the back story of what would lead someone to think they had a right to steal someone else’s work.

The pacing of the novel was good and I enjoyed the flow of Kuang’s writing. It was somewhat simpler than her fantasy writing but I think it worked quite well for what Yellowface is.

I found the ending to be a little underwhelming with a build up that didn’t really lead to much. Overall, I did quite enjoy Yellowface and would be interested to see where Kuang goes next in the literary genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.