East Asian Fantasy Novels?

[Guttersnipe]

I'm tiring of reading about fantasy worlds clearly based on Medieval Europe. Can anyone suggest a book syled after East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) mythology and/or culture? Like shenmo, for example?

 

[.matthew.]

Other than the novella I'm currently editing?

I've heard good things about Under Heaven. It's by Guy Gavriel Kay.

 

[Elckerlyc]

You might give Ken Liu a try. His The Dandelion Dynasty has an East Asian styled setting.

And as @.matthew. already mentioned books by Guy Gavriel Kay. Under Heaven, River of Stars and Children of Earth and Sky are all set in an alternative Chinese history.

 

[The Judge]

We've had this or a similar "anywhere-but-not-European" question a couple of times before.

Here's one Exotic Fantasy Recommendations and I'd repeat my general recommendation of Lian Hearn's books, though I was slightly disappointed by the last one I read, Grass for his Pillow which felt padded and just marking time for the last in the series.

Here's one which is general less-represented, rather than East Asian, and it goes off topic quite a bit SFF from Less-Represented Cultures

 

[The Big Peat]

Jin Yong - Legend of the Condor Heroes - Translated wuxia, lot of fun as an adventure story
R.E. Feist & Janny Wurts - Empire Trilogy - Politics heavy Epic Fantasy set in a world taking plenty of Korean & Japanese influence
Barry Hughart - Bridge of Birds - Chinese fairytale retold as a murder myster in a China that never was

Haven't got on with Lian Hearn's stuff, but still worth a shot. Aliette de Bodard writes wonderful Viet-Chinese inspired stuff, but not fantasy. Fonda Lee's City of Jade is interesting if you fancy a more urban fantasy/modern-esque take on East Asia - supernatural Triads fighting for supremacy.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Or try something set in 18th century Middle-East. The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty.

 

[tachyon]

Seconding Ken Liu's Dandelion Dynasty series.

I'd add:

The "Poppy War" series, by Rebecca Kuang, starting with The Poppy War
"Their Bright Ascendency" series, by K. Arsenault Rivera, starting with The Tiger's Daughter
The "Tensorate" series by J.Y. Yang, starting with The Black Tides of Heaven

I've read the first book in all of these and the second in 2 of the 4 and have the remaining books in my to-read lists.

 

[soulsinging]

Or try something set in 18th century Middle-East. The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty.

I've got this on my shelf now and m really looking forward to it.

The "Poppy War" series, by Rebecca Kuang, starting with The Poppy War

This was my first thought as well. Book one was deeply disturbing, but compelling. It is very much a war book, NOT magic/YA.

Also, Garth Nix's Sabriel.

 

[The Big Peat]

This was my first thought as well. Book one was deeply disturbing, but compelling. It is very much a war book, NOT magic/YA.

Also, Garth Nix's Sabriel.

Sabriel is East Asian?

Re The Poppy War - it is a huge melange of a book. To get to the war part of the book, you have to get through a number of explorations into magic (best part of the book imo) and standard YA School passages (DNF worthy imo). Some of the tonal shifts really put me off. The best parts are really good, but I struggle to recommend it whole heartedly to people unless there's a particular thing they'd enjoy, as the bad bits are really bad imo.

 

[The Judge]

Sabriel read as very English to me, certainly in the area on the "normal" side of the defences, complete with bunnies, lanes and typical (typical in stories, that is, ie probably wholly unrealistic) boarding school, and even the bits in the Old Kingdom felt familiar -- the ships, for instance seemed Viking-ish to me.

I'd found another thread I was thinking of which has some other East Asian recommendations, though these are more based on different periods of history What other periods of historical fantasy would you read?

And while I'm here, The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson, which is really a collection of longish short stories linked by the same themes and the same characters rather than a novel as such. Personally, I couldn't get past the second story, but I gather a lot of people admire it.

 

[BAYLOR]

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart . Its a fantasy novel set in ancient China . It's a superb book

Kai Lung's Golden Hours by Ernest Bramah

 

[williamjm]

And as @.matthew. already mentioned books by Guy Gavriel Kay. Under Heaven, River of Stars and Children of Earth and Sky are all set in an alternative Chinese history.

They're all good books, but Children of Earth and Sky is set in the Balkans rather than the Chinese setting of the other two.

 

[Elckerlyc]

They're all good books, but Children of Earth and Sky is set in the Balkans rather than the Chinese setting of the other two.

Sorry! I did get that wrong.

 

[soulsinging]

Sabriel is East Asian?

I was under the impression it had more of an East Asian setting than the traditional medieval European one, but since I haven't read it yet I can't be sure and now that you ask I'm not sure where I got that impression. It's on my list for this year so I will confirm or deny once I've actually gotten to it!

 

[The Big Peat]

I was under the impression it had more of an East Asian setting than the traditional medieval European one, but since I haven't read it yet I can't be sure and now that you ask I'm not sure where I got that impression. It's on my list for this year so I will confirm or deny once I've actually gotten to it!

Fair enough! Have to say, on my reading, it felt very based on England/Scotland - but that might just be my assumptions.

 

[soulsinging]

Fair enough! Have to say, on my reading, it felt very based on England/Scotland - but that might just be my assumptions.

You're almost definitely right about this... I think I only ever got an Asia impression from the cover art. When this one came out over 20 years ago, anime wasn't as big as it is now so the art jumped out to me.