Awesome Asian Reads

What’s This About?

Most books I’ve read have been set in either North America, Europe, or worlds based off of those continents. But what about books set in Asia? Asian culture is fascinating! From their naming systems to their mythologies, Asia is quite diverse, as is every other continent and culture. I’m here today with a bundle of books set in either Asia or a world based off of Asian culture. Let’s get into it!

Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh

For those of you wondering why soul is spelled Seoul it’s because Seoul is the capital city in South Korea. 

This book is epic and one of the only dystopias I’ve come across that isn’t set in fallen America or Europe. 

In this book we follow former gang member Lee Jaewon, who is recruited from the military academy that he attends, to be the partner for Tera, a test subject, trained to pilot one of the lethal God Machines. This book is full of Korean culture and is a good read for anyone with an interest in it. It is also great for those who love YA dystopias. There is some language mostly the d word and s word and possibly the Korean version of the f word is placed here and there (not much). As for romance it is pretty basic, the mc’s kiss at the end, that kind of stuff. There is mention of doing the do when two of the side characters are revealed to have slept together but we don’t read about it (thank the stars). All together this book is pretty cool! (Also read the sequel Rouge Heart! It stars two cool side characters from Rebel Seoul!)

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

This book really is a modern fairy tale! It’s hilarious! The main character Izumi is so great and I love her character voice. Tokyo Ever After follows Izumi when she finds out her father is the crown Prince of Japan and that she is indeed a princess. The news gets out and she goes to visit Japan to meet her father and find her place in the world. But being a princess isn’t easy and there are rules and schedules to follow, cousins bent on sabotaging her, and a grumpy bodyguard to deal with as well as learning Japanese and customs. (This story is a great enemies to lovers tale.) In this book we see how Izumi navigates this new world, trying to find her place, and we watch her go through ups and downs, tied off with a great ending. 

There is language in this book. For romance, there is kissing but nothing inappropriate. Honestly it had been a while since I had read romance like this, so for me it was refreshing. I’d say 14+ because there are some suggestive comments here and there. I would read this book if only for the characters, which are very good I might add. This really is a great modern fairy tale! (Let me just add that Izumi’s best friends are hilarious!)

Cinder by Marisa Meyers

While most fairy tale retellings are set in a fantasy/ European Medieval world, Cinder (along with the rest of the Lunar Chronicles) breaks the mold by being set in a sci fi-futuristic Earth (most of the time, hint, hint, wink, wink). Our main character: Lin Cinder is a cyborg and the best mechanic in New Beijing. She lives under the thumb of her adopted step mother and longs for freedom. When Prince Kai comes to ask Cinder to fix a droid and jokes about national security Cinder doesn’t buy that it was in jest. To make her life crazier, she is blamed for getting her stepsister sick with a deadly illness and is promptly sent to be a test subject where she discovers she has a rare gift. While the main character herself isn’t Asian, the setting of the book is set in fallen East Asia known as the Eastern CommonWealth. I got to learn some pretty neat stuff about Asian culture in this book. There isn’t much language except a bit of mild cussing during a moment of great emotion. The romance in this book isn’t bad, just one kiss. The romance is pretty mild in this series. I cannot recommend this book enough! This is a favorite between me and Louise. (Also you should read the whole series!)

XOXO by Axie Oh

If you’re a K-pop fan like me this is a must read! When I heard about this book from a book tuber I had to preorder it! I mean come on, IT’S K-POP! *takes deep breath*

 This story stars Jenny Go, a high school cellist prodigy. One evening she runs into a guy named Jaewoo and they end up having a night of adventures together in K Town before he goes back to South Korea the next day. A few months later Jenny goes with her mother to Seoul to help their sick grandmother; she starts to attend an art school where she makes friends and discovers that Jeawoo is part of a popular K-Pop group, (oh man) and he is also attending her school(Oh man!). The two get closer yet something stands between them: idols can’t really date. Dun dun dun! 

In this book you get to see a bit of how the K-pop industry works and feel modern day Korean culture. I literally felt like I had been transported to Seoul! Also, as a person who has become a big fan of K-pop (I’m Army first and foremost, and on a second tier Stay, Blink, MOA, and BLADE) I really, really enjoyed this book (ok, I’ll stop fangirling now… sorry not sorry). This book has some language but it isn’t in your face; and as for romance there are a few sweet kisses sprinkled here and there. I would skip pages 285 through 287 or chapter 34 in general because the two mc’s…….get a little too touchy with each other, it isn’t described too much but I would still skip it. I normally stop reading books when something like that happens, but since I was almost done with the book and it was only brief and easy to skip I still read on. Other than that this is an awesome book and I am now a part of the Hug and Kiss Club! (you have to read the book to understand that last part.)

Reflection by Elizabeth Lim

If you’re a Disney fan and you’ve ever wondered what the Chinese underworld looks like, you just have to read Reflection! Reflection is part of a series of one-offs that are what if’s for Disney movies. I seriously recommend these books! Reflection is based on the animated film Mulan, and asks the question: What if Shang was wounded in battle instead of Mulan, and later died? In this book Mulan must travel to the underworld, along with Shang’s family guardian, to bring Lee Shang back before the sun rises. 

I sometimes think this book is better than the movie. We get a glimpse of Chinese culture and get to hear about what they believed the afterlife was. From what I remember this book is pretty clean. The only thing I didn’t particularly like was that Mushu could have been in more of it…  but that’s just me, LOL. (I need to read Six Crimson Cranes, it sounds awesome.)

Conclusion

These are only seven books in an Asian setting. There are many more that I want to read, so don’t be surprised to see a part two to this blog post in future! I think it’s good for us to not limit ourselves to books with one kind of setting. I encourage you to expand in your reading, you will most certainly learn something new and cool!

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