Daughter of Calamity

by Rosalie M. Lin

Overview

Genres collide in this dark and atmospheric reimagining of 1930s Shanghai for fans of Nghi Vo and S. A. Chakraborty.

Jingwen spends her nights as a showgirl at the Paramount, one of the most lavish clubs in Shanghai, competing ruthlessly to charm wealthy patrons. To cap off her shifts, she runs money for her grandmother, the exclusive surgeon to the most powerful gang in the city. A position her grandmother is pressuring her to inherit…

When a series of dancers are targeted—the attacker stealing their faces—Jingwen fears she could be next. And as the faces of the dancers start appearing on wealthy foreign socialites, she realizes Shanghai's glittering mirage of carefree luxury comes at a terrible price.

Fighting not just for her own safety but that of the other dancers—women who have simultaneously been her bitterest rivals and only friends—Jingwen has no choice but to delve into the city's underworld. In this treacherous realm of tangled alliances and ancient grudges, silver-armed gangsters haunt every alley, foreign playboys broker deals in exclusive back rooms, and the power of gods is wielded and traded like yuan. Jingwen will have to become something far stranger and more dangerous than her grandmother ever imagined if she hopes to survive the forces waiting to sell Shanghai's bones.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250287380
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/18/2024
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Rosalie M. Lin is a Chinese-American writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has, at various points in the past decade, graduated with a degree in Comparative Literature, pole-danced in two Beijing nightclubs, and dropped out of a biomedical PhD program before seriously pursuing her original dream of becoming an author. Daughter of Calamity is her debut novel.

Editorial Reviews

"This debut is a genre blend of mystery and fantasy with some amazing world-building...Fans of fantasy will want to know Lin's name." - Booklist, Starred Review

"Lin successfully creates a world that is as much a character in the novel as the people who live in it…historical fantasy enthusiasts will be delighted by the worldbuilding." - Library Journal

"The author’s love for Shanghai is clear from the early pages, and her descriptions of the Jazz Age and its effects on the city unfold in gorgeous, vivid detail." - Kirkus

"Unfolding against a backdrop of shadowy club interiors, steam-filled alleys and overlooked temples, Daughter of Calamity is a novel that demands you turn the pages. I was utterly swept up in this tale of glittering cabaret girls and deadly gangsters, and Lin's incarnation of Shanghai—seductive, sprawling, full of malice—is a character in itself." - Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Three Dark Crowns

"Lin’s Shanghai invites you in with an open hand or an offer to dance; here, every page is full of glamour, possibility, treachery. DAUGHTER OF CALAMITY will pull you in like a fever dream." - Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief

"Rosalie Lin crafts a world dripping with atmosphere and intrigue where gods and shamans wreak havoc in mist filled alleys while dance girls spin on clouds of gold and desire. Lin’s Shanghai bursts from the page, decadent, dangerous, and addictive. A thrilling debut.” - A. Y. Chao, Sunday Times bestselling author of Shanghai Immortal

“DAUGHTER OF CALAMITY transported me to dazzling, blood-soaked Shanghai. I was swept away by the spectacle of vicious feuds between gangsters and gods, caught up in the heart-pounding twists and betrayals that kept me turning the pages. A dark and fantastical read.” - Judy I. Lin, New York Times bestselling author of A Magic Steeped in Poison

"Darkly atmospheric and richly layered, Daughter of Calamity fuses the luxury of 1930s Shanghai, its criminal underbelly, and the powers of the gods themselves. This is a story that seeps into your imagination and persists to the very last page." – Andrea G. Stewart, author of the Drowning Empire trilogy

From the Publisher

2024-04-19
A talented young cabaret dancer finds herself entangled with gangsters, socialites, and practitioners of ancient magic.

Set in Shanghai during the early 1900s—a time and place full of old magic—this novel tells the story of Jingwen, a skilled showgirl at the Paramount looking to get a leg up on her fellow dancers. When several of the women are attacked in public and their stolen faces begin to appear on the foreigners who watch them perform, Jingwen finds herself torn between the life of wealth and revelry that she yearns for and the city she calls home. Soon enough, a convoluted web of back-alley politics and ancient gods reveals itself to Jingwen, and the spectacular mirage that is Shanghai’s nightlife comes crumbling down. Jingwen is abrasive, despite the loyalty and love she shows to those she holds dear, and often downright frustrating in her flatness. She’s present during several shocking acts of violence—early on, one of her fellow performers has her lips cut off while she’s with a patron—and has very little reaction; although shaken, she quickly moves on and the story progresses. Though her lack of affect might be an act of self-preservation or a result of her upbringing running money for her grandmother, it deprives the story of gravity or emotional depth. Similarly, the magic that Jingwen is exposed to lacks an explanation that would make it feel like a tangible part of the world—it is, in the end, thin as the smoke it often appears as. The author’s love for Shanghai is clear from the early pages, and her descriptions of the Jazz Age and its effects on the city unfold in gorgeous, vivid detail. The early 20th century was a formative time for both music and dance, and they play important roles in Jingwen’s life. With that in mind, this novel would perhaps be more appealing to readers looking for a lovingly detailed work of historical fiction than a fantasy novel.

A fascinating time period and intriguing cast of characters, but the story lacks depth and development.

Kirkus Reviews