Burning Roses by S.L. Huang

Burning Roses by S.L. Huang

 

The rundown: Rosa is done with wolves and woods. Hou Yi is tired, and knows she's past her prime. When deadly sunbirds begin to ravage the countryside, the two must join forces. Burdened and blessed with the hindsight of middle age, they begin a quest that's a reckoning of sacrifices made and mistakes mourned, of choices and family and a quest for redemption.


The review: This was my first book by Huang (read months before The Water Outlaws), and I’m still impressed by how much depth they packed into it. 


I think what I enjoyed most about this fairytale novella is all the ways it was unexpected and unusual. I enjoy reading fairytale retellings, but I’ve never read one that mashes up tales quite like this. Rosa is a Latina Red Riding Hood from somewhere in the West; Hou Yi the Archer, from the myth of the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e, is reimagined as a trans woman. Rosa’s past is peppered with other bedtime tales (e.g., a toxic relationship with Goldilocks of Three Bears fame). Both are mothers, though only one biologically. (Oh, how wonderful it was to read a story about mothers reflecting on how they have hurt their children.) They are middle-aged, lesbian, disillusioned, tired. They have been both hero and villain, at one point or another.


Perhaps most importantly, they are haunted by their pasts, by the ghosts of their choices. And this is the heart of the story: the ability to reflect on one’s past with clarity and the desire to earn forgiveness for wrongs committed. Therein lies another deviation from the usual fairytale script. In Huang’s version, the fairytale is not the end of the story but a bridge between an immutable past and a present in which redemption is possible.


Goes well with: Neon Yang’s Tensorate Series may appeal to fans of this novella or Zen Cho’s The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, and vice versa. Also, Huang’s latest is a furious, action-packed retelling of the Chinese classic Water Margin.