A generous 3 out of 5 for this one.

The concept is absolutely stellar and the comparison to Black Mirror is well earned. However, this was already a shorter read and some of the chapters just felt like filler. I think it could be condensed into an absolutely awesome short story with several of the middle chapters combined. The unnamed protagonist never captured my interest (they were very one dimensional with no motivation) and overall the story just fell flat.

What an amazing little ARC this was! I was very pleasantly surprised, especially given that it was a debut novel.

It's a bit hard to describe but there are two POVs. One while awake - mundane office life and the other a fantastic magical school where our protagonist must learn to summon elemental spirits.

There are obvious fantasy elements but it feels almost realistic or at the very least extremely accessible.

I really enjoyed the evolution of the story and where it goes in the end even if there are a few sections with perhaps a bit too much... wandering prose.

Does the author seem exceptionally intelligent? Yes.

Did she use an above average number of complicated words that made me feel dumb? Also yes.

Did I love the book and want to live in the world she created forever? Perhaps.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pan Huiting, and Fairlight books for an ARC!

Since Red Dust, White Snow was my first ARC ever from NetGalley, I was hoping to like it a lot more than I did. I absolutely loved the premise and the thought behind the world Huiting created. Unfortunately there were several problems with the book that I just couldn't get past. The author chose to not name the main character, and to refer to her simply as "she" throughout the book. In addition, the author chose to mostly (but not entirely) forgo the use of quotation marks. These two things combined made for a confusing reading experience, particularly when the main character was talking to any female character. I do appreciate what the author was trying to do- on her website she writes:

"My work is about the creation of an alternative viewing experience – one that is reconstructed viscerally, rather than understood in a detached, purely visual way. Traditional boundaries separating viewer and object are stripped away, allowing for a more intimate viewing experience that is felt directly in the viewer’s body."

Unfortunately Huiting's choices confused me, rather than immersing me in her world. I think I would have appreciated the choice to not name the main character had the book been in first person. Grammatically that would have been a lot clearer. This would have also allowed us to see the world more through the eyes of the main character, which would have helped the worldbuilding feel more like showing and less like telling.

Overall, though I appreciate the premise, I did not enjoy this book. I'm sure that there will be many people that like it, but it wasn't for me.

Red Dust, White Snow was a fun, quick read that I finished in a single sitting. The premise was interesting with its blend of isekai fantasy and commentary on the increasing digitalisation of our lives, and I found myself swept up in the story right from the start. I enjoyed the narrative style and the inclusion of folklore and myth references that were already familiar to me from Korean and Chinese fantasy dramas. The only negative for me was that the ending felt mildly unsatisfying, but that aside this was an enjoyable 1 hour-read that was both entertaining and thought provoking, and I am giving it 4.5 stars.

I was really drawn to the description of this book, it had that Black Mirror style / Everything Everywhere all at Once feeling.

An office worker (we don't actually get to know her name) receives an unknown gift, signs an unknown contract and suddenly she has a dream that continues, night after night, like a story, or, as she felt, an alternate reality.
She lives in a time where a technology company seems to control more than just social media, it looks like they're controlling the banks, food, utilities and it seems they are just getting bigger and stronger.

I really enjoyed the book, the switching between reality and the dream world. I loved the way the reality felt claustrophobic, controlled and dirty and the dream world so spacious, clean and fresh.
I enjoyed the idea that the main protagonist was learning more from the alternate world and using that confidence in the real world. That felt like a good way to build her character.

This was quite a short book and I felt like there was room to develop more of the characters and I felt the story could have had a better ending, for me. I just didn't feel satisfied, especially as 75% of the book I really thought was going to go somewhere different.

The main protagonist was not a likeable person though - I didn't want her to necessarily win. I felt like she had many character flaws and I didn't really cheer her on. I think I have come to the conclusion I want my main character to win/succeed and I wasn't really bothered if she did or didn't.

All in all, for a debut novel, I thought this was good and I think that I would definitely read more by this author. I really enjoyed the world descriptions and I would definitely now consider reading more books that have that alternative reality / fantasy world in them.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

"Do you consent to enter into a parallel universe?"

A mysterious package is delivered to an ordinary woman, allowing her to enter a parallel universe in her dreams. Night after night, she slips from her mundane life as an office receptionist, to a fantastical world of magic and adventure, until she cannot tell which is reality and which the dream.

I loved the whole idea behind this book. It's set in a near-future Singapore, where social media has all but replaced genuine connection, and our nameless main character is isolated and lonely despite being surrounded by people all the time. It's an absolutely wonderful, astute and poignant critique of the way modern society increasingly disconnects us from both our fellow humans, and the natural world around us.

One thing I wasn't a fan of with this book was some of the style choices, such as eschewing the use of quotation marks, and refusing to name the main character. I can appreciate the effect the author was going for - dreamlike and disconnected - but in this case I felt it made the story unnecessarily difficult to follow, especially in the dream sections. For me, personally, it did undermine my enjoyment of the book.

However, despite this, I loved this imaginative and unique story. It caught my imagination and I know I will reflect upon it for a long time to come.

This book tackles a LOT and so kind of falls short. The dream world and the real world were very distinct and the writing made it seem like two entirely different books happening at once, with little of each bleeding into the other until the end. The prose in general was disappointing, poorly structured and spending too much time on random descriptions of things that never mattered or hinting at things it never came back to. There were also a lot of ridiculously complex words that seemed to be included more for vanity purposes than to properly serve the prose, including “suet, “vinaceous,” “furfuraceous” (all in the same paragraph about brushing teeth) and “postprandial somnolence” about indigestion. The sci-fi is interesting and there are definitely insights to be delivered, but the author kind of flits between ideas in a way that makes nothing really stick out as the main theme of the book besides “corporation bad.” As a result of the extremely complex dual storyline and the various “messages,” none of the characters and relationships felt adequately developed. The ending really pulled the story together and was the most cohesive part, but the relationship that was meant to anchor the emotion of the ending had been very poorly developed, so I didn’t really care that much.

3.5 stars

Conceptually, I think Red Dust, White Snow is somewhat unique. I quite liked the premise; it felt like a mixture of Isekai anime and Black Mirror. For the most part, I did enjoy reading it. Unfortunately the style of writing wasn't for me. This is not the type of book that I would usually read, so I went in there a little bit wary. I got a little bit bored in the middle and by the time I got to the end, it was confirmed that this was not a book for me.

I think other people might enjoy it more than I did. I would say that Red Dust, White Snow is definitely worth giving a try.

Thank you NetGalley, Pan Huiting, and Fairlight Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Red Dust, White Snow in exchange for an honest review.

I was interested in the synopses where it was described as having "Black Mirror-esque themes." It did seem to go towards that direction, yet the general feeling and the ending were kind of unfulfilling in my opinion.

Three stars for the overall effort and maybe it will be somebody else's cup of tea.