This book was both overwhelming in terms of unnecessary descriptions and purple prose but underwhelming in terms of content. The characters lacked good development and felt quite shallow overall, the plot was interesting but not to the point where I couldn't put this down at all. Just a very meh read for me.

I alternated reading the ebook and listening to the audiobook read by Si Chen who did a fantastic job.
While the book has really interesting moments and any book set in Shanghai is destined to be interesting, it took me a long time to finish this book.
The book starts slow but is otherwise pretty well paced. A lot of the characters are morally flawed which makes them very interesting. Overall a good debut.

In the glittering yet dangerous world of 1930s Shanghai, Jingwen, a showgirl at the opulent Paramount Club, juggles dazzling performances with a dangerous side job. Under her grandmother’s pressure to inherit the family’s shady surgical practice for the city's elite gang, Jingwen finds herself thrust into a nightmare when cabaret dancers begin disappearing—only for their faces to reappear on foreign socialites.

As the city’s veneer of luxury crumbles, Jingwen must navigate Shanghai's treacherous underworld of silver-armed gangsters and secretive foreign playboys. To protect herself and her fellow dancers—her rivals and friends—she plunges into a dark realm where alliances are fleeting, and the power of gods is traded like currency.

Daughter of Calamity is a gripping journey through a city where reality blurs with illusion, driven by a protagonist who grapples with her naivety and a mysterious, shifting world. With unexpected betrayals, fleeting romances, and rapid twists, this novel keeps you guessing until the very end. The final chapters leave you wondering how long Shanghai’s fragile peace will last and what dark secrets still lie ahead.

3.5/5.

An interesting premise in the form of a historical fantasy that draws on Chinese mythology and set in 1920s Shanghai. Whilst Lin has an art for creating a beautifully atmospheric setting with rich descriptive the plot feels overcomplicated and that comes at the loss of making the characters feel very 2-Dimensional, and not fleshed out to their fullest, but perhaps that is just my preference in wanting a rich background to a character...

Not for me but if you like overly complex plots within the magical realism genre then it's definitely for you.

Thanks to Netgalley & Pan Macmillan for the ARC.

Shanghai in the 1930s - a great background for a mythological story!

Jingwen is both a cabaret girl and a goddess, naive and wise, caught between the world of night clubs and the world of gangsters. We discover Shanghai through her eyes - although she lived there her whole life, but she's just starting to understand the city and its secrets.

There's a lot of characters and historical details for a slow-burning story, like a window onto another world.

This cover gives me big Great Gatsby vibes. The captivating story, the fantastic array of characters and more intrigued than you could shake a stick at!

Daughter of Calamity is a beautifully written tale that follows the story of Jingwen, a showgirl at the Paramount in Shanghai. She spends her nights dancing and charming patrons, but when showgirls start getting attacked and their faces are stolen, Jingwen becomes entangled in the dark web of the Shanghai underworld. This is a book that captured my attention right from the very first chapter. Lin's dreamlike prose is gorgeous and I got completely wrapped up in the story. The plot is engaging and I loved the way the author mixed history, fantasy and Chinese folklore into the story.

The characters in this book are compelling and I really enjoyed following Jingwen's tale. She's a strong character who isn't afraid to stand up for what's right. It was fascinating watching her grow as a character as she attempts to save the other showgirls. One of the things I enjoyed most about Daughter of Calamity was the setting. Jazz age Shaghai really comes to life in this story. Lin does an absolutley brilliant job depicting both the glitz and glamour and the dark and seedy underbelly of Shanghai. I loved the descriptions of the sparkling dance halls compared to the dark streets of Shanghai.

Daughter of Calamity is a captivating debut, one that I found myself thinking about the book even when I wasn't reading it. It's a story that has a really captivating plot, a touch of romance and plenty of intrigue. If you love slow burn historical fantasy that's full of atmosphere this is a book you will not want to miss!

Jingwen is a cabaret dancer, but her Granma would love her to become a doctor... sort of.

Shanghai in the '30 - Jazz is revolutionizing not only the music scene, but the lifestyle and the beliefs of the population.
The city is under the influences of the outside world - new traditions and customs are being absorbed by the city like a sponge but the glamour and the glitter has as always a dark side.
From dancers to gangsters, from silver limbs to ancient gods - while I could not share a lot of the views and choices our main character Jingwen made (honestly, I found her Granma to be so much more relatable, maybe I am just getting old...) I found the atmosphere of this book matching and exceeding my expectations.
Don't forget to pair this book with the right soundtrack and stick of incense for best results.

Daughter of Calamity has such an interesting premise and when I started it for the first time, I was HOOKED. I loved the setting (it reminds me of the Shanghai of Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights which I actually really liked and so it feels like I was transported back into that world), and I loved how the author decides to introduce the world, magic system and the characters to us. I really liked Jingwen and it was really nice getting to know her in the first half of the story, from her relationship with her grandmother, her mom, her friends at the cabaret club to the new people she was introduced to in the book.

However, the second half of this book was not doing it for me and hence the excitement I had in the first half of this book completely disappeared. I feel like a lot of the plot points that was introduced to us in the first half wasn't really explored in the second, the resolution of the problems that was also introduced to us felt too convenient, which in my opinion diminished the build up that it was building in the first half. I also didn't like the romance - I have a feeling it was going to happen eventually but I had absolutely no attachment towards the romance whatsoever. Hopefully if this book has a sequel, it'll have that kick the first half has as well.

Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for approving me of an ARC.

Daughter of Calamity was sadly a hard pass for me. The two things that really held the book back for me were character interactions and the setting. I felt that all the characters were engaging in conversation together in a really artificial way - it's like the purpose of their conversation is to pass information to the reader, rather than to have any meaning in their own lives. This factor alone was enough to pull me out of the story completely, and I struggled to suspend belief throughout.
I'm sad to say that the Jazz-Age Shanghai setting fell completely flat for me, which was one of the key features that drew me to the book. I think the setting was completely mismanaged, and ended up having very little that actually identified it as being in Shanghai! Yes, plenty of the characters have Chinese names, wear Chinese garments and eat Chinese food, but the extent to which the book showed off how multicultural Shanghai is ended up leaving the setting feeling generic and uninspiring.

Unfortunately, this was dnf at around 20%.

Whilst the setting held a lot of promise (the Shangai Jazz scene was described beautifully) and some of the themes were poignant (the insidious effect of Western culture on the city) I really struggled with Jingwen as a main character - it seems as though she glossed over key information to instead focus on irrelevant things that left me as the reader frustrated as I wanted more on the fantastical events occurring around her.


Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

I really wish I could give this a higher rating because the concept is amazing and I wanted to love this so much more than I did.
Sadly, the execution didn't quite live up to the concept.

The idea of this book is phenomenal – I really love that 1920/1930s Shanghai has become a rather popular setting because I truly cannot get enough of it, and combining it with cabaret and the whole scene is just such a cool twist. Also the whole plot of faces getting stolen etc., it takes so much creativity to come up with something like this!

The writing was very beautiful, I felt transported back in time and truly immersed in the setting.
Sadly, the same cannot be said for the characters.
Despite being beautiful, the writing also felt quite detached from the main characters, and there was a general lack of emotional responses, or bigger events actually staying with the FMC. Like when her fellow showgirl gets her lips brutally stolen in the middle of the evening, there is almost no real response from the main character, which is just so odd given the gravity of the situation.
For this reason, I also couldn't quite get into the romance.

The plot also had some pacing issues, with some parts happening way too quickly and other parts just dragging on for no reason.

This all just led me to constantly wish for more. I knew the plot and what was happening on page was good, it just didn't feel like it because of these issues.

I think the author has a lot of potential and I am certainly interested in reading her future works, but this one feels like she hasn't quite found her groove yet.

This is one of those books that I was just confused by. I don't mind a genre-mash up- it can keep things fresh but this one just felt a bit disjointed. If it had been a straight forward crime noir or fantasy it may have just worked better for me.

The author certainly conjured up 1920's Shanghai for me, the descriptions were so in-depth and sensory laden. However I struggled with Jingwen. She went from flapper girl to gangsters moll to demi-goddess. I'm all for a girl seizing her destiny but I felt that she got over every new reveal so quickly. Magic, gods, body part farmers - she seems to get over all these things so fast! I did sometimes wonder if some scenes were just the drugs/alcohol fuelled dreams of the MC's. Sometimes one sort of drifted into another and I was a bit lost.

Jingwen comes over as naïve and a "good girl" dancer and wants nothing to do with her grandmothers trade but by the end of the book she's like a Dancers Triad King Pin! The romance element of the storyline could have been removed completely and the storyline still would have worked - for a gangster he took up little room!

I was definitely left dazed and confused. I may have to give this another read in a few months and see if it sits better with me then - I may not just be in the right mindset for this but it was a solid 3.5 stars - I just wished I could have felt more invested in our MC!

This book had good premises, and I was very curious to read it. Alas, it wasn't executed very well. Despite the good descriptions, the plot wasn't very captivating and the pacing was off. Plus, the characters were flat and I didn't connect with any of them.

Thank you to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and Tor for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

With the knowledge that Shanghai is one of the cities in the world that never sleeps, Daughter of Calamity is a fast paced urban fantasy, packed with mystery and magic realism.

Its a very interesting novel but can be a little confusing at times. With the pace, and at times, complex plot lines, it may not be for everyone. But I definitely suggest giving it a read and find yourself immersed in the world of dancers, business men and vengeful gods in Bustling Shanghai.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟✨/5
This book hit just the right spots in terms of aesthetics, but overall left me waiting for more. Daughter of Calamity is a historical fantasy set in Jazz Age Shanghai with wonderful prose but a weak plot.

To begin with, the setting is one of the most immersive ones I've ever read. The prose was fantastic, especially for a debut. Lin makes the city come alive with rich and decadent detailing that is on a whole another level. The aesthetics deserve five stars. Unfortunately, for a story set in boisterous Shanghai, the plot was awfully uneventful. It felt the the author was trying to do too much but came short of the potential every time. I'm a fan of all things mythology (especially Asian), so the gods aspect was terribly disappointing. The portrayal of Guanyin/ Niang Niang was interesting but not well explained. I didn't really like Jingwen as the MC. She came off as annoying because of the questionable decisions she made, especially teaming up with Zikai not long after they met for the first time. Speaking of Zikai, I wish he hadn't been a part of this book. The whole romance storyline could've been scrapped and it wouldn't have affected the book much. It was not believable and nothing annoys me more than a forced romance plotline in a fantasy novel. Liqing and Beibei were characters teeming with potential but ended up being underutilised.

The climax could've been better with a few improvements in worldbuilding and character backstories. The ending was... interesting and had potential for a sequel. I came for the mythology, stayed for the vibes but was ultimately disappointed with the uneventful plot. However, the author has a lot of potential and I'll be checking out whatever she writes next because as far as the prose is concerned, I'm a fan.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from Rosalie Lin. It is packed with excitement, culture, relationships, intrigue, a true page turner.
Can be a little gruesome for some readers but I highly recommend it.

An urban fantasy full of Chinese mythology set in 1920s Shanghai. Beautifully descriptive writing and atmospheric setting, but an overly complicated plot, flat characters and inconsistent pacing. A great concept but not well executed - not one for me.

I struggled with this one a lot. The plot was not compelling and neither were the characters. Some of the writing was lovely and the descriptions were great to read but overall, the story fell flat. I really struggled to connect to any of the characters, the relationships or motivations were non-existent and I really didn’t know what was going on.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s for this ARC. I really wanted to get caught up in a fantasy/mystery tale set in 1930s Shanghai cabaret clubs but something about it - both in writing and plot - left me wanting. I struggled to pick it up regularly despite a really gripping idea, atmospheric setting and ALOT going on (Jingwen’s fellow cabaret dancers’ faces are increasingly stolen and sewn onto wealthy women, there are gods and a grandmother working with gangsters and more.) I usually love magical realism and historical fiction but neither genre was given the room needed to develop, so the narrative felt choppy. I’m keen to see what this author does next, just not sure this one hit home for me.