For the record, I’m saying this as an Asian person, and I know the author is not of Asian descent and I’m aware that he did some research because he was fascinated by Japanese lore or whatever. I don’t know much about the lore itself, since that’s pretty much fiction anyway—but the thing that bothered me most: “Speaking Chinese…” I’m not Chinese, so I don’t know if I’m even allowed to feel offended by this (annoyed at least), but I get a sense that Chinese isn’t just one language anymore. You have to narrow it down by dialect. Again, I’m not Chinese, so I don’t know if this argument is the same as the difference between “British” and “English” where the language itself is “English” and people use it interchangeably with “British”. It just bothers me that a white man who has a fascination with Asian culture would disrespect it so much. Yeah, it’s cool you’re interested in it; just have some kind of, I don’t know, Asian consultant on these things. It’s not your fault you had a different upbringing, but if you’re going to create a story based on Asian roots, then read some literature by Asian writers. Have some decency for the culture before you publish a book, man. While this is basically fan fiction, you’re making actual money off of this. People will pay to read this, and it makes me wish the same writers who wrote that awful series finale had written this instead. (I wasn’t going to post this negative review, but I read similar reviews about this book, just to validate my opinion. Had to add my name into the mix.)

Could have cut the story by a third to make it move faster