By Samantha Pak
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
If You Could See the Sun
By Ann Laing
Inkyard Press, 2022
Ever since she enrolled at her elite international boarding school in Beijing, Alice Sun has felt invisible as the only scholarship student among China’s most rich and influential teens. So it’s not that surprising to her when she begins to actually turn invisible.
When Alice’s parents tell her they can no longer afford her tuition—even with the scholarship—she hatches a plan to monetize her new (uncontrollable) ability: She can use her invisibility to discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, but for a price.
But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes (at a truly alarming rate), Alice has to decide if the price of tuition is worth her conscience—or her life.
This is a story of a teenager who feels she is out of options. With seemingly no one to turn to, Alice ropes her academic rival, Henry Li, into her situation. As the reader, it is obvious that Henry has feelings for her, so it is funny to see how clueless Alice is when it comes to her questioning some of Henry’s actions and his willingness to help her, especially as the legality of her tasks become more questionable. When it comes to romance—though this story is very light on it—it is typically the male character in a straight relationship who isn’t always aware when a girl has a crush on them. So it was fun to see that dynamic flipped.
As an adult, I will admit it did drive me a little crazy that Alice skipped many steps in trying to solve her tuition problem—such as talking to the school’s administrators, for one—but I understand how her actions can seem reasonable for a young person. While it may have been a bit extreme for her to resort to a life of crime to pay for school, I can understand how a teenager, especially one who doesn’t want anyone to know she’s a scholarship kid, would want to try anything before letting others know of her financial situation.
The Stardust Grail
By Yume Kitasei
Flatiron Books, 2024
For 10 years, Maya Hoshimoto was the best art thief in the galaxy, returning her stolen artifacts to alien civilizations. But after a disastrous job forces her into hiding, all she wants now is a quiet life as a graduate student of anthropology at Princeton, on Earth—but she’s haunted by persistent and disturbing visions of the future.
Then an old friend comes to her with a job she can’t refuse: Finding a powerful object that could save an entire alien species from extinction. The only problem is that no one has seen it in living memory, and they aren’t the only ones looking for it.
What follows is an adventure through the known universe. But the further they travel, the more Maya realizes it’s not going to be that easy (not that she thought it would be easy in the first place). Her visions continue to cast a dark shadow over things, she will be betrayed along the way, and in saving one species, Maya has to reconcile with the fact that she may be condemning humanity, and Earth, in the process.
While this story was a little slow at the beginning, with Kitasei building the universe—literally—before we see much action, I really enjoyed seeing the different alien species and how everyone viewed each other. One people’s friendship was another people’s danger, which can be said about the many different groups of humans. It reminds readers how we need to be mindful when meeting new people and how important it is to consider different points of view.
And once we did get to the action of the heist, it was fun to see how Maya and her team work together to steal what they need. Some of them may not have started out as friends, so it was nice to see how their relationships developed as the story went on.
Plant Lady
By Minyoung Kang, translated by Shanna Tan
Berkley, 2026
Tucked away in the corner of a neighborhood in Dosan, South Korea, there is the Plant Shop. The owner, Yoohee, opened it when she wanted a fresh start. Under her tender care, the plants thrive and provide both her and her customers a refuge and place of peace from their worries and problems.
By day, Yoohee offers gardening advice to her customers, but off the clock, she offers another special service. Women, at their wits’ end regarding men in their lives, come to her in the hopes that these troublesome men might disappear from their lives. As someone who has dealt with these types of men—disrespectful (to her, and, more importantly, to her plants) and misogynistic—Yoohee is more than willing to put in the extra hours. No matter how taxing they may be, she will trade her apron for a shovel and a hoe and disappear into her moonlit garden to bury the bloody remnants of the day to ensure these women feel safe and secure in their lives.
For any woman who has ever had to deal with misogyny and abuse in their lives, this book is a bit of fantastical wish fulfillment. From significant others and fathers, to colleagues, Kang highlights a variety of relationships, showing how these types of people, sadly, come in all shapes and sizes.
As a fellow plant lover, I also really enjoyed seeing how Yoohee took care of her plants. Seeing her pass that down to her customers was a lot of fun, as I have definitely been on the receiving end of such advice and appreciated those details.
A highly acclaimed novel from South Korea, Plant Lady brings atmospheric tension and delicate humor to a story of obsession and misogyny that will keep you rooted right to its simmering last page.
Leave a Reply