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A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing
A dark, magical realist debut family saga that moves through the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Cultural Revolution, and the present day to explore the effects of intergenerational trauma, the legacy of colonialism, and the inescapability of fate.
Qianze has not seen her father in eleven years, since he walked out of her life the night of her fourteenth birthday and disappeared without a trace. But then she gets a call—there is a man on the porch of her childhood home, and he’s asking for her. This man isn’t the Ba Qianze he is much older, more fragile, and worst of all, haunted by a half-forgotten prophecy.
While Qianze wrestles with what she owes this near-stranger, Ba begins telling stories of his past. From his bloody days as a Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution to his mother’s youth under Japanese occupation, he circles around the prophecy he came to deliver. Qianze has always longed to know more about her family history, but as Ba reveals a past far darker than she could have imagined, she finds herself plagued by strange visions—fox spirits trail her on her evening commute, a terrifying jackalope stalks her nightmares, and the looming prophecy slinks ever closer.
Spanning decades and continents, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing employs a combination of stunningly rendered folklore and atmospheric prose to examine the legacy of colonialism through the eyes of three generations. Alice Evelyn Yang’s debut novel is a story of family and forgiveness, of folklore and fate, that will leave you unsettled and undone.
Qianze has not seen her father in eleven years, since he walked out of her life the night of her fourteenth birthday and disappeared without a trace. But then she gets a call—there is a man on the porch of her childhood home, and he’s asking for her. This man isn’t the Ba Qianze he is much older, more fragile, and worst of all, haunted by a half-forgotten prophecy.
While Qianze wrestles with what she owes this near-stranger, Ba begins telling stories of his past. From his bloody days as a Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution to his mother’s youth under Japanese occupation, he circles around the prophecy he came to deliver. Qianze has always longed to know more about her family history, but as Ba reveals a past far darker than she could have imagined, she finds herself plagued by strange visions—fox spirits trail her on her evening commute, a terrifying jackalope stalks her nightmares, and the looming prophecy slinks ever closer.
Spanning decades and continents, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing employs a combination of stunningly rendered folklore and atmospheric prose to examine the legacy of colonialism through the eyes of three generations. Alice Evelyn Yang’s debut novel is a story of family and forgiveness, of folklore and fate, that will leave you unsettled and undone.
Unknown Binding
Expected publication January 27, 2026
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About the author
Alice Evelyn Yang
1 book28 followersAlice Evelyn Yang is a Chinese American writer from Norfolk, Virginia. Her work has been published in MQR, AAWW's The Margins, and The Rumpus, among others. She is the recipient of the 2022–23 Jesmyn Ward Prize from MQR and completed her MFA in Fiction in 2022 at Columbia University, where she was awarded the Felipe De Alba Fellowship and nominated for the Henfield Prize. A BEAST SLINKS TOWARDS BEIJING is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
September 3, 2025
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this title courtesy of NetGalley)
Alice Evelyn Yang writes with an impressive efficiency - concise, yet always vivid. No matter which specific character was experiencing the plot, what tangle of emotions they were wrestling with, or what location or time the narrative had shifted to, everything always immediately became as alive and as real as anything - including the magical realist elements. Every time I picked up the book to carry on, it was an immediate and engrossing immersion into the thick of it all.
However, that of course meant being always at least neck-deep within the themes that tie through the story from start to finish - the horrors of colonization, war and the atrocities it brings in tow, and of course, trauma. Trauma upon trauma upon trauma, not just affecting the characters in horrendous moments, but trauma that then cycles on down through the next several generations. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing didn’t just make me uncomfortable at times - it felt like it was trying to actively tear at my very heart as I watched the core characters endure an array of mental, emotional, and at times physical agonies. And it was their resulting anguish that mostly felt the most real of anything else - that, but also thankfully the little moments of joy and relief as well. This book was both soul-wrenching, yet beautiful, and no matter what had just happened in the narrative, it was never long until I came right back to read another chapter or several.
This is not only a fantastic debut for Yang, but I would definitely call this one of my most memorable fiction reads of 2025 so far. I definitely hope to see more titles from her in what I hope to be in the near future. In the meantime, I would love to see her first work gracing our popular reads shelf here at the library once it’s published.
Alice Evelyn Yang writes with an impressive efficiency - concise, yet always vivid. No matter which specific character was experiencing the plot, what tangle of emotions they were wrestling with, or what location or time the narrative had shifted to, everything always immediately became as alive and as real as anything - including the magical realist elements. Every time I picked up the book to carry on, it was an immediate and engrossing immersion into the thick of it all.
However, that of course meant being always at least neck-deep within the themes that tie through the story from start to finish - the horrors of colonization, war and the atrocities it brings in tow, and of course, trauma. Trauma upon trauma upon trauma, not just affecting the characters in horrendous moments, but trauma that then cycles on down through the next several generations. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing didn’t just make me uncomfortable at times - it felt like it was trying to actively tear at my very heart as I watched the core characters endure an array of mental, emotional, and at times physical agonies. And it was their resulting anguish that mostly felt the most real of anything else - that, but also thankfully the little moments of joy and relief as well. This book was both soul-wrenching, yet beautiful, and no matter what had just happened in the narrative, it was never long until I came right back to read another chapter or several.
This is not only a fantastic debut for Yang, but I would definitely call this one of my most memorable fiction reads of 2025 so far. I definitely hope to see more titles from her in what I hope to be in the near future. In the meantime, I would love to see her first work gracing our popular reads shelf here at the library once it’s published.
Want to read
October 17, 2025i love debut novels!! sue me ok
October 13, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is a masterpiece, though you might not realize it before you get past the first hundred pages.
Things start off slow and dull for the first few chapters as you follow Qianze and her father, Weihong, getting reacquainted after years of estrangement. Neither are easy to connect to as characters. At first, Qianze's mother ended up being the only person who really snagged my attention. (She goes from being an impoverished Chinese immigrant and a single mother pretending to be widowed to being a stereotypical middle class lady who attends yoga classes, forms book clubs, is curious about Buddhism, tries Mediterranean diets, and gossips about her daughter. I desperately wanted to know more about this flawed figure whose worry over her daughter's unhappiness causes her to think it might somehow be helpful to warn Qianze that being moody means she's going to reincarnate as a worm.)
It's not that Qianze and Weihong don't have depth of their own. They do, but they lack unique perspectives and voices. Their observations, interactions, reactions, and behaviors taught me less about who they are and more about how technically gifted the author is at setting tone and atmosphere. The writing is beautiful, but I wasn't emotionally invested, at least not at first. The one good thing about the early chapters is the way fantastical elements are used to explore how unsettling it is to care for an aging parent who has memory loss.
Fortunately, about a third of the way through, we get a new perspective character named Ming, and she brings everything together. She grows up in rural Manchuria during World War II, and in this setting, the author's enthralling prose gets a chance to shine. I was completely swept off my feet as the story's spellbinding imagery transported me to another time and place. Ming is also a compelling character with a propulsive (if very dark) story, so the plot and pacing pick up here.
Some of Weihong's behaviors also get an explanation around this time, making him a more layered character. His backstory is heartbreaking, and if I wasn't emotionally invested in him as an adult, I certainly got emotional when I learned more about his past. Qianze's story similarly gets going after a hundred pages. Her character grew on me as I got more glimpses into her rage, her fears, and the way she's tried to curate her image. It turns out that her father's return causes that image to shatter, dredging up all sorts of contradictory feelings, which somewhat justifies her painfully stunted reactions in the first few chapters. It would have been nice to have this context earlier. However, even though the recontextualizing comes late, it still helped me to forgive how slow the story is at the start.
By the time the book reaches its powerful and poignant climax, I had chills. As more mysteries are uncovered, the novel reveals itself to be a stunning and devastating depiction of the different relationships people have with each other, themselves, their history, and their homes. It's about the myths we tell ourselves and each other to survive and the things people are capable of doing when survival is on the line. It's about what gets preserved, repressed, distorted, altered, or lost through various collective and personal traumas. I highly recommend it to people who like multiple timelines, Chinese history, messy family sagas, books about immigration, and magical realism that leans towards horror.
~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a Digital ARC. All opinions are my own.~
Things start off slow and dull for the first few chapters as you follow Qianze and her father, Weihong, getting reacquainted after years of estrangement. Neither are easy to connect to as characters. At first, Qianze's mother ended up being the only person who really snagged my attention. (She goes from being an impoverished Chinese immigrant and a single mother pretending to be widowed to being a stereotypical middle class lady who attends yoga classes, forms book clubs, is curious about Buddhism, tries Mediterranean diets, and gossips about her daughter. I desperately wanted to know more about this flawed figure whose worry over her daughter's unhappiness causes her to think it might somehow be helpful to warn Qianze that being moody means she's going to reincarnate as a worm.)
It's not that Qianze and Weihong don't have depth of their own. They do, but they lack unique perspectives and voices. Their observations, interactions, reactions, and behaviors taught me less about who they are and more about how technically gifted the author is at setting tone and atmosphere. The writing is beautiful, but I wasn't emotionally invested, at least not at first. The one good thing about the early chapters is the way fantastical elements are used to explore how unsettling it is to care for an aging parent who has memory loss.
Fortunately, about a third of the way through, we get a new perspective character named Ming, and she brings everything together. She grows up in rural Manchuria during World War II, and in this setting, the author's enthralling prose gets a chance to shine. I was completely swept off my feet as the story's spellbinding imagery transported me to another time and place. Ming is also a compelling character with a propulsive (if very dark) story, so the plot and pacing pick up here.
Some of Weihong's behaviors also get an explanation around this time, making him a more layered character. His backstory is heartbreaking, and if I wasn't emotionally invested in him as an adult, I certainly got emotional when I learned more about his past. Qianze's story similarly gets going after a hundred pages. Her character grew on me as I got more glimpses into her rage, her fears, and the way she's tried to curate her image. It turns out that her father's return causes that image to shatter, dredging up all sorts of contradictory feelings, which somewhat justifies her painfully stunted reactions in the first few chapters. It would have been nice to have this context earlier. However, even though the recontextualizing comes late, it still helped me to forgive how slow the story is at the start.
By the time the book reaches its powerful and poignant climax, I had chills. As more mysteries are uncovered, the novel reveals itself to be a stunning and devastating depiction of the different relationships people have with each other, themselves, their history, and their homes. It's about the myths we tell ourselves and each other to survive and the things people are capable of doing when survival is on the line. It's about what gets preserved, repressed, distorted, altered, or lost through various collective and personal traumas. I highly recommend it to people who like multiple timelines, Chinese history, messy family sagas, books about immigration, and magical realism that leans towards horror.
~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a Digital ARC. All opinions are my own.~
September 29, 2025
This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story of inter-generational trauma with multiple POVs and a pretty complex timeline. The author weaves together folklore and history in a way that allows you to easily slip between the past and present of this family while not losing the reader. This is an extremely heavy story but so beautifully written you flow through it. An amazing debut novel.
2026
September 30, 2025ANHPI TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow
December 4, 2025
A Beast Slinks Toward Beijing follows a father and grandmother struggling to survive Japan’s occupation of China during WWII, making brutal choices that leave wounds reaching far beyond their own lifetimes. Decades later, that same father resurfaces in 2017 New York City after abandoning his daughter 11 years prior in a feeble attempt to shield her from their family’s curse. As their stories collide, the novel traces how violence, love, and fear echo across generations.
ABSTB is historical fiction and magical realism in equal measure. What surprised me most was how Yang weaves each thread together with a seemingly effortless sharpness. Her writing is vivid without ever feeling showy or pretentious, and every shift in the timeline drops you straight into that character’s turmoil—whether it’s the moral compromises of wartime or the quieter, modern ache of a daughter trying to understand a father who disappeared.. No matter which character took the lead or which era the story jumped to, I was right there—feeling their fear, their grief and their glimmers of hope. And while the book definitely dives into heavy themes like colonization, war, and generational trauma, it never feels bleak for bleakness’s sake. The first 100 or so pages is a lot of set-up and I won't lie to you—it took me a while to get over the hump, but if you stick it out with Qianze, Weihong, and Ming, they will reward your efforts 100 times over.
A gripping debut from Alice Evelyn Yang, and probably the most memorable read I've picked up in 2025. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing releases on January 27th. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and William Morrow for the ARC.
ABSTB is historical fiction and magical realism in equal measure. What surprised me most was how Yang weaves each thread together with a seemingly effortless sharpness. Her writing is vivid without ever feeling showy or pretentious, and every shift in the timeline drops you straight into that character’s turmoil—whether it’s the moral compromises of wartime or the quieter, modern ache of a daughter trying to understand a father who disappeared.. No matter which character took the lead or which era the story jumped to, I was right there—feeling their fear, their grief and their glimmers of hope. And while the book definitely dives into heavy themes like colonization, war, and generational trauma, it never feels bleak for bleakness’s sake. The first 100 or so pages is a lot of set-up and I won't lie to you—it took me a while to get over the hump, but if you stick it out with Qianze, Weihong, and Ming, they will reward your efforts 100 times over.
A gripping debut from Alice Evelyn Yang, and probably the most memorable read I've picked up in 2025. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing releases on January 27th. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and William Morrow for the ARC.
December 24, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is an absolutely stunning debut spanning three-generations of a family, from the Japanese occupation of Manchuria to the Cultural Revolution, and finally to the present-day in the United States. Alice Evelyn Yang weaves together a heart-wrenching portrait of colonialism, intergenerational trauma, and the confines of fate in this dark magical realism novel.
When Qianze’s father re-appears at the doorstep of her childhood home after disappearing from her life eleven years ago, her whole life becomes upended as she begins to unravel the dark and violent history of familial past that haunts her father’s memories, and the mysterious prophecy at the heart of it all. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing was such a gut-wrenching read, full of both visceral and beautiful prose, that doesn’t shy away from its explorations of the violence and horror intertwined with the legacies of colonialism and how such histories become embedded (and lost) within the body across generations.
This one will stick with me for a while I think, and it has definitely made itself into one of my favourite reads of the year.
Thank you so much William Morrow for this arc. All opinions in this review are my own.
When Qianze’s father re-appears at the doorstep of her childhood home after disappearing from her life eleven years ago, her whole life becomes upended as she begins to unravel the dark and violent history of familial past that haunts her father’s memories, and the mysterious prophecy at the heart of it all. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing was such a gut-wrenching read, full of both visceral and beautiful prose, that doesn’t shy away from its explorations of the violence and horror intertwined with the legacies of colonialism and how such histories become embedded (and lost) within the body across generations.
This one will stick with me for a while I think, and it has definitely made itself into one of my favourite reads of the year.
Thank you so much William Morrow for this arc. All opinions in this review are my own.
December 21, 2025
A story of generational trauma and how our family’s hurt can inform our own. Told in 3 POV’s in different eras, we follow our main character Qianze, her father Weihong, and his mother Ming. Qianze is reeling from the sudden reappearance of her father after he left their family on her fourteenth birthday. Weihong is growing up in the Cultural Revolution under Mao. Ming grows up alongside her betrothed, and her life is irrevocably changed under the Japanese occupation.
WOW. I can write this review now that I have picked my jaw up off of the floor. This is searing historical fiction with magical realism and folklore woven throughout. Yang does not shy away from the gore of the past and this novel is all the better for it. The impacts of colonialism are depicted so vividly at both societal and individual levels, and how it not only bleeds into someone but how it trickles down to your descendants, how intended protection can feel like a betrayal. These characters will be sticking with me for a very long time. I’m obsessed with Yang’s writing style; it is intentional and elegant and hauntingly beautiful at times.
OUT 27 JAN 2026!! go ahead and add it to tbr put it on your radar!
Thank you to William morrow for a copy to read and review in advance!!
WOW. I can write this review now that I have picked my jaw up off of the floor. This is searing historical fiction with magical realism and folklore woven throughout. Yang does not shy away from the gore of the past and this novel is all the better for it. The impacts of colonialism are depicted so vividly at both societal and individual levels, and how it not only bleeds into someone but how it trickles down to your descendants, how intended protection can feel like a betrayal. These characters will be sticking with me for a very long time. I’m obsessed with Yang’s writing style; it is intentional and elegant and hauntingly beautiful at times.
OUT 27 JAN 2026!! go ahead and add it to tbr put it on your radar!
Thank you to William morrow for a copy to read and review in advance!!
December 24, 2025
thank you very much to netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!
reading this novel was quite haunting as it reminded me of my own immigrated parents and grandparents, and the generational trauma that gaunt’s their lives and in turn also haunts mine. there is an obligation to protect, foster, and provide for our ailing parents/relatives despite the hurt that has been caused, and that obligation runs through the entire narrative of the novel. very well written
reading this novel was quite haunting as it reminded me of my own immigrated parents and grandparents, and the generational trauma that gaunt’s their lives and in turn also haunts mine. there is an obligation to protect, foster, and provide for our ailing parents/relatives despite the hurt that has been caused, and that obligation runs through the entire narrative of the novel. very well written
November 27, 2025
3.5-3.75 review to come!!
November 27, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC (advanced review copy) for my honest review.
The title, first off, is great. 'A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing' immediately creates a sense of other-worldly foreboding which the writing and story deliver on.
This is a multi-generational story that weaves in and out of an estranged father's cursed and fading memories, desperate to relay an import message to his adult daughter. Many books shift though time lines to link together a family's stories, but this book pulled it off so impressively that I was equally captivated by every generation. The characters feel alive; every life was built with hope and longing only to be burnt to ash. What I felt most was the pain that transformed them and were forced to carry on with. This story was incredibly dense with the horrors of war and survival laced with the feeling that just the right amount of love could undo it all.
The descriptions of Mao's era horrified me as I realized how little I knew of China's history. Alice Evelyn Yang's writing shys away from nothing, pulling you through horrors like you are a bystander, yet has a simplistic, accurate beauty.
The magical realism events gnawed at the corners, shifting between psychological and mythical and I appreciated that the elements that could easily have been overused. A small snag for me were the modern references during her college years which were too specific and actually took me out of the story for a moment. (The author actually lived these years and I did too but it didn't make them feel more real).
Overall I loved this booked. It was more emotionally charged that I expected and I would pass it along with the heartfelt warning of, 'be prepared'.
The title, first off, is great. 'A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing' immediately creates a sense of other-worldly foreboding which the writing and story deliver on.
This is a multi-generational story that weaves in and out of an estranged father's cursed and fading memories, desperate to relay an import message to his adult daughter. Many books shift though time lines to link together a family's stories, but this book pulled it off so impressively that I was equally captivated by every generation. The characters feel alive; every life was built with hope and longing only to be burnt to ash. What I felt most was the pain that transformed them and were forced to carry on with. This story was incredibly dense with the horrors of war and survival laced with the feeling that just the right amount of love could undo it all.
The descriptions of Mao's era horrified me as I realized how little I knew of China's history. Alice Evelyn Yang's writing shys away from nothing, pulling you through horrors like you are a bystander, yet has a simplistic, accurate beauty.
The magical realism events gnawed at the corners, shifting between psychological and mythical and I appreciated that the elements that could easily have been overused. A small snag for me were the modern references during her college years which were too specific and actually took me out of the story for a moment. (The author actually lived these years and I did too but it didn't make them feel more real).
Overall I loved this booked. It was more emotionally charged that I expected and I would pass it along with the heartfelt warning of, 'be prepared'.
October 1, 2025
In her genre-bending debut novel, author Alice Evelyn Yang weaves a story that blurs the lines between the past, present, and reality in "A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing".
In the summer of 2017, Qianze is just one of many 20-somethings working in soul-crushing job at a Big 4 firm in Manhattan. She returns home to her small apartment in Chinatown after work expecting nothing out of the ordinary, until she receives a call from a resident of her former home in Virginia - there is a man on the porch of her former home looking for her. Immediately, Qianze knows its her father who disappeared from her life eleven years earlier, who simply walked out of the home on her birthday and was never heard from again.
After she brings him back to her apartment, Qianze and her father grapple with the pieces of their relationship, as he deals with the pain of his past and memories with alcohol and oblivion and she doesn't know what to make of the fragments of sentences he says, including one about a prophecy she needs to be warned about. The rest of the novel jumps to the past, taking on the perspective of Weihong when he was a child growing up in Anshan China in the midst of the Communist Revolution, as well as Weihong's mother Ming, as she came of age during the time of World War II. As each character's story unravels, the story of Qianze's family and her own heritage and inheritance come to light.
At the forefront of this novel is an eye-opening reality of life in a rarely written about time period in history. With Ming, we see how she was overlooked in her own family because she was born as a girl, and despite what should have been a happy marriage to her childhood betrothed Fei, just how much of her life was shattered with invasion of the Japanese during World War II and just how inhumanely Chinese civilians, especially women, were treated during that time. As her son Weihong grows, his own life is shaped heavily by the rise of Mao and the Cultural Revolution, as his own legacy and actions shape his and his daughter's future. This is a heavy and at times dark novel that explores the effects of war, political upheavals, and colonization has had on so many - but also calling to light the small joys and remnants of hope that can persist in spite of it.
A stunning, masterful work for a promising new author! I'm so excited for when "A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing" is published in January 2026!
In the summer of 2017, Qianze is just one of many 20-somethings working in soul-crushing job at a Big 4 firm in Manhattan. She returns home to her small apartment in Chinatown after work expecting nothing out of the ordinary, until she receives a call from a resident of her former home in Virginia - there is a man on the porch of her former home looking for her. Immediately, Qianze knows its her father who disappeared from her life eleven years earlier, who simply walked out of the home on her birthday and was never heard from again.
After she brings him back to her apartment, Qianze and her father grapple with the pieces of their relationship, as he deals with the pain of his past and memories with alcohol and oblivion and she doesn't know what to make of the fragments of sentences he says, including one about a prophecy she needs to be warned about. The rest of the novel jumps to the past, taking on the perspective of Weihong when he was a child growing up in Anshan China in the midst of the Communist Revolution, as well as Weihong's mother Ming, as she came of age during the time of World War II. As each character's story unravels, the story of Qianze's family and her own heritage and inheritance come to light.
At the forefront of this novel is an eye-opening reality of life in a rarely written about time period in history. With Ming, we see how she was overlooked in her own family because she was born as a girl, and despite what should have been a happy marriage to her childhood betrothed Fei, just how much of her life was shattered with invasion of the Japanese during World War II and just how inhumanely Chinese civilians, especially women, were treated during that time. As her son Weihong grows, his own life is shaped heavily by the rise of Mao and the Cultural Revolution, as his own legacy and actions shape his and his daughter's future. This is a heavy and at times dark novel that explores the effects of war, political upheavals, and colonization has had on so many - but also calling to light the small joys and remnants of hope that can persist in spite of it.
A stunning, masterful work for a promising new author! I'm so excited for when "A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing" is published in January 2026!
September 13, 2025
Thank you as always to NetGalley for an advance copy!
Utterly captivating and extremely well-crafted. I was shocked to see that this is a debut novel, I was hoping that Yang would have had an extensive back catalog of books that I could tear through. So I guess now I’ll just have to wait for Yang to write another novel
Each of the POV characters are crafted and written with care, and many of the characters in the supporting cast are strong as well. There were a few characters that I thought could maybe use a bit of a rework (Qianzhe’s mom in the present day comes to mind), but I understand that side characters don’t need to carry that same weight as the main cast. This novel shows us the deep scars of the past, and doesn’t shy away from gruesome details. The magical realism in this was another interesting point, it could be a little confusing at times but when it worked it really worked
Utterly captivating and extremely well-crafted. I was shocked to see that this is a debut novel, I was hoping that Yang would have had an extensive back catalog of books that I could tear through. So I guess now I’ll just have to wait for Yang to write another novel
Each of the POV characters are crafted and written with care, and many of the characters in the supporting cast are strong as well. There were a few characters that I thought could maybe use a bit of a rework (Qianzhe’s mom in the present day comes to mind), but I understand that side characters don’t need to carry that same weight as the main cast. This novel shows us the deep scars of the past, and doesn’t shy away from gruesome details. The magical realism in this was another interesting point, it could be a little confusing at times but when it worked it really worked
Want to read
July 21, 2025a dark, magical realist family saga
August 26, 2025
Thank you to William Morrow Books and NetGalley for an e-book ARC of this book for an honest review.
3.5/5 stars
When reading this blurb I felt really intrigued and excited to dive into such a unique read. As a Filipina and Chinese woman I wasn’t expecting to see parts of both my cultures represented on the page!!!
The author’s talent for creating descriptive portraits of her characters really elevated the book and made my reading experience by making each character’s point of view so vivid to the reader. It was so unique and frankly very cool seeing Chinese terms casually on the page in conjunction with sentiments I’ve lived through in my real life with my own mother– leaving the past in the past, finding out snatches from my family’s life before the United States slips in conversation, purely by chance. I took my digi highlighter to the page with so many bangers.
There were some qualities which I felt could have used tweaking. Some of the mystery elements did not consistently feel alluring or strange as they kept making repeated appearances with little progress to the plot being made. I’m aware this is a slow study of several characters and is objectively written so well!! I just think it maybe was not 100% my thing when we switched to Weihong’s chapters. The visuals being created in the Weihong chapters read very red-scare sometimes. Even though he is an unreliable narrator, it was just a little hard to get through for me.
This is a complicated story of cycles of hurt and I felt like it really did make me think, it wasn’t a straightforward book with generic brush strokes, it was a crafted novel.
3.5/5 stars
When reading this blurb I felt really intrigued and excited to dive into such a unique read. As a Filipina and Chinese woman I wasn’t expecting to see parts of both my cultures represented on the page!!!
The author’s talent for creating descriptive portraits of her characters really elevated the book and made my reading experience by making each character’s point of view so vivid to the reader. It was so unique and frankly very cool seeing Chinese terms casually on the page in conjunction with sentiments I’ve lived through in my real life with my own mother– leaving the past in the past, finding out snatches from my family’s life before the United States slips in conversation, purely by chance. I took my digi highlighter to the page with so many bangers.
There were some qualities which I felt could have used tweaking. Some of the mystery elements did not consistently feel alluring or strange as they kept making repeated appearances with little progress to the plot being made. I’m aware this is a slow study of several characters and is objectively written so well!! I just think it maybe was not 100% my thing when we switched to Weihong’s chapters. The visuals being created in the Weihong chapters read very red-scare sometimes. Even though he is an unreliable narrator, it was just a little hard to get through for me.
This is a complicated story of cycles of hurt and I felt like it really did make me think, it wasn’t a straightforward book with generic brush strokes, it was a crafted novel.
October 1, 2025
[4 stars]
“Multiple truths existed. Qianze wanted to protect her father from experiencing hurt again. Qianze wanted to protect herself from her father. Qianze did not want Ba to suffer anymore. Qianze wanted Ba to suffer now as much as she'd suffered for him.”
Following three generations of a Chinese family during the Japanese occupation, the Cultural Revolution, and modern day NYC, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing tells a story of the generational trauma created by those past tragedies and how it impacts the next generation on. The story is told in fractures, moving between Qianze, a 25 year old office worker living in modern NYC, her father Wei, who was an active participant of the Red Guard when he was younger, and Wei’s mother (Qianze’s grandmother) Ming, who was still young when Japan began its occupation of Manchuria. This is such a well crafted story. The pacing of information being revealed and how the different stories, though decades apart, expand and explain things in the other stories is phenomenal.
The book begins a bit too slowly, though in retrospect the easing into the very different POVs and settings was a good choice. The choice to not introduce Ming’s POV until Part II was smart and prevented the book from ever feeling overwhelming. I struggled to get through most of Part I because of this, but the moment we got to Wei’s last chapter of Part I and went into Part II I was completely hooked. From then on, every chapter was excellent and brought something new. All that to say, if you’re also finding the beginning a bit slow keep on it because it is well worth it.
I hate to say it, but Qianze is probably my least favorite part of the novel. As I mentioned, I found Part I to be quite slow and I think her POVs were a lot of it. On top of that, when compared to these grand historical fiction settings of the past that her father‘s and grandmother’s stories take place in, an apartment in modern NYC feels so small in comparison. That is part of the point I feel and I think the juxtaposition of these horrible historical tragedies to Qianze’s recently interrupted daily life works strongly, but if her chapters are dull then they are still dull. These early ones especially serve to act as a set piece and to strengthen the other stories, leaving her in the dust a bit (I also just over the years have conditioned myself to not care about any media about people living in modern NYC, LA, etc. That is totally a me thing but it is just not a setting or feeling that interests me at all it doesn’t get too New York or metropolitan ever, thankfully). She and her chapters definitely strengthen in the latter half of the book and I especially enjoyed the few chapters that took us back to her in her first year of college.
As the book went on, I quickly became mostly interested in the historical fiction side of the story. This is a pretty subtle magical realism book (though maybe that is the standard for the genre, I am not familiar enough with it to say). I really enjoyed what was there for the fantasy aspect (jackalopes, foxes, other strange and often disturbing visions happening) and the foreboding sense of the prophecy that lies just outside of Wei’s memory. However, the real meat of the story is within the historical fiction. The details that Yang explores for the scenes taking place back during the Cultural Revolution as well as the pastoral scenes that she explores during Ming’s part decades before then are so interesting and well woven into the story. Specific things I had never heard of - the Recalling Bitterness practice for instance - were so interesting to read about and really reminded me how little I know about this period of history (I need to find some memoirs to add to my to-read lists stat). Though many of the scenes are of violence and tragedy, Yang takes the time to explore how these, and the constant stress of it all, affects the interpersonal relationships within the families. The book ultimately is about the transition of trauma from a parent to their children and how it lingers down the family tree.
I don’t know how to feel about our end note. I understand that the author was going for more of a bittersweet “see how the next generation will break out of this curse”, but after reading chapter after chapter of I love tragedies and half tragedies like this, but I think I was just expecting something different. I need more time to mill it over, but it was not a bad ending at all and I am glad that it wasn’t all suddenly better and all the hurt is suddenly gone.
I feel like I ended up making out my few critiques of the book as more than they were, but let it be known that I did really enjoy this book. It is a surprisingly good debut from an author that I will definitely keep tabs on from here on out.
Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
“Multiple truths existed. Qianze wanted to protect her father from experiencing hurt again. Qianze wanted to protect herself from her father. Qianze did not want Ba to suffer anymore. Qianze wanted Ba to suffer now as much as she'd suffered for him.”
Following three generations of a Chinese family during the Japanese occupation, the Cultural Revolution, and modern day NYC, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing tells a story of the generational trauma created by those past tragedies and how it impacts the next generation on. The story is told in fractures, moving between Qianze, a 25 year old office worker living in modern NYC, her father Wei, who was an active participant of the Red Guard when he was younger, and Wei’s mother (Qianze’s grandmother) Ming, who was still young when Japan began its occupation of Manchuria. This is such a well crafted story. The pacing of information being revealed and how the different stories, though decades apart, expand and explain things in the other stories is phenomenal.
The book begins a bit too slowly, though in retrospect the easing into the very different POVs and settings was a good choice. The choice to not introduce Ming’s POV until Part II was smart and prevented the book from ever feeling overwhelming. I struggled to get through most of Part I because of this, but the moment we got to Wei’s last chapter of Part I and went into Part II I was completely hooked. From then on, every chapter was excellent and brought something new. All that to say, if you’re also finding the beginning a bit slow keep on it because it is well worth it.
I hate to say it, but Qianze is probably my least favorite part of the novel. As I mentioned, I found Part I to be quite slow and I think her POVs were a lot of it. On top of that, when compared to these grand historical fiction settings of the past that her father‘s and grandmother’s stories take place in, an apartment in modern NYC feels so small in comparison. That is part of the point I feel and I think the juxtaposition of these horrible historical tragedies to Qianze’s recently interrupted daily life works strongly, but if her chapters are dull then they are still dull. These early ones especially serve to act as a set piece and to strengthen the other stories, leaving her in the dust a bit (I also just over the years have conditioned myself to not care about any media about people living in modern NYC, LA, etc. That is totally a me thing but it is just not a setting or feeling that interests me at all it doesn’t get too New York or metropolitan ever, thankfully). She and her chapters definitely strengthen in the latter half of the book and I especially enjoyed the few chapters that took us back to her in her first year of college.
As the book went on, I quickly became mostly interested in the historical fiction side of the story. This is a pretty subtle magical realism book (though maybe that is the standard for the genre, I am not familiar enough with it to say). I really enjoyed what was there for the fantasy aspect (jackalopes, foxes, other strange and often disturbing visions happening) and the foreboding sense of the prophecy that lies just outside of Wei’s memory. However, the real meat of the story is within the historical fiction. The details that Yang explores for the scenes taking place back during the Cultural Revolution as well as the pastoral scenes that she explores during Ming’s part decades before then are so interesting and well woven into the story. Specific things I had never heard of - the Recalling Bitterness practice for instance - were so interesting to read about and really reminded me how little I know about this period of history (I need to find some memoirs to add to my to-read lists stat). Though many of the scenes are of violence and tragedy, Yang takes the time to explore how these, and the constant stress of it all, affects the interpersonal relationships within the families. The book ultimately is about the transition of trauma from a parent to their children and how it lingers down the family tree.
I don’t know how to feel about our end note. I understand that the author was going for more of a bittersweet “see how the next generation will break out of this curse”, but after reading chapter after chapter of I love tragedies and half tragedies like this, but I think I was just expecting something different. I need more time to mill it over, but it was not a bad ending at all and I am glad that it wasn’t all suddenly better and all the hurt is suddenly gone.
I feel like I ended up making out my few critiques of the book as more than they were, but let it be known that I did really enjoy this book. It is a surprisingly good debut from an author that I will definitely keep tabs on from here on out.
Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!
December 9, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing promises dark, magical realism that plays against a backdrop of multigenerational family saga. Alice Evelyn Yang gives us so much more in her sweeping debut novel.
Spanning a family history threaded with tragedy, violence, and heartache, Yang takes us on a journey of intergenerational trauma, deftly uncovering the sins of the past and how tightly they are woven into the present. Through unique voices of various family members, she asks us to face the complexities of being a first-generation immigrant child in a modern era, and what the children of immigrants endure within the confines of their homes, communities, and families. How, despite every attempt to assimilate and integrate into a new culture, past horrors can follow each generation across oceans and time.
We witness the lives of Quinze's family before and during the Japanese invasion and occupation, then the rise of Mao and the fracturing, forming, and refracturing of culture and nation. As the novel progresses, we see the warmth and idealism of childhood transformed into the tragedy and loss of young adulthood, particularly through the lens of women's experiences: sexism, cultural expectations of motherhood, and the restrictions and violent dismantling of individual agency and choice.
There was less magical realism than I expected. However, I loved the subtle weaving of folklore into the various timelines and stories of each family member. There is no demon to vanquish, no rite or ritual to banish the "curse" that haunts Quinze as she fears she is spiraling into her father's madness. Rather, the magical is an outward reflection of history and familial ties. Yang's writing is gorgeous in its simplicity, imbued with such depth and emotional complexity that the rare moments we do interact with magic, it is visceral. You feel the jackalope's dreadful antler, the uncanniness of a curious fox, and the reality-altering presence of aunties and back-alley seers.
Yang is, in my opinion, an optimist. This book is not tragedy for tragedy's sake. She does not use trauma and violence to paint a bleak future, that families broken cannot be mended. When we end the novel, Quinze and her father choose how to carry the heavy burden of familial and personal trauma. The pain of what was done to them and, in Ba's case, what he did to others, will never fade, but a new life, a better life, can be forged together despite the past.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the eARC and the opportunity to review.
Spanning a family history threaded with tragedy, violence, and heartache, Yang takes us on a journey of intergenerational trauma, deftly uncovering the sins of the past and how tightly they are woven into the present. Through unique voices of various family members, she asks us to face the complexities of being a first-generation immigrant child in a modern era, and what the children of immigrants endure within the confines of their homes, communities, and families. How, despite every attempt to assimilate and integrate into a new culture, past horrors can follow each generation across oceans and time.
We witness the lives of Quinze's family before and during the Japanese invasion and occupation, then the rise of Mao and the fracturing, forming, and refracturing of culture and nation. As the novel progresses, we see the warmth and idealism of childhood transformed into the tragedy and loss of young adulthood, particularly through the lens of women's experiences: sexism, cultural expectations of motherhood, and the restrictions and violent dismantling of individual agency and choice.
There was less magical realism than I expected. However, I loved the subtle weaving of folklore into the various timelines and stories of each family member. There is no demon to vanquish, no rite or ritual to banish the "curse" that haunts Quinze as she fears she is spiraling into her father's madness. Rather, the magical is an outward reflection of history and familial ties. Yang's writing is gorgeous in its simplicity, imbued with such depth and emotional complexity that the rare moments we do interact with magic, it is visceral. You feel the jackalope's dreadful antler, the uncanniness of a curious fox, and the reality-altering presence of aunties and back-alley seers.
Yang is, in my opinion, an optimist. This book is not tragedy for tragedy's sake. She does not use trauma and violence to paint a bleak future, that families broken cannot be mended. When we end the novel, Quinze and her father choose how to carry the heavy burden of familial and personal trauma. The pain of what was done to them and, in Ba's case, what he did to others, will never fade, but a new life, a better life, can be forged together despite the past.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the eARC and the opportunity to review.
December 4, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is told in 3 timelines. Stay with me here. We have present day NYC, where dutiful daughter Qianze is confronted with the re-appearance of her father, who abandoned his family on the night of Qianze’s 14th birthday 11 years prior. Her father, Weihong, is here to warn his daughter of a dark prophecy he has carried with him his entire life, but struggles with memory loss and alcoholism and demons we can’t yet name. His reappearance in Qianze’s life first raises more questions than answers, but soon we travel to our second timeline - Weihong’s childhood and adolescence in China, where he was forced to commit unthinkable acts of violence to protect his family during a time of revolution, war and invasion. We still don’t have the full picture, though, and that’s where the third timeline comes in - the story of Weihong’s mother Ming, her arranged marriage to Weihong’s father, and her own harrowing experiences during Japan’s occupation of China. Every timeline fills in the missing links to this story, as more and more is slowly revealed about the characters, their hardships and the generational prophecy (or curse) they carry within. There are surreal and magical elements here, but none that required a heavy suspension of disbelief, and all had the feeling of folklore and fable that I love in stories like this. I do wish the timelines had been more linear and felt this could have been told more chronologically, but I understand wanting things to be revealed via twists and turns toward the end. This is a heavy and haunting book, filled with violence, abuse, trauma and profound loss. It is gripping though, and I found myself marveling at the intricacies of the narrative and how these lives were interconnected and impacted by one another. In that way, it is truly a work of art.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This was well done. I've read a couple books this year that talked about the Japanese occupation of China pre-Mao, and this one was by far the best of them. Before I write more about it, though, I do think this book needs to come with a warning sign. This book deals with graphic violence and fairly explicit sexual assault and child abuse. If those things are triggering for you, then don't read this book. The violence was on the edge of what I could handle personally, but I actually respect the author for including those scenes in the story. That period of Chinese history was brutal. The Japanese were famous for their war crimes (especially against women), and Mao's Red Revolution incited mass violence and torture throughout the country. Those crimes shouldn't be covered up and overlooked, and I think this book did a good job both highlighting the evil of those crimes and also walking through the consequences of those actions. This is a book about how violence and evil impact families, about flawed people who react to times of great evil and testing in various ways, and about the long-term consequences for violence swept under the rug. It's a haunting story that captures humanity's nuance well. I'm not sure I'll personally read it again because it did hit right on my violence threshold, but if you can stomach the violence then I strongly recommend you read this book. Not only does it handle well real evil committed in the not-too-distant past, but it also provides a very realistic and balanced look at what it takes to recover as a family from the build-up of secrets, trauma, and pain.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
December 4, 2025
**"One's family is not a brief tempest but a lifetime of mist. A constant fog" -p. 90**
Reading this felt at times wondrous in how it intersperses a weaving of generational history, and very often melancholic in its capturing of how we carry some of our ancestors' baggage even if unknowingly.
Has a fantastic dash of the fantastic that somewhat softens the factual (the Manchurian invasion, the great famine, Tiananmen). The latter initially permeates from the margins and eventually it's harrowingly at the center. Reminded me a bit of reading Han Kang's "Human Acts" in that sense - while this is a debut novel!
While parts of the novel may seem mythologically dense, and not all the mandarin pinyin is explained in English, it didn't feel to me like not fully knowing all the references/terms/animalistic characteristics left me unmoored. Because it's all centered on the strong emotional resonance of loneliness, of human capacity for violence, and of universal family bonds – strained and loving and almost everything in between. Bonds that maybe make you willing to forgive when you can't forget.
Rounding at a 4.3/5 if only because I feel this book requires a reprieve before even thinking of a reread.
TW / CW for those who might need it: doesn't shy away from historically accurate atrocities, plus animal death and cruelty
[Thank you to HarperCollins, the author and Netgalley for access to an ARC to form an honest opinion]
Reading this felt at times wondrous in how it intersperses a weaving of generational history, and very often melancholic in its capturing of how we carry some of our ancestors' baggage even if unknowingly.
Has a fantastic dash of the fantastic that somewhat softens the factual (the Manchurian invasion, the great famine, Tiananmen). The latter initially permeates from the margins and eventually it's harrowingly at the center. Reminded me a bit of reading Han Kang's "Human Acts" in that sense - while this is a debut novel!
While parts of the novel may seem mythologically dense, and not all the mandarin pinyin is explained in English, it didn't feel to me like not fully knowing all the references/terms/animalistic characteristics left me unmoored. Because it's all centered on the strong emotional resonance of loneliness, of human capacity for violence, and of universal family bonds – strained and loving and almost everything in between. Bonds that maybe make you willing to forgive when you can't forget.
Rounding at a 4.3/5 if only because I feel this book requires a reprieve before even thinking of a reread.
TW / CW for those who might need it: doesn't shy away from historically accurate atrocities, plus animal death and cruelty
[Thank you to HarperCollins, the author and Netgalley for access to an ARC to form an honest opinion]
December 2, 2025
Ooh, you KNOW it’s good when a book upsets you and doubly so because you can’t dive into the pages and do something about it.
‘A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing’ is an impressive debut novel. Alice Evelyn Yang weaves an incredibly compelling (and oftentimes incredibly dark) tale of intergenerational trauma across multiple timelines that had me glued to the final page. As a Singaporean Chinese woman with my own family’s stories about the Japanese occupation during WWII, I felt a personal connection to the themes the author explores regarding colonialism, complexities of identity, and gender roles within a Confucian society.
I admittedly am not always the biggest fan of “magical realism” in novels because I sometimes find myself distracted trying to figure out what“reality” is or what is “actually happening”, but the author introduces Chinese and Japanese folklore into the plot in a seamless way that adds rather than detracts (also this book is making me rethink my opinions on magical realism as a whole, because what is magical realism but another term for accepting the intertwining of passed down folklores with every day life?)
All in all, Yang writes beautifully — I’m excited to have discovered her and I look forward to reading her future works! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!
‘A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing’ is an impressive debut novel. Alice Evelyn Yang weaves an incredibly compelling (and oftentimes incredibly dark) tale of intergenerational trauma across multiple timelines that had me glued to the final page. As a Singaporean Chinese woman with my own family’s stories about the Japanese occupation during WWII, I felt a personal connection to the themes the author explores regarding colonialism, complexities of identity, and gender roles within a Confucian society.
I admittedly am not always the biggest fan of “magical realism” in novels because I sometimes find myself distracted trying to figure out what“reality” is or what is “actually happening”, but the author introduces Chinese and Japanese folklore into the plot in a seamless way that adds rather than detracts (also this book is making me rethink my opinions on magical realism as a whole, because what is magical realism but another term for accepting the intertwining of passed down folklores with every day life?)
All in all, Yang writes beautifully — I’m excited to have discovered her and I look forward to reading her future works! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book!
November 18, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing by Alice Evelyn Yang; release date January 27, 2026
I was so very excited to read this book for many reasons, one, it being my first physical ARC in many many years and two, because how beautiful is this cover? A jackrabbit, say no more.
This book started difficult and slow for me there is a lot of authentic Chinese heritage in these pages which is a truly beautiful thing but it definitely made it more difficult to follow in the beginning before your truly got to know and understand the characters. But once I got into the rhythm of this book I was absolutely entranced.
Yang did such an incredible job with this debut novel, the thought and research that went into this novel made it that much more enjoyable and tragic to read. The time of the Oni couldn’t coincide better with the current pop culture trend of K-Pop Demon Hunter. But where K-Pop has made this cool and trendy Yang portrayed this demon for what it was. How it controls people and lives and how evil it can be, how it can be the demise of human life.
The time hopping kept the story exciting and flowing through many generations and their origin with the Oni.
What a beautiful story of family, history and growth.
“Burn the bog. Let something new grow in its place.”
I was so very excited to read this book for many reasons, one, it being my first physical ARC in many many years and two, because how beautiful is this cover? A jackrabbit, say no more.
This book started difficult and slow for me there is a lot of authentic Chinese heritage in these pages which is a truly beautiful thing but it definitely made it more difficult to follow in the beginning before your truly got to know and understand the characters. But once I got into the rhythm of this book I was absolutely entranced.
Yang did such an incredible job with this debut novel, the thought and research that went into this novel made it that much more enjoyable and tragic to read. The time of the Oni couldn’t coincide better with the current pop culture trend of K-Pop Demon Hunter. But where K-Pop has made this cool and trendy Yang portrayed this demon for what it was. How it controls people and lives and how evil it can be, how it can be the demise of human life.
The time hopping kept the story exciting and flowing through many generations and their origin with the Oni.
What a beautiful story of family, history and growth.
“Burn the bog. Let something new grow in its place.”
November 24, 2025
4.5 stars! Forever will be in awe that A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is Alice Evelyn Yang's debut novel! This author will definitely be going places. I am excited to see what she writes next, and I will 100% be picking it up.
The prose was gorgeous, and I couldn't get enough of it. The author crafted such an intricate, well-thought-out plot with no gaps. The thought process and creation that had to have gone on behind the scenes is amazing.
I love fiction that makes me feel as though I am learning, also. We got to see a lot of the Japanese aspects woven throughout the novel. I felt as though I was learning customs, events, folklore, and familial relationships.
I was not sure how much I would like this novel since it started out slowly. The slowness slowly dissipated as we got to know more about the story and the characters. I was gripping, and you do not even realize how invested in the family saga that you are. The different POVs and settings hit you hard.
Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow, & Alice Evelyn Yang for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing will be released on January 27, 2026!
The prose was gorgeous, and I couldn't get enough of it. The author crafted such an intricate, well-thought-out plot with no gaps. The thought process and creation that had to have gone on behind the scenes is amazing.
I love fiction that makes me feel as though I am learning, also. We got to see a lot of the Japanese aspects woven throughout the novel. I felt as though I was learning customs, events, folklore, and familial relationships.
I was not sure how much I would like this novel since it started out slowly. The slowness slowly dissipated as we got to know more about the story and the characters. I was gripping, and you do not even realize how invested in the family saga that you are. The different POVs and settings hit you hard.
Thank you NetGalley, William Morrow, & Alice Evelyn Yang for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing will be released on January 27, 2026!
October 22, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing was an emotional and invocative family saga that had me crying towards the end. We have Qianze’s narrative situated in the present day, her Ba (Wihong) during his youth in the midst of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and his mother (Ming) and her experiences within China under Japanese occupation. Themes of intergenerational trauma, forgiveness, family bonds/relationships, the devastating effects of colonization, and oppressive regimes are woven throughout the narrative in a way that is striking and engrossing. Once I started, I couldn't put the book down. The transition between Qianze’s, Wihong's, and Ming’s POV was done beautifully, and I thought they flowed into each other smoothly. This was an incredibly moving story, and I loved Yang’s use of magical realism to characterize the long-lasting effects of trauma. This was an incredible debut novel, and I can’t wait to pick it up once it's published.
Thank you to the author, William Morrow Books, and NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you to the author, William Morrow Books, and NetGalley for the ARC!
August 15, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing completely swept me away. The prose is gorgeous, so vivid and alive that it carried me through the story even when the subject matter was heavy. Alice Evelyn Yang weaves together folklore, history, and family in a way that feels effortless, moving between the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Cultural Revolution, and the present day without losing the emotional core.
Qianze’s complicated relationship with her father gives the book its heart, but the story stretches across generations, showing how trauma and colonialism leave marks that never fully fade. The touches of magical realism, from fox spirits in the streets to a jackalope in the shadows, slip in so naturally they feel like part of the real world.
Beautiful, haunting, and impossible to forget.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
Qianze’s complicated relationship with her father gives the book its heart, but the story stretches across generations, showing how trauma and colonialism leave marks that never fully fade. The touches of magical realism, from fox spirits in the streets to a jackalope in the shadows, slip in so naturally they feel like part of the real world.
Beautiful, haunting, and impossible to forget.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
November 28, 2025
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is a truly impressive debut novel and one of my favourite reads of the year, and dare I say it, a modern masterpiece.
Written in rich, vivid intricate prose, it's a tale of the horrors of colonialism, the atrocities and trauma that inescapably follow, and how this trauma can and does pass down through the generations.
It's heart wrenching at times, definitely made me feel uncomfortable, and rightly so, and gave me the chills. But at it's heart, it's a story of relationships and the devastating effects of generational trauma.
Told through multiple timelines, it's a real tour de force of magical realism with more than a great dash or two of Chinese history all wrapped up in a read that I'm sure will hold your attention throughout.
A massive 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.
Written in rich, vivid intricate prose, it's a tale of the horrors of colonialism, the atrocities and trauma that inescapably follow, and how this trauma can and does pass down through the generations.
It's heart wrenching at times, definitely made me feel uncomfortable, and rightly so, and gave me the chills. But at it's heart, it's a story of relationships and the devastating effects of generational trauma.
Told through multiple timelines, it's a real tour de force of magical realism with more than a great dash or two of Chinese history all wrapped up in a read that I'm sure will hold your attention throughout.
A massive 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 's from me.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 stars!
It was a very slow start and at times I had difficulty keeping the characters straight in my head due to the way the timeline bounced around. There were a couple of moments I seriously considered not finishing. I am so glad I pushed through because man did I end up loving this.
I feel like I learned a lot about Chinese history that I didn't know or understand previously and I always enjoy learning something new but what I really love is the way Yang portrays generational trauma. How it occurs, how we as humans recognize it and repeat the pattern, the different ways we deal with it. I thought Yang's portrayal was painful and beautiful and, most of all, powerful. And the ending, in my opinion, was perfection. This one will stay with me for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.
It was a very slow start and at times I had difficulty keeping the characters straight in my head due to the way the timeline bounced around. There were a couple of moments I seriously considered not finishing. I am so glad I pushed through because man did I end up loving this.
I feel like I learned a lot about Chinese history that I didn't know or understand previously and I always enjoy learning something new but what I really love is the way Yang portrays generational trauma. How it occurs, how we as humans recognize it and repeat the pattern, the different ways we deal with it. I thought Yang's portrayal was painful and beautiful and, most of all, powerful. And the ending, in my opinion, was perfection. This one will stay with me for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC.
September 3, 2025
4.5⭐️ First, thank you Alice Evelyn Yang, William Morrow Books, and GoodReads for the ARC!
…
This debut is a beautifully crafted work of dark magical realism, exploring generational trauma, colonialism, and morality amid war and conflict. Yang’s prose is lyrical yet unflinching, deftly weaving together folklore, history, and raw emotion in a way that feels both timeless and urgent.
…
It’s not always an easy read, but it’s the kind that lingers, inspiring thoughts about memory, survival, and the narratives that define us.
…
This debut is a beautifully crafted work of dark magical realism, exploring generational trauma, colonialism, and morality amid war and conflict. Yang’s prose is lyrical yet unflinching, deftly weaving together folklore, history, and raw emotion in a way that feels both timeless and urgent.
…
It’s not always an easy read, but it’s the kind that lingers, inspiring thoughts about memory, survival, and the narratives that define us.
November 20, 2025
A family epic set in Manchuria, China and the US. Qianze's missing father reappears after a decade long absence, going on about a prophecy. In his rambles, she learns about his involvement with the cultural revolution, as well as other family secrets. She soon becomes haunted by various mythical beasts. What is done exceptionally well, is the artful blending of myths and history as well as how generational trauma is passed down for generations. Readers of Pachinko will love this book.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
November 21, 2025
this was a well written story and over all a good book, but with that said I didn't enjoy reading the last 100 pages. That is completely a me thing, this story wasn't for me, I was hoping for more magic weaving throughout the histories of the family, but I think that everyone should read it. The author did a good job showing how generational trauma effects each nee generation and how why they tried to do better they still messed up the next one, all with just a little bit of magic and prophecy thrown in
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