The Shadow Book of Ji Yun: The Chinese Classic of Weird True Tales, Horror Stories, and Occult Knowledge

by Yun Ji, Yi Izzy Yu (Translator), John Yu Branscum (Translator)

Imagine if a national political figure like Benjamin Franklin was also a paranormal investigator, one who wrote up his investigations with a storytelling flair that reads like a combination of M.R. James, Lafcadio Hearn, and Zhuangzi—with a dash of the bureaucratic absurdism of Kafka sprinkled in, alongside a healthy dose of H.P. Lovecraft’s weird antiquarianism. In China, at roughly the same time that Franklin was filling the sky with electrified kites, there was such a figure. He was Special Advisor to the emperor of China, Imperial Librarian, and one of the most celebrated scholars and poets of his time. His name was Ji Yun (纪昀).

Beginning in 1789, Ji Yun published five volumes of weird tales and ghost stories that mixed supernatural autobiographical accounts with early speculative fictions. Blending insights into Chinese magic and metaphysics with tales of cannibal villages, sentient fogs, alien encounters, and fox spirits; as well as accounts of soul swapping, haunted cities, and the "jiangshi" (the Chinese vampire); there is no literary work quite like that of Ji Yun.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, China, Fantasy, Fiction, Classics, Weird Fiction

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 2021

Reviews

[L.S. Popovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important work of world literature. Chinese weird tales and supernatural folklore have been around for a very long time. They are a source of breathtaking variety in storytelling and a root cause of addictive page-turning. Stop watching Ghost Hunters and start reading Pu Songling and Yun Ji. You may be treated with little bits of enlightenment amid the relentless entertainment of a thrilling tale well told.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

more on this one later.

[Tess Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is utterly fascinating. It gripped me from the start and I devoured it in one sitting. A must read!

[Sabrina Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine if H.P. Lovecraft were Chinese and his tales were true. Or if a national, political figure like Benjamin Franklin was also a paranormal investigator—one who wrote up his investigations with a chilling, story-telling flair that reads like a combination of Italo Calvino, Lafcadio Hearn, and Zhuangzi. Ji Yun published five volumes of strange tales that combined supernatural and frequently moving autobiographical accounts with early speculative fictions beginning in 1789 revolutionising Chinese speculative fiction. The Shadow book of Ji Yun is the literary translation of some of these stories.

This is a fantastic book of creepy tales, the writing is beautiful and the translations keep the unsettling tone that must have been present in the originals. The combinations of Taoist, Buddhist and other ideas of the supernatural and the after life are fascinating and added to the stories as they are no longer just ghost stories but tales steeped in fact and belief which makes them all the more strange. The lengths of the stories vary but they are all the perfect length and all of them make you want to read the next one.

This collection shows off the incredible power of Zhiguai,  true tales of strangeness beyond our reality, and I can't wait to read more by the authors. Another book by these authors is "Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix" which is another incredible book!

[A.Y. Chao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up I have heard many of the Chinese ghost stories, but have never found a satisfying English version of these stories, so was delighted to come across The Shadow Book of Ji Yun. The translation is smooth and the voice is compelling, so much so Ji Yun felt like a real person to me recounting these tales.

The stories themselves are a fun mix of observations and anecdotes, with some rather poignant insights.

I enjoyed this so much I'm going to pick up the authors' other work Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it fascinating, creepy and gripping. The world building is fascinating and the stories are great.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[DeAnna Knippling · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection of Chinese weird (true) tales.

I highly recommend this! A collection of Chinese weird tales, collected by a government bureaucrat who made a hobby of it. Everything from ghostly cities to seductive trees, all told with intensely human opinions and observations. Everything one might want in a collection of true but weird tales.

Just read it! Recommended if you like fairy tales or things that go bump in the night.

[Jennifer Ackerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this. Riffing off the publisher's description, think Pu Songling and Zhuangzi get jiggy with Ben Franklin and Lovecraft. Franklin in the eruptions of dry wit and wandering mind. Lovecraftian in the sense of cosmic horror and forces beyond the limits of the human mind and in terms of what Lovecraft says when he argues that Kwaidan is a stellar example of weird fiction (in Supernatural Horror in Literature). Recommended for fans of flash fiction/nonfiction, the weird, metaphysical philosophy, the paranormal, East Asian horror and spec prose. Or very strange memoir. In terms of the translation, I think the translators did a marvelous job of tackling the original classical Chinese too, the depth and power of which was underplayed in most translations to modern Chinese. It's not easy to unpack Ji Yun's thick classical language and at the same time craft a translation that speaks to a modern audience, but I think the translators pulled this off brilliantly. Though not mentioned elsewhere, I have to say also that I really like its depiction on non-binary gender identity via some of the supernatural creatures (fox spirits, apricot spirits, etc.) in this collection. I found that fascinating

[Jeffrey Powanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I read it slowly, carefully, enjoying each precious weird story like a bon bon in a box of fine chocolates. When I finished, I turned immediately to the beginning to read it again. It's the perfect book to pick up for a few minutes at a time, read a story or two, and then put it down again. I'll treasure it as much as my translations of Pu Songling's stories.

Many of Ji Yun's stories are so short they are like flash fiction, just a page or two about a strange or inexplicable incident. But the cumulative effect of them is powerful, opening a window to wonders and horrors you hadn't considered before. You'll begin to suspect that there is more to your mundane life than your senses can reveal. The stories also serve as a perfect writing prompt, leading you to imagine more elaborate and lengthy treatments.

The book has three parts: I. Strange Nonfictions, first-hand encounters with the uncanny or inexplicable, II. Fables and Philosophies, fabulous supernatural stories, and III. The End of Things, a single story about a conversation Ji Yun has with a friend about the fondness ghosts have for literature. Readers of Pu Songling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Liaozhai zhiyi) (which was published when Ji Yun was a young man) will find familiar themes in Ji Yun's zhiguai stories: hopping vampires (jiangshi), sentient frogs, fox spirits (huli jing), vengeful ghosts, body swappers, aliens, cannibals, and other bizarre creatures. It's a bountiful feast of strangeness. My favorite story of the collection is "Apricot Spirit," a fascinating tale about the fluidity of gender identity.

Kudos to translators Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum for a wonderful translation from the classical Chinese. The book is elegantly formatted, with more than 80 of the 1,200 zhiguai stories Ji Yun wrote. In addition to a wonderful introduction (which compares Ji Yun to Benjamin Franklin!), there are generous supplemental chapters that include story notes, a timeline of Ji Yun's life, reading group questions, notes on the translation, an interview with the translators, and suggestions for further reading, all serving to enrich this delectable collection.

There's a whole treasure chest of Ji Yun stories awaiting translation. I hope that the translators give us more of Ji Yun in subsequent volumes. In the meantime, I'll read their companion volume, Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix, personal stories that make us question the nature of reality.

[books4chess · Rating 5 out of 5]

"How a sign is read depends on who it's read for and under what circumstances. A sign does not exist apart from its larger context. And this context must be fully considered before an interpretation is made--just as one looks at a whole poem before thinking about the meaning of an image within".

Trigger warning: violence, cannibalism

Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum and quickly becoming two of my favourite translators, curating rich Chinese stories and making them accessible to a large part of the public, without taking away any original meaning and intention. Their books are a true ode to Chinese spirituality and touch on a combination of religious and community beliefs. Many areas touched left me with goosebumps and the desire to further research later - especially the concepts of meat vegetables and the tricks of spirits seeking out substitutes. Whilst I adored their other book, Zhiguai, The Shadow Book offered equally fascinating tales from a more historical lens.

The authors place no judgement and push no personal opinion, instead they bring the reader into a world previously unknown to many. Although the book could be devoured in one sitting, it is filled to the brim with stories that left me putting the book down in order to process the knowledge instead of fly through.

Reviews are easy to write for average books but prove difficult for such an exceptional anthology of paranormal stories. It's clear that every single tale remained true to the individual retelling, both when initially collected and later when translated. I felt the fear, excitement and emotion captured in between every chapter and adored the introduction to lesser known Chinese terms around the 'other realm'. My only question - when is the next book coming out?

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Kristy Kulski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treasure trove of the strange, creepy, and wise. Each story is unique to itself... interesting accounts, unexplainable claims, and moments of emotional truth that are hidden like gems. Special acknowledgement to the editors and translators for their painstaking attention to detail. They succeed wonderfully at communicating this work to an English speaking audience while maintaining the spirit of each piece. The Story Notes provide an excellent enrichment to understanding the pieces in a deeper cultural and historical context. I was totally delighted by this entire collection and thankful for the translation so that I could have the opportunity to discover and experience these stories for myself. Absolutely, one of my new favorite literary works.

[Ines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved reading this book. It was so interesting to immerse myself into these old stories, try to read between the lines and discover parallels to stories I knew. I learned a lot, and I felt very entertained as well. Of course I liked some stories more than others, but that's only natural considering the sheer amount there is. Some were delightfully creepy, others made me think for a long time.
All in all, I recommend this book to everybody interested in history, in weird/horror stories and in broadening their horizon outside of the US and Europe.

Thank you to the publisher, Empress Wu Books, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Shangread-La · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun is the English translation of an eclectic collection of weird and purportedly true tales of the paranormal and unexplained in 18th century China as told by celebrated scholar, poet, and respected government advisor Ji Yun. While I wouldn’t necessarily describe all of these stories as horror, a few of them are truly disturbing, even to the modern reader.

Ji Yun delves into the world of spirits, the nature of life and death, the process of reincarnation, and the underbelly of human behaviour in short story form. Most of these tales are only a handful of pages, but explore many oddities as experienced by or told to Ji Yun throughout his long and eventful life. Ji Yun’s comments and thoughts on the paranormal and unexplained are very insightful in light of the time in which he lived.

The translators give some background on Ji Yun in the preface to the collection to put the stories into context. At the conclusion of the translation, there is a section providing insight into specific spirits and other subjects touched on in the original stories, a timeline of major events in Ji Yun’s life, and some history of the genre as a whole. Their contributions to this edition definitely add value to the collection.

Even though The Shadow Book was not exactly what I was expecting, it was a great read. I found the majority of the stories intriguing and entertaining, but not particularly scary, although I have to admit that a couple of them did make me squirm! This may be due in part to their brief nature, as it’s difficult to build suspense in just a few pages. It also may be that Ji Yun was more interested in sharing similar collected experiences in an attempt to explain or confirm various paranormal phenomena than providing entertainment, as later became popular with greatly embellished stories of a similar nature.

If you are a fan of the weird, paranormal and disturbing, this collection is for you! It’s easy to pick up, read a few stories, and come back to it later. They also lend themselves to reading aloud, as my husband and daughter can attest!

[D L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of stories by Yi Jun are a fascinating insight into the lives of the Chinese people of the late 18th and 19th century. The horror stories take up about a third of the book and what follows is a collection of broad moral fables, ghost stories and superstitions. I very rarely saw the Lovecraftian connection, but that might be just me.
The most interesting aspect of the book was when the stories touched on the traditions and lifestyles of the Chinese people. A man with a house built on a lucky day and pointing in the correct direction can be treated better than someone who builds his house on an unlucky day. Then there are the levels of cannibalism during this time.
A good read with an interesting collection of stories. This book was provided by NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

[Geneve Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun is a fascinating glimpse into the world of Chinese ghosts and the weird, and the thinking around what is natural and supernatural. The book is an important resource, and is in turns strange, matter-of-fact, and eerie. Highly recommended.

[BlurbGoesHere · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun: The Chinese Classic of Weird True Tales, Horror Stories, and Occult Knowledge

[Blurb Goes Here]

Now, this was a very interesting read. According to the book, Ji Yun, a man who lived in the late eighteen century, compiled these stories of "the strange". What makes this book different to an anthology is that anthologies are just compendiums of different genres, with good to bad stories.

These stories of the strange, in contrast, are lifeless narrations of events, events that are later explained by Ji Yun as if he was trying to leave the reader with a moral and a "rational" explanation, only rational if you believe in the things depicted in the stories.

Still there's much to learn in this Shadow Book of Ji Yun, since the Chinese legends he mentions are similar to the ones from other parts of the world. The existence of a creature akin to big foot, UFO abductions, vampires, just to name a few.

Thank you for the advanced copy!

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of short tales from the 18th century, a combination of folklore, personal experience, and urban legend-like "friend of a friend" narratives. I frankly tore through them like a bag of chips, aided by the length, since some are only like a page long. Reading this made me think a lot of our ideas about things like story structure have become really limited. There's no reason you can't tell a really imaginative, reality-bending tale in a factual tone, in a short space! Judging by the brief statements at the end, this new translation was a labor of love, and it's a real contribution to the Chinese "weird tales" genre (along with "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio," which I read some years back). Definitely recommended for anyone interested in ghost stories and the paranormal, either fictional or nonfictional.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read. It didn’t have as much occult or horror elements as I was expecting - the blurb made me think this would be something like a Qing Dynasty Lovecraft - but it was nonetheless very interesting, and I enjoyed reading it.

This book is a translation of many of the writings of a 18th/19th century Qing Dynasty official named Ji Yun. He was well-known and well-regarded; a comparison is made to Benjamin Franklin for an American of similar stature. More as a personal project than as part of his official duties, he collected tales of the supernatural and other assorted strange events. This book is a translation of many of these stories he collected, with accompanying contextual information.

There’s no central thread or overarching narrative here; it’s literally a collection of anecdotes, stories, folklore, rumors, and Ji Yun’s personal experiences. Mixed throughout are Ji Yun’s own ideas and opinions. He’s skeptical about many of the things he recorded, but also open minded. If there’s one central theme to this book, it’s that there’s much more to this world than we know.

As much as anything else, I enjoyed this as a window into a culture and period I’m rather shamefully ignorant of. Ji Yun’s worldview is very Confucianist, with a lot of Daoism and Buddhism mixed in, and the way he views the world is very interesting to me. Which made the clear parallels to what I would call “Western” ideas like zombies and vampires particularly striking.

Every item in here is short - none are longer than a dozen pages or so. I think this would be better as something to read while reading something else- a few pages here, a story or two there - rather than as a straight narrative.

[Catarina Prata · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Copy provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

What an amazing collection of stories! As a horror lover myself, I was sadly not presented to chinese horror sooner. However, and after reading this collection, I do believe it might rank very high on the type of horror stories I love to read. There is a creepy feeling to all the themes, but also nostalgia, sadness and a lot of questionning who or what we are, what is the world like and if what we take as reality is, in fact, all there is. I was marvelled by these and will for sure search for more chinese authors and stories.

[tara bomp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fascinating book, as a book of stories and as a historical look at how the supernatural was seen to intersect the natural at one point in time. There seems to be not much about the book in English academic works, except that it exists, so my understanding is from just the introduction to this translation, but the guy was a high level bureaucrat and a lot of the stories are specifically attributed to his friends' experiences or sometimes his own personal experience.

For example, there's one story titled "checkpoints" in this collection (the titles have been added by the translators for ease of reference) about how he was assigned to a frontier province and suddenly asked to produce passports for dead spirits so they can travel with their bodies back to their hometowns. Initially he refuses because obviously spirits don't need passports but after a few weeks he can detect a strangeness in the city that he attributes to the spirits being stuck and so he produces passports backdated and the spirits clear. He asks a friend who says maybe it originally started as a scam by a local official but now the belief is so engrained the spirits genuinely can't move without the paper. And ends on a note marvelling at how paper defines our reality.

Not all the stories are particularly noteworthy but all reflect something interesting and give a view of the supernatural that's totally different to English folklore, say. The way that he often ties a rational explanation within a Taoist/Confucian/Buddhist framework into the story is fascinating. And the assumption that supernatural things just happen and should be prepared for and worked around as shown through common sense advice... It's really interesting.

Of course it's hard to know how much of the stories are intentional fiction and how much genuinely reflect what he believed happened. He affects a sceptical air in a lot of stories but is also seemingly easily convinced. it might also be due to the specific selection of stories from, apparently, thousands - of course the more prosaic stories where he totally dismisses the supernatural wouldn't make it in. Still, even read as intentional fiction there's a lot of good stories. And it's funny when the stories buck expectations - there's one which is set up exactly like a classic locked room mystery with a detective who comes and lists all the things like exploring motive, means, the nature of the crime, suspects, how it happened etc. And then at the end he just goes "this is impossible so it's supernatural crime. Case closed"

The book also has some good story notes and a decent introduction. Recommended if you like weird tales in general, especially if you enjoy strange tales from a Chinese studio

[Zachary Mays · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nearly flawless collection of Chinese Weird Tales. A portal into a different time and place, and yet that place feels surprisingly contemporary. Stefon voice: "This book has everything: ghosts, fairies, abductions, strange creatures, body horror, Taoist metaphysics, a homunculus living inside of a turtle" ...and much larger dose of wisdom than I first expected to find. I am interested to learn more about the figure of Ji Yun, and maybe even in reading an expanded collection.

[John Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite what the title might suggest, the book is not simply period genre fiction. The author, Ji Yun (1724–1805), was a renowned scholar of the mid-Qing period and, though a Confucianist, was attracted to Taoist thought. Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum's selection of about ninety stories from an original total of over 1000 is satisfying in its quality and range, and their translations are fresh and readable and unencumbered with commentary beyond a modest number of useful notes collected at the end of the book. Some of the stories are more engrossing than others, but all are interesting and thoughtful. One of the best new Chinese literature in translation publications of 2021. 5 stars.

[James Pollard]

Makes me want to learn more about Chinese culture and history. I enjoyed the matter-of-fact quality of Ji Yun’s writing in these interesting occult, philosophical, spiritual stories passed from family members, interviewees, friends, colleagues, and his own experience. It sounds as though it would be fascinating to read more about the author himself. We get some of his biography in little bits: references to his high education, his work for the emperor, his exile and return, etc.

From one story to another we see warnings of advancing gun technology, musings on the different natures of ghosts, yin, yang, and Qi energies, Buddhist sects, body swapping, demons, destiny and so many other things.

I appreciated the notes on each story and the timeline of Ji Yun’s life which gave historical context from the 18th century which are found in the back of the book.

Above all remeber this: “The world is full of hustlers of fake magic. But the art of planchette divination is the real thing. Spirits really do take control of a medium's hand and guide it as it scrawls characters in a table of sand. I say this because not only have I examined the matter closely, but I also have served as a medium myself.”

Thanks to the translators for the opportunity to read this

[Alex Townley · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Read and reviewed on Instagram and NetGalley in July 2021)

This has been a truly fascinating read for me, that I'm sure I'll return to again and again. After reading through a first time, it's written in such a way that I could pick and choose my favourites to reread. It's been written so beautifully, you could more than likely do this easily without a first full read-through, but I feel like the introduction, references and chronologally of the sections work so well in giving a full experience, it's really worth experiencing the whole thing.

The concept of Zhiguai, the stories themselves full of strange and wonderful themes, are incredible in their own right. I love the variety and depth to them, and they were woven so beautifully into the telling by Ji Yun. They vary in length and impact, but all have an interesting point to make. Some were really chilling! There's loads in here, so it won't be something you whizz through too quickly either - it feels substantial yet consistently interesting.

I found the introduction to be elegantly and informatively written again, an element I found in the authors' other work (Zhiguai, on similar themes in a modern setting). I also really appreciated all the informative notes towards the end, detailing historical or linguistic tidbits that helped to explain further, especially for a Western reader.

Ji Yun's life sounds very interesting, and I hope I get to learn more about him and his work in future. The tales show a unique and wonderful perspective into a significant element of Chinese history and culture, and this is clear from the way the tales and themes still show in Chinese media today (what little I have experienced of it, at least).

I think anyone with an interest strange tales, collected stories, Chinese myths & legends, or in modern xianxia and wuxia novels, would appreciate this fantastic book, and I will happily recommend to anyone I feel will enjoy!

[Potato McB · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 4.25. I should have reviewed this when I first finished it so I could truly do it justice, but it's not like I've forgotten anything about this book! It's made me sort of rethink some of my beliefs. The author was a librarian in Qing Dynasty China. As a fellow librarian, I respect his observations and rational/logical conclusions. He says that it's foolish to disregard evidence right before your eyes just because you're stubbornly clinging to "science" the way people cling to superstition or religion to explain away what is unclear. I'm a horror fanatic who also prides herself on being a woman of science. This contradiction confuses even me sometimes. In horror movies and games, one of the most annoying characters is the nonbeliever. You want to scream at them to shut up and pay attention. The truth is that there are many things in this world that remain unexplained, and what Ji Yun's stories and recordings remind us of is that the possibility exists and we should be more open-minded to that idea. Also, LOVED the selection of stories. All of them are weird, some of them are philosophical, and some are actually quite eerie.

[Rosemary Thorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

It could be the plot of an excellent movie or TV series: in the middle of the 18th century, a curious and very literate Chinese civil servant is commissioned to write a record of extraordinary and supernatural events. With that intent, Ji Yun goes to wherever the uncanny shows itself out of control and crossing the mysterious threshold of the invisible, being proof that we ALL are the very flesh of wonder.

If we come to think of it, the wonderful scares us without further ado: lacking the pulse of an Alice, we've lost spontaneity and curiosity, demanding explanations for Everything. Ji Yun walk us through all these amazing events, some of them quite dark and evil, to remember that life is but a mystery better enjoyed with a humble heart. If only we could keep silence and hold our answers, as Ji Yun did!

There's a great anecdote told by McLuhan: tribe members can't see pictures, they don't see what it is to see, their eyes move on the surface of the picture "not knowing what to see". That is a cultural construction we Westeners do very well, we grow being taught how to "look at pictures", and to see faces in a variation of colors on the surface. That is exactly what Yi Yun does: he teaches us how to LIVE and EXPERIENCE a "wonderful" event, how to live the extraordinary and to extract its precious knowledge without judging it.

As a horror writer and researcher of the Occult, this book translated into English by Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu, means for me the end of reason and a false enlightenment and the beginning of new language or gaze in which I daily train the shine of my eyes to not lose Ji Yun enchantment, even if it means that I am totally in the wrong century!

[Sammi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun is a wonderful collection of weird tales, horror stories and myths. It;s creepy, fantastical and bizarre. I grew up reading Grimm's Fairy Tales and adored them. I re-read them all over again a couple of years ago in my adulthood and they still held a special place in my heart.

This book hit the same feelings for me, but gave me something new and interesting to read too. This book gives us an insight into what life might have looked like for people living in 18th/19th century China. It was so interesting reading these stories and seeing the differences between them and the western counterparts. Though they still had the same feel about them.

Thank you to the publishers, the authors and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Melissa]

This book was enjoyable but a little repetitive. The description says that the author of the book would be the Chinese equivalent to Ben Franklin and I can see that. There is a collection of very short stories and anecdotes. Some are odd, some are cautionary, some discuss religion, and some are just hilarious. One story cautions men against using male enhancement herbs by describing what happened to a rat that got into a man's personal supply. I found myself skimming through some of the tales as they were not interesting or just somewhat repetitive, but overall I found this book enjoyable. I did not find anything overly scary in it but I enjoyed reading a slice of history during the time period this author wrote.

[Shiliang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up reading Ji Yun and this crazy good translation is the only one I've seen do his work justice. I don't want to write a bunch of spoilers. But the stories show off the weird power of zhiguai and are full of haunting ideas. Also an incredible tour of Chinese occult philosophy and folklore. So glad this is available in English. Fans of Junji Ito and Mieko Kawakami and Franz Kafka would love this.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shadow Book of Ji Yun is so fascinating. Sometimes the translations can get in the way of content, but that is no issue here. These books are essential for any horror enthusiast as so many of our mainstream tales tend to be borrowed from other cultures, especially Chinese/Japanese culture. Do yourself a favor and check this book out immediately!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!