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The Mu Chronicles #1
Beneath the Burning Wave
I was incapable of imagining what I had never seen…
Kaori and Kairi are the first twins to survive infancy on the ancient island of Mu, where gender is as fluid as the crashing waves. One was born of fire, the other of water.
But there’s a reason why none have survived before. A prophecy that has haunted the elders since time began. A rivalry destined to sink the entire island beneath a twin catastrophe of volcano and tsunami.
As hatred spills from the forbidden twins like the deadly poison of sacrificed sea snakes, they must decide what matters to them most…
The fight for the island – for tradition and duty.
Or the fight for freedom – for love and light.
The Mu Chronicles is a visionary YA fantasy trilogy exploring the origin of gender and desire in an epic queer fusion of Japanese folklore and Egyptian mythology.
Kaori and Kairi are the first twins to survive infancy on the ancient island of Mu, where gender is as fluid as the crashing waves. One was born of fire, the other of water.
But there’s a reason why none have survived before. A prophecy that has haunted the elders since time began. A rivalry destined to sink the entire island beneath a twin catastrophe of volcano and tsunami.
As hatred spills from the forbidden twins like the deadly poison of sacrificed sea snakes, they must decide what matters to them most…
The fight for the island – for tradition and duty.
Or the fight for freedom – for love and light.
The Mu Chronicles is a visionary YA fantasy trilogy exploring the origin of gender and desire in an epic queer fusion of Japanese folklore and Egyptian mythology.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2022
7 people are currently reading
335 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
June 3, 2023
Beneath the Burning Wave is an experimental YA-fantasy novel that I deeply respect and appreciated for everything it set out to do, but fear will only fit a very niche audience. As much as I hoped to be part of that niche target, I struggled more than I had expected to, leaving me with an overall mixed experience with this book.
What I loved:
We follow the story of Kaori and Kairi, twins who grow up on the ancient island of Mu, where magic flows and “gender is as fluid as the waves”. All their lives, they’ve been haunted by a generational prophecy that predicts they’re doomed to bring their community to ruin. One of them is born of water, one of fire, and natural rivalry will bring the island to its knees in flames and waves. Caught between their natural rivalry and ingrained tradition, and their desire to let peace and freedom rules, Kaori and Kairi must make a decision that will shape the future of their entire community.
I’m always supportive of unique and memorable fantasy, that dares to explore important themes, and take risks in the process. Especially with the YA-age-range, too few authors and publishers dare to push boundaries (even when it comes to diverse fiction), because it’s “less marketable”. Beneath the Burning Wave takes that risk and tells a compelling story in a completely unique way. The use of neo-pronouns (using the gender neutral “mu-mem” instead of he/she/them) throughout the entire book is something I’ve never seen done before in YA-fantasy. It slots well into the rest of Mu’s interesting world, infused with elements of lesser known Egyptian and Japanese mythology to create a setting and culture I kept wanting to explore further. I hope the later instalments in the series will continue to expand upon that.
What I didn’t love:
As much as I was invested and intrigued by the worldbuilding, I cannot say the same for the storyline and the characters. Mostly, this was due to the overwhelming feeling of confusion I felt throughout my reading experience. Beneath the Burning Wave is not an easily accessible novel, largely due to an already confusing story, but also due to some of the writing-choices. As much as I liked the idea of the neo-pronouns used, it did add to my confusion to distinguish (already similar) characters. Especially when the word “mu” is used to refer to “he”, “she”, “they/them”, but also the island itself. The fact that many have similar names (such as Kaori and Kairi) added to my confusion, and frankly made it impossible for me to listen to the audiobook alone, as I was constantly confused as to who was speaking.
As a small disclaimer: language-barrier may have contributed on my part, as English isn’t my first language. The Dutch approach to pronouns is different from the English and doesn’t even have the equivalent to a “they/them” pronoun, so this may have made it grammatically harder on me as a non-native speaker.
The second thing that confused and bothered me was how “binary” the story felt, despite its emphasis on (gender-)fluidity. Although there are no gender-pronouns and characters can switch between the two, there are quite distinct male and female gender-roles within the story, that go beyond biology. There’s still an interesting discussion to be had here, but it didn’t feel quite like the complete fluidity that was advertised…
Overall, I feel like Beneath the Burning Wave has the potential to be a great read, if you know what you’re getting into. If you’re a YA fantasy-reader, with an established interest in this topic and are open to more experimental style of writing; give this a try. If you’re looking for an approachable “introductory” fantasy-story, this may not be the perfect match for you.
Thanks to Harper UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
What I loved:
We follow the story of Kaori and Kairi, twins who grow up on the ancient island of Mu, where magic flows and “gender is as fluid as the waves”. All their lives, they’ve been haunted by a generational prophecy that predicts they’re doomed to bring their community to ruin. One of them is born of water, one of fire, and natural rivalry will bring the island to its knees in flames and waves. Caught between their natural rivalry and ingrained tradition, and their desire to let peace and freedom rules, Kaori and Kairi must make a decision that will shape the future of their entire community.
I’m always supportive of unique and memorable fantasy, that dares to explore important themes, and take risks in the process. Especially with the YA-age-range, too few authors and publishers dare to push boundaries (even when it comes to diverse fiction), because it’s “less marketable”. Beneath the Burning Wave takes that risk and tells a compelling story in a completely unique way. The use of neo-pronouns (using the gender neutral “mu-mem” instead of he/she/them) throughout the entire book is something I’ve never seen done before in YA-fantasy. It slots well into the rest of Mu’s interesting world, infused with elements of lesser known Egyptian and Japanese mythology to create a setting and culture I kept wanting to explore further. I hope the later instalments in the series will continue to expand upon that.
What I didn’t love:
As much as I was invested and intrigued by the worldbuilding, I cannot say the same for the storyline and the characters. Mostly, this was due to the overwhelming feeling of confusion I felt throughout my reading experience. Beneath the Burning Wave is not an easily accessible novel, largely due to an already confusing story, but also due to some of the writing-choices. As much as I liked the idea of the neo-pronouns used, it did add to my confusion to distinguish (already similar) characters. Especially when the word “mu” is used to refer to “he”, “she”, “they/them”, but also the island itself. The fact that many have similar names (such as Kaori and Kairi) added to my confusion, and frankly made it impossible for me to listen to the audiobook alone, as I was constantly confused as to who was speaking.
As a small disclaimer: language-barrier may have contributed on my part, as English isn’t my first language. The Dutch approach to pronouns is different from the English and doesn’t even have the equivalent to a “they/them” pronoun, so this may have made it grammatically harder on me as a non-native speaker.
The second thing that confused and bothered me was how “binary” the story felt, despite its emphasis on (gender-)fluidity. Although there are no gender-pronouns and characters can switch between the two, there are quite distinct male and female gender-roles within the story, that go beyond biology. There’s still an interesting discussion to be had here, but it didn’t feel quite like the complete fluidity that was advertised…
Overall, I feel like Beneath the Burning Wave has the potential to be a great read, if you know what you’re getting into. If you’re a YA fantasy-reader, with an established interest in this topic and are open to more experimental style of writing; give this a try. If you’re looking for an approachable “introductory” fantasy-story, this may not be the perfect match for you.
Thanks to Harper UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
October 26, 2024
An interesting depiction in the first two thirds of the book of a society in which the binary notion of sexuality does not exist in the use of pronouns. Instead of he/him/his or she/her/hers there is a neutral mu/mem/mir (mu referring to he or she, mem to him or her, and mir to his or her. It takes a little getting used to, an example is:
“At Takanori's side is my twin, Kairi, raising mir knees high and forcing mir feet through the sand's delicate skin. Kairi has thrust mir flaming torch above mir head, piercing the night sky.”
One's eye is often moved from the plot to begin with trying to understand who is what and what is who, but once one accepts that Mu is inhabited by people and not by men or women, boys or girls, it begins to make sense. It is a pity, however, that the plot stutters so much.
The Mu in the novel is not the continental Mu imagined by James Churchward. It appears to be quite a small island and its location is not certain but more about that later. It is occupied by only one tribe which is governed by the Experienced, basically a group of dictatorial elders. They may not be troubled by sexual inequality and see nothing untoward in same sex relationships, yet they are as plagued by rebellious teenage wailings of “it's not fair” as any 21st century community. So bring in Kaori and Kairi, the first set of twins allowed to survive through childhood on Mu. It's all down to some sort of prophecy of the “we're all doomed if this isn't done” type. Eventually it turns out that this is one prophecy that wasn't joking but that comes much later.
Kaori and Kairi have mystical powers – it's not explained why or how. Kaori, the female twin, has power over water and Kairi, the male twin, over fire. To say they don't get on is putting it mildly though at times it seems a great deal of their aggression is more sibling rivalry than serious threats and they often combine their dislike and point it towards the Experienced Takanori, who has more than one dark secret. One is easy to follow, but why he so desperately wants to see Mu destroyed is beyond me, he seems to have quite a comfortable life as chief Experienced.
After much toing and froing Kaori finds a mysterious sacred chamber guarded by snakes while Kairi ignites a gigantic volcano on the island – its appearance seems to take everyone by surprise – and moves his young followers, behaving like a sub-tribe of Lost Boys ready to worship a Lord of the Flies, to the other side of the island. While there he plots to gather more youngsters to his side and orders them to build some highly improbable boats – they seem to be very large seed pods with oars – while he prepares to make his volcano erupt and destroy Mu. Kaori meanwhile, after fighting her way through masses of snakes, understands Takanori's secret and decides to use her power over water to douse the volcanic flames while at the same time appearing to understand that the tsunami she will create will only help bring Mu to an end. It's all hands to the giant seed pods after that and hope that everyone can float away to somewhere new. While all this has been happening the pronouns quietly shift back to what most of us regard as conventional – Kairi is to blame though everyone else now seems quite happy about it.
The problem of location drifts in at the end. The author explains in her Afterword, Weaving the World of Mu, that her influences included Japanese mythology and a documentary on the Yonaguni monument, which is either a geological formation off the coast of Japan's Ryukyu Islands or what is left of the foundations of giant temple pyramid. If her island of Mu is in the western Pacific Ocean then the Mayans – that is Kairi's reformed people of Mu not the city builders of Central America, the plot complicates itself at times – had an incredible voyage to reach what appears to be the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, which is where volume two will take off. There aren't any sails on the seed pods, so they have been rowing all the way and must have ended up with forearms like Popeye.
As a fantasy novel it wanders about a bit and it is not always clear why people are behaving as they do or why things are happening in the way that they do, yet it has a certain attractiveness which hopefully will be expanded in the second and third volumes. I have to end with the author's Content Notice at the beginning of the book in which she suggests that any reader “overwhelmed” by the not very gruesome violence in the text should “discuss your feelings about violence” with either Childline (UK) or Samaritans (UK). One can only hope that none of her young readers will be tempted to watch The Exorcist. There will certainly be tears and a gnashing of teeth that no discussion with a sympathetic adviser would ever ease.
“At Takanori's side is my twin, Kairi, raising mir knees high and forcing mir feet through the sand's delicate skin. Kairi has thrust mir flaming torch above mir head, piercing the night sky.”
One's eye is often moved from the plot to begin with trying to understand who is what and what is who, but once one accepts that Mu is inhabited by people and not by men or women, boys or girls, it begins to make sense. It is a pity, however, that the plot stutters so much.
The Mu in the novel is not the continental Mu imagined by James Churchward. It appears to be quite a small island and its location is not certain but more about that later. It is occupied by only one tribe which is governed by the Experienced, basically a group of dictatorial elders. They may not be troubled by sexual inequality and see nothing untoward in same sex relationships, yet they are as plagued by rebellious teenage wailings of “it's not fair” as any 21st century community. So bring in Kaori and Kairi, the first set of twins allowed to survive through childhood on Mu. It's all down to some sort of prophecy of the “we're all doomed if this isn't done” type. Eventually it turns out that this is one prophecy that wasn't joking but that comes much later.
Kaori and Kairi have mystical powers – it's not explained why or how. Kaori, the female twin, has power over water and Kairi, the male twin, over fire. To say they don't get on is putting it mildly though at times it seems a great deal of their aggression is more sibling rivalry than serious threats and they often combine their dislike and point it towards the Experienced Takanori, who has more than one dark secret. One is easy to follow, but why he so desperately wants to see Mu destroyed is beyond me, he seems to have quite a comfortable life as chief Experienced.
After much toing and froing Kaori finds a mysterious sacred chamber guarded by snakes while Kairi ignites a gigantic volcano on the island – its appearance seems to take everyone by surprise – and moves his young followers, behaving like a sub-tribe of Lost Boys ready to worship a Lord of the Flies, to the other side of the island. While there he plots to gather more youngsters to his side and orders them to build some highly improbable boats – they seem to be very large seed pods with oars – while he prepares to make his volcano erupt and destroy Mu. Kaori meanwhile, after fighting her way through masses of snakes, understands Takanori's secret and decides to use her power over water to douse the volcanic flames while at the same time appearing to understand that the tsunami she will create will only help bring Mu to an end. It's all hands to the giant seed pods after that and hope that everyone can float away to somewhere new. While all this has been happening the pronouns quietly shift back to what most of us regard as conventional – Kairi is to blame though everyone else now seems quite happy about it.
The problem of location drifts in at the end. The author explains in her Afterword, Weaving the World of Mu, that her influences included Japanese mythology and a documentary on the Yonaguni monument, which is either a geological formation off the coast of Japan's Ryukyu Islands or what is left of the foundations of giant temple pyramid. If her island of Mu is in the western Pacific Ocean then the Mayans – that is Kairi's reformed people of Mu not the city builders of Central America, the plot complicates itself at times – had an incredible voyage to reach what appears to be the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, which is where volume two will take off. There aren't any sails on the seed pods, so they have been rowing all the way and must have ended up with forearms like Popeye.
As a fantasy novel it wanders about a bit and it is not always clear why people are behaving as they do or why things are happening in the way that they do, yet it has a certain attractiveness which hopefully will be expanded in the second and third volumes. I have to end with the author's Content Notice at the beginning of the book in which she suggests that any reader “overwhelmed” by the not very gruesome violence in the text should “discuss your feelings about violence” with either Childline (UK) or Samaritans (UK). One can only hope that none of her young readers will be tempted to watch The Exorcist. There will certainly be tears and a gnashing of teeth that no discussion with a sympathetic adviser would ever ease.
July 17, 2022
This is incredibly poorly written, with simplistic language, shallow characters, and a complete failure of worldbuilding. Burning Wave is supposed to feature a nonbinary society, but despite everyone using neopronouns, people are still divided by biological sex, with forced roles for those who can become pregnant, aka ‘carriers’.
{A seventeen orbit carrier without a maymu is a freak.}
(Seventeen orbit = seventeen years old, maymu = baby.)
When talking about sexual attraction, one character puts it thus
{I think I prefer my opposite rather than my same.}
Hi – you have completely failed to create a nonbinary, or genderfluid, society. It’s actually kind of embarassing. When you discard the male/female binary, there is no longer any concept of ‘opposites’. So it makes absolutely no sense for your characters to think about it this way.
I was also pretty unhappy that the characters are clearly coded traditionally masculine and feminine, and that it’s the XY characters who have ‘male’ traits and the XX ones who are feminine. Seriously? Not only does your allegedly genderfluid society divide people by sex, you couldn’t be bothered to explore or experiment outside traditional gender roles? Why use neogenders and nonbinary pronouns if you’re just going to replicate the Western cisheteronormative system???
Other reviewers have mentioned that the writing is incredibly confusing. This is very much the case. I was rarely able to understand the reasoning or motivations behind anyone’s actions, and at times the writing just dissolved into the nonsensical.
{I don’t want to live anymore anyway. I am already dead. You all buried me. I am free. I am your fear. I am the air. The sky. The dying. The dead. You are all living in my tomb. I am outside breathing while you suffocate in my stench. Look at you. Your sanctimony. You feast on willing, weak minds to elevate your own sick soul. I am you. You are me. I am half of nothing. You are nothing. Truth is not in this chamber. No one in this chamber seeks truth. You are not judging me. You are judging yourself. You would do what I do if you had the guts. Instead, you are submerged in stagnant red pools. You pretend to be horrified but I see your pleasure. It drips down your legs. Lick it up. It is as close to escape as you will get. I am the horizon. The point of no return. You can finish me but I will begin again.}
This isn’t the speech of a god, or someone communing with some kind of spirit, or even someone intoxicated: this is the inner monologue of one of the main characters when they are brought before the ‘court’ on charges.
Um???
On top of that, the author has filled the book with invented words, without ever explaining what those words mean. Is this noun an animal, vegetable, or mineral? I have no idea. Because characters were described as ‘curling up like a coco’ multiple times, I was picturing some kind of small animal, but eventually I worked out that it’s actually some kind of fruit or nut. Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either – who curls up like a nut? And there are dozens of other terms where it was never clear if the characters were referring to an insect or rodent or maybe a big cat???
This next part isn’t down to bad writing, exactly, just extremely unpleasant: one of the two main characters is a sadist who really, really despises ‘carriers’, and wow it was not fun being in their head.
{I don’t like carriers. I think they are pathetic for letting a maymu take their purpose…They don’t seem to live as long as Maymuans and even if they did they are never allowed to become Experienced.}
Experienced = elders, the governing body of this society. So this genderfluid culture still manages to be sexist towards anyone without a penis. Why???
There are also a lot of scenes involving violence towards animals. I appreciated the author including a content warning for this; however, it seemed hugely gratuitous: at one point a character is walking in the woods and without looking, randomly punches an owl off its branch.
…Why? We already know this character is a villain. You really don’t need to have them punching owls to underline it for us. It’s so stupid it almost becomes funny. Why would anyone punch a random owl? It makes no sense, especially in a culture where you can face the death penalty for killing an animal. But the characters don’t even comment on it, never mind explain it.
To go back to bad writing: it is a bad idea to give your main characters almost identical names. Other reviewers have talked about not being able to hear the difference on the audiobook, and I can tell you that even reading the names on a page, they’re easy to mix up. Writers, please don’t do this.
Finally, I learned that the sadist character is going to set up their own society and it will be misogyny central. I was going to DNF this book already, but when I heard that…I just cannot even.
I read 32%, and it was 32% too much.
{A seventeen orbit carrier without a maymu is a freak.}
(Seventeen orbit = seventeen years old, maymu = baby.)
When talking about sexual attraction, one character puts it thus
{I think I prefer my opposite rather than my same.}
Hi – you have completely failed to create a nonbinary, or genderfluid, society. It’s actually kind of embarassing. When you discard the male/female binary, there is no longer any concept of ‘opposites’. So it makes absolutely no sense for your characters to think about it this way.
I was also pretty unhappy that the characters are clearly coded traditionally masculine and feminine, and that it’s the XY characters who have ‘male’ traits and the XX ones who are feminine. Seriously? Not only does your allegedly genderfluid society divide people by sex, you couldn’t be bothered to explore or experiment outside traditional gender roles? Why use neogenders and nonbinary pronouns if you’re just going to replicate the Western cisheteronormative system???
Other reviewers have mentioned that the writing is incredibly confusing. This is very much the case. I was rarely able to understand the reasoning or motivations behind anyone’s actions, and at times the writing just dissolved into the nonsensical.
{I don’t want to live anymore anyway. I am already dead. You all buried me. I am free. I am your fear. I am the air. The sky. The dying. The dead. You are all living in my tomb. I am outside breathing while you suffocate in my stench. Look at you. Your sanctimony. You feast on willing, weak minds to elevate your own sick soul. I am you. You are me. I am half of nothing. You are nothing. Truth is not in this chamber. No one in this chamber seeks truth. You are not judging me. You are judging yourself. You would do what I do if you had the guts. Instead, you are submerged in stagnant red pools. You pretend to be horrified but I see your pleasure. It drips down your legs. Lick it up. It is as close to escape as you will get. I am the horizon. The point of no return. You can finish me but I will begin again.}
This isn’t the speech of a god, or someone communing with some kind of spirit, or even someone intoxicated: this is the inner monologue of one of the main characters when they are brought before the ‘court’ on charges.
Um???
On top of that, the author has filled the book with invented words, without ever explaining what those words mean. Is this noun an animal, vegetable, or mineral? I have no idea. Because characters were described as ‘curling up like a coco’ multiple times, I was picturing some kind of small animal, but eventually I worked out that it’s actually some kind of fruit or nut. Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either – who curls up like a nut? And there are dozens of other terms where it was never clear if the characters were referring to an insect or rodent or maybe a big cat???
This next part isn’t down to bad writing, exactly, just extremely unpleasant: one of the two main characters is a sadist who really, really despises ‘carriers’, and wow it was not fun being in their head.
{I don’t like carriers. I think they are pathetic for letting a maymu take their purpose…They don’t seem to live as long as Maymuans and even if they did they are never allowed to become Experienced.}
Experienced = elders, the governing body of this society. So this genderfluid culture still manages to be sexist towards anyone without a penis. Why???
There are also a lot of scenes involving violence towards animals. I appreciated the author including a content warning for this; however, it seemed hugely gratuitous: at one point a character is walking in the woods and without looking, randomly punches an owl off its branch.
…Why? We already know this character is a villain. You really don’t need to have them punching owls to underline it for us. It’s so stupid it almost becomes funny. Why would anyone punch a random owl? It makes no sense, especially in a culture where you can face the death penalty for killing an animal. But the characters don’t even comment on it, never mind explain it.
To go back to bad writing: it is a bad idea to give your main characters almost identical names. Other reviewers have talked about not being able to hear the difference on the audiobook, and I can tell you that even reading the names on a page, they’re easy to mix up. Writers, please don’t do this.
Finally, I learned that the sadist character is going to set up their own society and it will be misogyny central. I was going to DNF this book already, but when I heard that…I just cannot even.
I read 32%, and it was 32% too much.
July 23, 2022
DNF @ 27%
Was interested in how the author would explore a society where gender is "as fluid as the waves", but marks the second book this year where the author promises to explore a re-imagined concept of gender and society only to immediately fall back on traditional cisnormative societal roles. Only those with penises are allowed to become "experienced", or the leaders of this society, as "carriers", or those with wombs, are intended to focus on producing more children (maymu) for society. Cis couples are paired together by the Experienced and they used to go through a lottery system to decide who would be encouraged to produce children together, tho currently after a famine all couples are encouraged to "Create". Naturally, sex outside of maymu creation is heavily discouraged.
Shallow worldbuilding aside, I found the writing incredibly confusing, often having to double back on paragraphs just to see if I'd missed something that would tell me why a character was in one location, then seemingly teleported to another, and what they were even trying to do. Eventually, I just gave up and DNFed. Overall I rate this a 2/5
Was interested in how the author would explore a society where gender is "as fluid as the waves", but marks the second book this year where the author promises to explore a re-imagined concept of gender and society only to immediately fall back on traditional cisnormative societal roles. Only those with penises are allowed to become "experienced", or the leaders of this society, as "carriers", or those with wombs, are intended to focus on producing more children (maymu) for society. Cis couples are paired together by the Experienced and they used to go through a lottery system to decide who would be encouraged to produce children together, tho currently after a famine all couples are encouraged to "Create". Naturally, sex outside of maymu creation is heavily discouraged.
Shallow worldbuilding aside, I found the writing incredibly confusing, often having to double back on paragraphs just to see if I'd missed something that would tell me why a character was in one location, then seemingly teleported to another, and what they were even trying to do. Eventually, I just gave up and DNFed. Overall I rate this a 2/5
May 7, 2022
TL;DR: Some interesting experimentation, but a confusing and surprisingly cisnormative execution
Beneath the Burning Wave is a strange one, because I do think it has potential to be a thoughtful and lyrical little work. The problem is I never really felt like I understood what was going on, because a lot of events and relationships are left to implication. The sparse writing style and short chapters could work well, but I just didn't feel like the balance was right between what was explained and what was just mentioned. The use of neopronouns is lovely to see and was not at all hard to process, but how they were used is a little odd. The depicted society still distinguishes between a binary of biological sex and has social requirements for that, so this is not at all about non-binary or genderfluid identity. The book more explores how cis men and women begin united and how that breaks down - an interesting theme, but not a radically queer one. Unfortunately just not the book I was hoping from the premise.
Rating breakdown
2.5 stars rounded up to 3
3/10 in personal rating system
Beneath the Burning Wave is a strange one, because I do think it has potential to be a thoughtful and lyrical little work. The problem is I never really felt like I understood what was going on, because a lot of events and relationships are left to implication. The sparse writing style and short chapters could work well, but I just didn't feel like the balance was right between what was explained and what was just mentioned. The use of neopronouns is lovely to see and was not at all hard to process, but how they were used is a little odd. The depicted society still distinguishes between a binary of biological sex and has social requirements for that, so this is not at all about non-binary or genderfluid identity. The book more explores how cis men and women begin united and how that breaks down - an interesting theme, but not a radically queer one. Unfortunately just not the book I was hoping from the premise.
Rating breakdown
2.5 stars rounded up to 3
3/10 in personal rating system
September 2, 2022
**I received an e-arc in return for an honest review**
This was an ambitious take on an epic YA fantasy series exploring gender fluidity with elements of Egyptian and Japanese culture being infused in the story. I'd originally even thought the book was an adult fantasy series rather than YA, due to its complex worldbuilding and how different it was!
Twins Kaori and Kairi are two sides to the same coin, two halves of a whole, and the only twins to be born to an island, foretold to be it's ruin. The premise of the story and the worldbuilding was intriguing, but the first section of the book did confuse me when I read it, mainly because the reader isn't slowly introduced to these elements, but rather, is thrown into the deep end.
Thankfully by the midpoint of the book, I was able to comprehend the situation and plots afoot, however there were certain choices made that I was a little disappointed by. For one, considering how genderfluid the characters are meant to be, they seem to be stuck within a fairly heteronormative society with homophobia clearly evident.
Even when Kairi forms their own society, he changes and creates new pronouns that further emphasise the gender differences, looking down on women and elevating men. I had hoped due to the genderfluid setting that this wouldn't have been something prevalent in the book, however I understand that Danns may have made this choice as a political commentary.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
TL;DR: If you're looking for an atypical YA read, this might be the one for you.
Highlights: queer MCs/romances
This was an ambitious take on an epic YA fantasy series exploring gender fluidity with elements of Egyptian and Japanese culture being infused in the story. I'd originally even thought the book was an adult fantasy series rather than YA, due to its complex worldbuilding and how different it was!
Twins Kaori and Kairi are two sides to the same coin, two halves of a whole, and the only twins to be born to an island, foretold to be it's ruin. The premise of the story and the worldbuilding was intriguing, but the first section of the book did confuse me when I read it, mainly because the reader isn't slowly introduced to these elements, but rather, is thrown into the deep end.
Thankfully by the midpoint of the book, I was able to comprehend the situation and plots afoot, however there were certain choices made that I was a little disappointed by. For one, considering how genderfluid the characters are meant to be, they seem to be stuck within a fairly heteronormative society with homophobia clearly evident.
Even when Kairi forms their own society, he changes and creates new pronouns that further emphasise the gender differences, looking down on women and elevating men. I had hoped due to the genderfluid setting that this wouldn't have been something prevalent in the book, however I understand that Danns may have made this choice as a political commentary.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
TL;DR: If you're looking for an atypical YA read, this might be the one for you.
Highlights: queer MCs/romances
May 30, 2025
DNF at 21%
Very interesting premise, really liked the neo pronouns, but somehow it still fell into traditional roles of female and male (carriers and rearers). It felt was strangely misogynistic and homophobic, with only people with penises becoming elders (Experienced) and people with wombs just focusing on creating more people, plus relations with people with the same equipment heavily discouraged.
Also really disliked how one of the MC twins was extremely sadistic to animals and others, including fatphobia, and had an extreme hate to carriers. Really disliked reading that POV.
There was content notice at the start of the book so I guess I can’t be too surprised but still I think it missed the mark.
Very interesting premise, really liked the neo pronouns, but somehow it still fell into traditional roles of female and male (carriers and rearers). It felt was strangely misogynistic and homophobic, with only people with penises becoming elders (Experienced) and people with wombs just focusing on creating more people, plus relations with people with the same equipment heavily discouraged.
Also really disliked how one of the MC twins was extremely sadistic to animals and others, including fatphobia, and had an extreme hate to carriers. Really disliked reading that POV.
There was content notice at the start of the book so I guess I can’t be too surprised but still I think it missed the mark.
Read
December 9, 2022Audio ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
The audio narrator had a great voice and she did a good job, especially given what she had to work with.
Main review: I'm not going to rate this. I ended up DNFing about halfway through because the actual story is basically unreadable. I was really looking forward to this book because it seemed like such a cool premise and (admittedly this misunderstanding is on me) I though it was about the lost island continent by the same name. If it was supposed to be the latter, then it was only a fleeting allusion.
This was an experimental story, the focus of which was on the genderfluidity of the society of Mu where neonatal pronouns are used as a norm and no differentiation is made between genders. I've seen similar ideas explored in some fantastic sci-fi novels which really push thought provoking new considerations and deal with the subject in a nuanced and coherent way. This book did not. It was confused to the point of incoherence. And in case you think it was the pronouns - mu, mer, mem - I was having difficulty with, I can assure you that that was an easy switch IN SPITE of the way the author wrote. Although I'll admit that after yet another rambling sentence which seemed to only flirt with basic sentence structure, the impact of changing all the pronouns lost it's punch and began to seem rather silly in this context.
This is an experiment which failed. The world building is very week and the author has failed to extend her imagination beyond typical gender roles despite everyone being gender fluid. Which brings me to my second point. Perhaps I understand something different by the term gender fluid but it seems to me that the term embraces the idea that we all have varying degrees of female, male and everything else within our psychological make up. Some people are pulled more towards one polarity than another, some slide up and down the scale, and some even sit off the scale somewhere else. All of this is normal and separate from biological sex. But what you've got here is a society that is agender: they don't recognise gender constructs and they try (and fail horribly) not to recognise biological sex (which opens a whole can of worms about sexual attraction which I am just not going to get into.) My point is, without the perceived norm of polarities, there is no sliding scale, and no sitting off to one side of it. So the entire argument becomes defunct. At which point, the story flags because it's been made such a centre piece. Or at least, that's how it read to me.
The rest of the plot - one of sibling rivalry where spoiler alert, the sibling with a penis is on the road to a fully misogynistic society of mer own - is pretty basic and pedestrian. There wasn't enough decent characterisation or nuance to keep my interest.
I hate DNFing. I don't like to dislike books, especially someone's debut. And this book did not annoy me, it just left me baffled as to what story the author was actually trying to tell. Honestly I think maybe the author had some big ideas which could have really paid off, but this book fell into the category of 'subject currently outstrips your skill level'. Books have their own time to be written and this was written too soon for her command of the craft.
The audio narrator had a great voice and she did a good job, especially given what she had to work with.
Main review: I'm not going to rate this. I ended up DNFing about halfway through because the actual story is basically unreadable. I was really looking forward to this book because it seemed like such a cool premise and (admittedly this misunderstanding is on me) I though it was about the lost island continent by the same name. If it was supposed to be the latter, then it was only a fleeting allusion.
This was an experimental story, the focus of which was on the genderfluidity of the society of Mu where neonatal pronouns are used as a norm and no differentiation is made between genders. I've seen similar ideas explored in some fantastic sci-fi novels which really push thought provoking new considerations and deal with the subject in a nuanced and coherent way. This book did not. It was confused to the point of incoherence. And in case you think it was the pronouns - mu, mer, mem - I was having difficulty with, I can assure you that that was an easy switch IN SPITE of the way the author wrote. Although I'll admit that after yet another rambling sentence which seemed to only flirt with basic sentence structure, the impact of changing all the pronouns lost it's punch and began to seem rather silly in this context.
This is an experiment which failed. The world building is very week and the author has failed to extend her imagination beyond typical gender roles despite everyone being gender fluid. Which brings me to my second point. Perhaps I understand something different by the term gender fluid but it seems to me that the term embraces the idea that we all have varying degrees of female, male and everything else within our psychological make up. Some people are pulled more towards one polarity than another, some slide up and down the scale, and some even sit off the scale somewhere else. All of this is normal and separate from biological sex. But what you've got here is a society that is agender: they don't recognise gender constructs and they try (and fail horribly) not to recognise biological sex (which opens a whole can of worms about sexual attraction which I am just not going to get into.) My point is, without the perceived norm of polarities, there is no sliding scale, and no sitting off to one side of it. So the entire argument becomes defunct. At which point, the story flags because it's been made such a centre piece. Or at least, that's how it read to me.
The rest of the plot - one of sibling rivalry where spoiler alert, the sibling with a penis is on the road to a fully misogynistic society of mer own - is pretty basic and pedestrian. There wasn't enough decent characterisation or nuance to keep my interest.
I hate DNFing. I don't like to dislike books, especially someone's debut. And this book did not annoy me, it just left me baffled as to what story the author was actually trying to tell. Honestly I think maybe the author had some big ideas which could have really paid off, but this book fell into the category of 'subject currently outstrips your skill level'. Books have their own time to be written and this was written too soon for her command of the craft.
October 27, 2022
Here’s What I loved!
We follow the story of Kaori and Kairi, twins who grow up on Mu, an ancient island, where magic flows, and “gender is as fluid as the waves that crash against the surf”. Their lives have been a haunted shell of a prophecy that predicted they would ruin their community. Every set of twins is killed at birth in order to avoid the fulfillment of that prophecy, although Kaori and Kairi survived that slaughter.
Kaori and Kairi are true opposites. One is born of water, one born of fire, each being able to manipulate their respective elements. They are siblings through and through. Constantly at each other’s throats with a natural rivalry, that does nothing but intensify throughout the story. More than anything they want freedom from the tradition that has been instilled in them since their birth. They must work together to make a decision that will form the future of the tribe.
The fantasy is unique. The author explores a society where gender fluidity is the norm, and as a concept, it sounded fabulous. Especially for something that is set in the Young Adult genre, authors are daring to be more diverse and I am here for it. The story takes a risk, telling the story in a unique way not using him/her but mu/mir and a new way of saying them/they which is considered “neo-pronouns”.
Thoughts
The story fell flat for me.
Although they are fluid what are considered to be norms are the same as traditional standards. Only men or those with penises are allowed to be the Experienced or what are considered to be leaders of the tribe. “Carriers” only focus is to create maymu (children). Cis couples are paired by the Experienced to form couples where at a time before the famine they were chosen in a lottery to “create”, now everyone must create with no exceptions.
The way that the story is told is such a regressive way of telling the story it almost makes it unlikeable. As if there is no other purpose for those who are able to get pregnant than to just be “carriers”.
Extended Thoughts
The world-building was non-existent, and I found the writing to be incredibly confusing. I spent the majority of my time rereading passages to make any semblance of sense for the section I just read, and repeating that for every couple of paragraphs.
I also couldn’t find myself caring about the characters which was a shame. I think this was more due to the extreme confusion I felt throughout my experience of the story. Not caring about their progression prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story. As much as I really liked the idea of the use of neo-pronouns, it did nothing but add the increasing confusion, because of the inability to distinguish who said and did what.
Overall
Beneath the Burning Wave has the potential to be a great read. That is as long as you know from the beginning what you are getting yourself into and have the ability to use the neo-pronouns interchangeably. You should also give this fantasy novel a read if you are willing to give a definitely experimental style of writing.
We follow the story of Kaori and Kairi, twins who grow up on Mu, an ancient island, where magic flows, and “gender is as fluid as the waves that crash against the surf”. Their lives have been a haunted shell of a prophecy that predicted they would ruin their community. Every set of twins is killed at birth in order to avoid the fulfillment of that prophecy, although Kaori and Kairi survived that slaughter.
Kaori and Kairi are true opposites. One is born of water, one born of fire, each being able to manipulate their respective elements. They are siblings through and through. Constantly at each other’s throats with a natural rivalry, that does nothing but intensify throughout the story. More than anything they want freedom from the tradition that has been instilled in them since their birth. They must work together to make a decision that will form the future of the tribe.
The fantasy is unique. The author explores a society where gender fluidity is the norm, and as a concept, it sounded fabulous. Especially for something that is set in the Young Adult genre, authors are daring to be more diverse and I am here for it. The story takes a risk, telling the story in a unique way not using him/her but mu/mir and a new way of saying them/they which is considered “neo-pronouns”.
Thoughts
The story fell flat for me.
Although they are fluid what are considered to be norms are the same as traditional standards. Only men or those with penises are allowed to be the Experienced or what are considered to be leaders of the tribe. “Carriers” only focus is to create maymu (children). Cis couples are paired by the Experienced to form couples where at a time before the famine they were chosen in a lottery to “create”, now everyone must create with no exceptions.
The way that the story is told is such a regressive way of telling the story it almost makes it unlikeable. As if there is no other purpose for those who are able to get pregnant than to just be “carriers”.
Extended Thoughts
The world-building was non-existent, and I found the writing to be incredibly confusing. I spent the majority of my time rereading passages to make any semblance of sense for the section I just read, and repeating that for every couple of paragraphs.
I also couldn’t find myself caring about the characters which was a shame. I think this was more due to the extreme confusion I felt throughout my experience of the story. Not caring about their progression prevented me from fully immersing myself in the story. As much as I really liked the idea of the use of neo-pronouns, it did nothing but add the increasing confusion, because of the inability to distinguish who said and did what.
Overall
Beneath the Burning Wave has the potential to be a great read. That is as long as you know from the beginning what you are getting yourself into and have the ability to use the neo-pronouns interchangeably. You should also give this fantasy novel a read if you are willing to give a definitely experimental style of writing.
August 18, 2022
On the island of Mu, twins are killed at birth to avoid fulfilling a prophesy that foretells the island’s ruin. However, a pair of twins named Kaori and Kairi miraculously survive. They are polar opposites, and as their rivalry intensifies and rocks the island, they must either fight against or succumb to their destiny.
At first glance, the blurb for Beneath the Burning Wave by Jennifer Hayashi Danns sounded really interesting. However, the story’s execution failed on both a technical and thematic level for me.
First off, the writing is choppy and bordering on incoherent. I think the writer wanted to give the narrators a distinctive voice, but the grammar rules of the Mu dialect aren't consistently applied. For instance, at one point Kaori narrates, "I hunt snake; mu hunt boar" even though the plural of "snake" is written with an "s" throughout the novel.
Also, on a deeper level I feel like this book undermines its on themes. The island of Mu is supposedly a gender fluid society where "gender is as fluid as the crashing waves," and yet the islanders are entirely obsessed with delignating themselves by reproductive roles, and those who are cable of getting pregnant are simply referred to as "carriers." This felt like such a regressive way to handle things.
All and all, Beneath the Burning Wave completely missed the mark for me. There is speculative fiction that wonderfully explores and transcends gender like Octavia Butler’s Lilith's Brood trilogy and Ursula La Guinn’s Left Hand of Darkness, but sadly, this book is not one of them.
Thank you, NetGalley and One More Chapter, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
At first glance, the blurb for Beneath the Burning Wave by Jennifer Hayashi Danns sounded really interesting. However, the story’s execution failed on both a technical and thematic level for me.
First off, the writing is choppy and bordering on incoherent. I think the writer wanted to give the narrators a distinctive voice, but the grammar rules of the Mu dialect aren't consistently applied. For instance, at one point Kaori narrates, "I hunt snake; mu hunt boar" even though the plural of "snake" is written with an "s" throughout the novel.
Also, on a deeper level I feel like this book undermines its on themes. The island of Mu is supposedly a gender fluid society where "gender is as fluid as the crashing waves," and yet the islanders are entirely obsessed with delignating themselves by reproductive roles, and those who are cable of getting pregnant are simply referred to as "carriers." This felt like such a regressive way to handle things.
All and all, Beneath the Burning Wave completely missed the mark for me. There is speculative fiction that wonderfully explores and transcends gender like Octavia Butler’s Lilith's Brood trilogy and Ursula La Guinn’s Left Hand of Darkness, but sadly, this book is not one of them.
Thank you, NetGalley and One More Chapter, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
June 3, 2022
Beneath the Burning Wave is a YA-fantasy novel. That deals with a gender fluid community, this I struggled with more than I had expected to, leaving me with a mellow feeling about this book.
The storyline follows twins Kaori and Kairi, who grow up on the ancient island of Mu, where magic flows and twins are forbidden. All their lives, they’ve been haunted by a generational prophecy that predicts that they’re doomed to bring their community to ruin. Let's say a war or segregation of sorts. One of them is born of water, one of fire and natural rivalry will bring the island to its knees in flames and waves.
However, straightforward the plot seems to be, I struggled to follow, get into it and feel connected to the characters. As we kept jumping what felt like from past to present or feeling like the author skipped important information. I kept thinking, why is this happening so out of the blue, what was the reason behind this or that.?
Now because the characters don't conform to he, she, or them, I felt so confused for the majority of the time. Also, the fact that the main characters themselves have similar names (such as Kaori and Kairi) made it even more difficult to listen to the audiobook.
Overall, I feel like Beneath the Burning Wave has the potential to be fantastic for a certain audience, however, and not for me.
I appreciate Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Keep reading.
The storyline follows twins Kaori and Kairi, who grow up on the ancient island of Mu, where magic flows and twins are forbidden. All their lives, they’ve been haunted by a generational prophecy that predicts that they’re doomed to bring their community to ruin. Let's say a war or segregation of sorts. One of them is born of water, one of fire and natural rivalry will bring the island to its knees in flames and waves.
However, straightforward the plot seems to be, I struggled to follow, get into it and feel connected to the characters. As we kept jumping what felt like from past to present or feeling like the author skipped important information. I kept thinking, why is this happening so out of the blue, what was the reason behind this or that.?
Now because the characters don't conform to he, she, or them, I felt so confused for the majority of the time. Also, the fact that the main characters themselves have similar names (such as Kaori and Kairi) made it even more difficult to listen to the audiobook.
Overall, I feel like Beneath the Burning Wave has the potential to be fantastic for a certain audience, however, and not for me.
I appreciate Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Keep reading.
October 22, 2022
**Check triggers. There is a warning in the book.**
Read this if you like: Dual POV, LGBTQ representation, Japanese folklore, Egyptian mythology
Kaori and Kairi are the first twins to survive infancy on the ancient island of Mu, where gender is as fluid as the crashing waves. One was born of fire, the other of water.
There’s a reason why none have survived before. A prophecy that has haunted the elders since time began. A rivalry destined to sink the entire island beneath a twin catastrophe of volcano and tsunami. They must decide what matters to them most. They can either fight for the island or the fight for freedom.
This is a very cool concept. I love how it blended Japanese folklore and Egyptian mythology together. I have never read anything like this. I do think that this book would have benefited from a glossary to explain some of the stuff better. It sort of throws you into the deep end without explaining some things. I think that is pretty common in Fantasy but I prefer to know about everything. That lead to me trying to fill in a lot of blanks. The story was good. The characters in this book were developed well. I loved the twins though there was a lot of turbulance between them. I still enjoyed it. I suggest you checking this out and I will read the next 2 books.
Thank you to the author and Harper Collins for the gifted book! ❤️
Read this if you like: Dual POV, LGBTQ representation, Japanese folklore, Egyptian mythology
Kaori and Kairi are the first twins to survive infancy on the ancient island of Mu, where gender is as fluid as the crashing waves. One was born of fire, the other of water.
There’s a reason why none have survived before. A prophecy that has haunted the elders since time began. A rivalry destined to sink the entire island beneath a twin catastrophe of volcano and tsunami. They must decide what matters to them most. They can either fight for the island or the fight for freedom.
This is a very cool concept. I love how it blended Japanese folklore and Egyptian mythology together. I have never read anything like this. I do think that this book would have benefited from a glossary to explain some of the stuff better. It sort of throws you into the deep end without explaining some things. I think that is pretty common in Fantasy but I prefer to know about everything. That lead to me trying to fill in a lot of blanks. The story was good. The characters in this book were developed well. I loved the twins though there was a lot of turbulance between them. I still enjoyed it. I suggest you checking this out and I will read the next 2 books.
Thank you to the author and Harper Collins for the gifted book! ❤️
November 9, 2022
The author has challenged the traditional use of pronouns of his, her, they for the use of neo-pronouns in an experimental YA story that blends Egyptian and Japanese mythology while challenging the "normal" roles of gender. The author has created an interesting world and society ripe with politics, envy, struggle and beauty.
I wanted to love this but only liked it. Unfortunately, for all the efforts to present gender in a different way, the society fell very much in traditional roles where carriers (a/k/a people who carry children to birth, i.e. people who get pregnant) don't have much power in this society. Also, I got confused with the writer's liberal use of the neo-pronouns as to who was actually being referred to in a sentence or paragraph. I had to go back to read areas several times to understand who is actually being referred to. It didn't help that the two main characters had similar names and a neo-pronoun is the same world for the island they live on and sometimes used for their culture.
I applaud the author's goals and in creating an interesting world and story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest opinion.
I wanted to love this but only liked it. Unfortunately, for all the efforts to present gender in a different way, the society fell very much in traditional roles where carriers (a/k/a people who carry children to birth, i.e. people who get pregnant) don't have much power in this society. Also, I got confused with the writer's liberal use of the neo-pronouns as to who was actually being referred to in a sentence or paragraph. I had to go back to read areas several times to understand who is actually being referred to. It didn't help that the two main characters had similar names and a neo-pronoun is the same world for the island they live on and sometimes used for their culture.
I applaud the author's goals and in creating an interesting world and story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest opinion.
June 21, 2022
This book is part of the Mu Chronicles Trilogy - a YA Fantasy series.
The ancient Island of Mu🏝️ appears to be quite alluring at first. As I went deeper though I found the overall story to be moving in a quite animated manner. To precisely let you know - it felt like I was reading the script of a screenplay that was based on some book. There could have been more depth in the story to help us understand the behaviour of certain characters. How do they follow the seniors, why were they punished e.t.c? Felt like a lot of it was missing.
Moreover the "Populating the earth" concept was a bit ugh - going into the caves n doing baby-making: well not exactly the story I was looking for 😅😅
P.s the names Kaori and Kairi sound very similar in the audiobook, which keeps you confused half the time. If that was intentional - mission accomplished!
& with that being said I can only give this book a 1/5⭐ for intriguing me to pick this up by myself.
The ancient Island of Mu🏝️ appears to be quite alluring at first. As I went deeper though I found the overall story to be moving in a quite animated manner. To precisely let you know - it felt like I was reading the script of a screenplay that was based on some book. There could have been more depth in the story to help us understand the behaviour of certain characters. How do they follow the seniors, why were they punished e.t.c? Felt like a lot of it was missing.
Moreover the "Populating the earth" concept was a bit ugh - going into the caves n doing baby-making: well not exactly the story I was looking for 😅😅
P.s the names Kaori and Kairi sound very similar in the audiobook, which keeps you confused half the time. If that was intentional - mission accomplished!
& with that being said I can only give this book a 1/5⭐ for intriguing me to pick this up by myself.
September 24, 2023
This book is set on the fictional island of Mu where in the past twins have been forbidden to walk on the island and murdered at birth. All this years later forbidden twins Kaori and Kairi are the first twins to survive infancy on this ancient island. Gender is fluid and instead of the usual pronouns they use Mu/Mir/Mem. One twin was born of fire and the other of water. An ancient prophecy is the reason no other twins have been allowed to survive due to the elders being haunted by the twin catastrophe of a volcano and a tsunami. The twins cannot stand each other and as rivalry and hatred spill from them will the ancient prophecy come true?
This book is aimed at young adults and I found it very confusing to understand the pronouns. Sometimes the story was difficult to understand due to this and I often found myself struggling to get through the book.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
This book is aimed at young adults and I found it very confusing to understand the pronouns. Sometimes the story was difficult to understand due to this and I often found myself struggling to get through the book.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
June 25, 2024
This book was the definition of middle of the road for me. I don’t really have any kind of strong feelings about it.
It began very slowly and only really picked up pace and became interesting towards the end. I am a sucker for siblings on opposite sides of a conflict, but I feel as though it wasn’t set up particularly well. Generally, I think this book would’ve benefitted from more exposition, more explanation and a little more detail. It felt a little surface level in my opinion; nothing felt very deep.
That being said, I didn’t hate this book. There were good aspects to it that I enjoyed. I liked the use of neopronouns, and again I enjoy the trope of siblings on opposite sides of a conflict, but AGAIN there wasn’t enough detail for me.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and whilst I won’t be going out of my way to read the subsequent books, I wouldn’t say no. Like if I saw the sequel in a bookshop I’d pick it up, but I wouldn’t go looking for it
It began very slowly and only really picked up pace and became interesting towards the end. I am a sucker for siblings on opposite sides of a conflict, but I feel as though it wasn’t set up particularly well. Generally, I think this book would’ve benefitted from more exposition, more explanation and a little more detail. It felt a little surface level in my opinion; nothing felt very deep.
That being said, I didn’t hate this book. There were good aspects to it that I enjoyed. I liked the use of neopronouns, and again I enjoy the trope of siblings on opposite sides of a conflict, but AGAIN there wasn’t enough detail for me.
This is the first book in a trilogy, and whilst I won’t be going out of my way to read the subsequent books, I wouldn’t say no. Like if I saw the sequel in a bookshop I’d pick it up, but I wouldn’t go looking for it
September 15, 2022
I wanted to love this one so much but I just couldn't get into it. I feel it was the writing style and the language which made that storytelling a little jagged. Danns has this amazing idea which I'd love to see in more books. The twins are born in a gender fluid society and Danns uses the word Mu as the pronoun instead of he/she which is great in theory but it just didn't work for me in terms of following the story as it added difficulty in following who was talking/responding. There was a glossary at the back of the book with words translated but again, it was difficult to keep flipping back to look at that.
I'd possibly try this one again in future as the setting and the fantasy elements sound right up my street. I possibly need more background information to give me a starting point.
I'd possibly try this one again in future as the setting and the fantasy elements sound right up my street. I possibly need more background information to give me a starting point.
January 22, 2023
I wanted to love this book but it was so confusing & it’s not because of the neo-pronouns. It’s because of things like peoples names being similar and the island name being the same as the the neo-pronouns. I appreciate what this book was trying to do as a black trans* person who has used neo-pronouns and is often in community with people like myself. But, it didn’t feel very queer - it actually felt surprisingly cis normative. I think this was because of the emphasis on sex and I also found it strange there was no obvious intersex variations.
There were moments where the book was so interesting and I had to keep reading to know what happened next. It’s very fast paced which made it fascinating but didn’t help my understanding. I want to read this again to see if I can follow it better because I actually think the story is really good.
There were moments where the book was so interesting and I had to keep reading to know what happened next. It’s very fast paced which made it fascinating but didn’t help my understanding. I want to read this again to see if I can follow it better because I actually think the story is really good.
October 5, 2022
The author, Jennifer Hayashi Danns did what I wish more authors would do, a warning about possible triggers. As well as the understanding that some people/readers may not be able to complete the book.
Overall, the blurb about the book was enticing. The inhabitants way of life was also interesting, not like anything I've read before. Not gonna lie, sometimes I did get characters confused because of the nonbinary pronouns. I do not fault the author for me not being well versed in the pronouns.
I gave Beneath the Burning Waves 3 stars. It wasn't my typical book pick, but I think the story was well written. Trigger wise I did have to stop for days at a time which might factor into why I rated it 3 stars.
Keep an open mind, read for yourself.
Overall, the blurb about the book was enticing. The inhabitants way of life was also interesting, not like anything I've read before. Not gonna lie, sometimes I did get characters confused because of the nonbinary pronouns. I do not fault the author for me not being well versed in the pronouns.
I gave Beneath the Burning Waves 3 stars. It wasn't my typical book pick, but I think the story was well written. Trigger wise I did have to stop for days at a time which might factor into why I rated it 3 stars.
Keep an open mind, read for yourself.
October 9, 2022
The cover really drew me in with this book. However, unfortunately as I waded through water reading this is became the story was less about exploring fluid identifies and more like stick to the binary. The writing wasn't in itself bad. I just feel I was led to believe I reading about something else. I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All of these opinions are my own. #BeneaththeBurningWave #NetGalley
August 1, 2022
Thank you to Net Galley for sending an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
For a book that describes itself as gender less to then go and refer to one group as "Carriers" for children and deny them any progression is so blatantly sexist, I wanted a book with no sexism and this did not deliver
For a book that describes itself as gender less to then go and refer to one group as "Carriers" for children and deny them any progression is so blatantly sexist, I wanted a book with no sexism and this did not deliver
September 15, 2022
First off I got this in print and I have to say that I love the size of this book. I wonder if this will be the new size for ya paperbacks. Its so cool and cute and easy to read and take with you. So I wish that I could say the same to the story. Unfortunately I found that I was confused and bored most of the time and I finally gave up around 80 pages.
February 23, 2024
I really wanted to like this book... sadly I couldn't get into it. Maybe the writing wasn't my style, but I couldn't get into the world building, the characters or setting as much as I wanted.
I still encourage people to give this a shot!
I still encourage people to give this a shot!
February 12, 2025
Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book. *Finally getting through older books I was approved for!*
This had a lot of potentially but just wasn't working for me. I found it a little too disjointed and choppy.
This had a lot of potentially but just wasn't working for me. I found it a little too disjointed and choppy.
July 31, 2022
DNF, this is the first book this year that I haven't finished. It just wasn't my bag, and there are so many, many reasons why. I gave up at page 60.
Read
February 20, 2024dnf at about 40%- not what I was expecting/hoping for. it felt needlessly violent, I didn't like the writing, and I didn't want to waste energy on a book that felt like a chore to read
September 25, 2022
Beneath the buring wave
the Mu Chronicles #1
By Jennifer Hayashi danns
Two siblings struggling in a world of questionable aspects that pit them against each other. Odd beginning for Hayashi, I hope he gets more into the story.
the Mu Chronicles #1
By Jennifer Hayashi danns
Two siblings struggling in a world of questionable aspects that pit them against each other. Odd beginning for Hayashi, I hope he gets more into the story.
July 2, 2024
I feel as if this had a lot of potential and whilst the characters and action was interesting, they just missed the mark a bit too much for me. The plot was fine but it could have been done better. The writing was good for the most part but i just found it didn't grab me. I liked how the characters were written and described and the representation was good but overall this was missing something for me.
I received this book in exchange for a honest review.
I received this book in exchange for a honest review.
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