Yip understood this and created a really nice contrast and balance between Camilla's background and personal motivations. Again, not easy for the readers, but essential for the story. Though written as a standalone I feel this book is best appreciated as a companion to Skeleton Women. It is not essential to read both, but there were times I felt at a disadvantage for not having read Yip's earlier work. Jul 04, Susan rated it it was amazing. The story takes place in s Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Kindle Editions
Camilla is a famous nightclub singer trained by one Shanghai gang boss Big Brother Wang to seduce and kill a rival boss Master Lung. If that sounds chaotic, worse is to come. And the father of her child and the two gang bosses disappear, too. Camilla hides out The story takes place in s Hong Kong and Shanghai.
He gives her hope, but warns that the end will come sooner than she thinks. This and her dreams of her baby son convince her to return to Shanghai—in disguise—to find her baby and his father. She has too many admirers and enemies to escape detection. Mingmei Yip has a masterful way of keeping the reader engaged and eager to learn more. Not once during this book or any of her other novels did I guess what would happen at the end.
She effortlessly portrays the decadent s Shanghai nightlife scene as well as the day-to-day struggles of underserved populations like orphans and prostitutes. Sep 19, Laurel rated it did not like it. Can't believe I made it through this book. Sep 16, Erin Al-Mehairi rated it really liked it. Taking place in s Shanghai, The Nine Fold Heaven Kensington is a literary journey that transforms the reader into another time and place within Chinese life and holds them captive with atmospheric detail, tone, and imagery.
Shanghai is lawless during this time period and run by gangs vying for position and money made through drugs, gambling, and sex. Camilla is caught in the middle of it as for protection she works for an organized crime gang leader. Under cover of secret disguises and careful intelligence, she begins the search for her missing baby, Jinjin, and lover, Jinying who happens to be the son of Master Lung, the gang boss she worked for.
Rainvow and her Pink Skeleton crew might even expose her again! The Nine Fold Heaven is told in first person narration, which is hard for almost any author to pull off correctly. I understood the chaos of Shanghai from Yip and could picture the dark and dank streets lined with poverty and drug use that lead to murder and mayhem. Many women were left to fend for themselves any way they could, by selling themselves it always makes me sad about that and how even within this there are always tiers, from entertainers and seductresses who sleep with the wealthy, to women who just sell themselves on the street.
There were so many orphans and orphanages and the plight of these children played a large role in this novel for Yip, as she strived to help us understand how these various city vices and crime has such severe consequences. She did a wonderful job showcasing the struggle between the wealthy and the impoverished. My heart-strings were fine-tuned for the life of these young children living in orphanages.
She also gives readers a glimpse into the harsh life of women, who are generally discarded when widowed, poor, or just happen to be a child who is a girl. These traits kept her on track of her mission and, of course, were also learned in order for her to survive. I think feeling that might have been even better for me than having an attachment to her. In fact, it means she has fully developed her as the woman she is. We feel her detachment from people because that is how she must be in order to perform the acts she does and the tasks she is told to do. Plus, she has a shell from all those that have used her over the years.
Due to her personality being such it was then so much more endearing when you felt her incessant desire to find her son again and her need to find her lover, who is the only one she has opened her true heart too. Through dangerous situations she keeps investigating their existence, with some unlikely foes turned friends.
This made for some other interesting female characters in the book like Rainbow, as well as her magician friend from the Skeleton Women, named Shadow. The ending is so sweet and makes you feel like through it all, Camilla survived and found happiness. Then, it makes you think that through trial, triumphs are attainable.
I felt happy that she also forms a relationship with an orphan girl, ultimately also caring for her. I really liked all the poetry and excerpts from letters and tabloid articles that Yip used throughout the novel. She ultimately shows us so much of Yin and Yang, as she explores the reality that everyone and everyone has ups and downs, positives and negatives, and each action a reaction or consequence. That is the struggle with good versus evil and Yip incorporates Chinese culture and beliefs heavily into her prose. As with most Asian fictional literature, the book reads as if translated to English.
Yip is so good otherwise with her depth and imagery that I feel that it adds to the ambiance of this book taking place in Shanghai, especially since it is in first person and we are in the head of a Chinese person. It seemed to add some authenticity to her strong story telling. However, her style means sometime there is awkward conversation or simple sentences, but that seems normal in Asian writing. They write how they speak. I just want to prepare readers so they go into the book will an idea of fully integrating into its entire aura.
A Hunt for Shadows, Part 9 of Shadows of the Heavens
I read through it as quickly as possible as Camilla pulled me along with her, compelling me to finish. She has shown me with The Nine Fold Heaven that her imagination weaved with writing to preserve history we can learn from, and her window to social issues of the day, make her a writer that gives your mind an arm-chair escape, yet you will also end up finding your mind pondering life and human nature long after you close the page. Aug 23, Annie rated it it was amazing. Mingmei is absolutely a great writer. Jun 26, Audra Unabridged Chick rated it liked it. While technically the sequel to Skeleton Women , which I read last year, Nine Fold Heaven works as a standalone novel.
In essence, it's about a woman's quest to find her child, the father of her child, and some measure of safety.
Set in the s, the story is narrated by Camilla, a former gangster's assassin and much lauded nightclub singer. Once a star, she fell from glory after a botched assassination attempt when she fell in love with her target's son and had a child with him. She betrayed her boss, stole from her target, and fled Shanghai in disgrace, wanted by both the police and all the gangs. Her old music teacher had lied to her and said her son was stillborn, but Camilla learned he was alive. Going between Hong Kong and Shanghai, Camilla revisits her past -- including her numerous lovers -- as she navigates her present, including a new, powerful lover.
She struggles to remain hidden for fear for her life while her natural skills -- her singing and her beauty -- draws attention toward her once again. Camilla is a hard heroine to like, although not surprisingly given her upbringing and childhood. A 'skeleton woman' -- a gangster's girl and assassin who turns men and women into skeletons -- Camilla was trained as a child to seduce and to kill. Only 20 in this book, she's shockingly worldly and has the bold arrogance of one not used to failing but she has the ability to reflect on herself and her decisions. Refreshingly, she doesn't wallow in regret, angst, or remorse, which makes her hard, perhaps, to empathize with, but I found this to be accurate to Camilla's upbringing.
Yip employs a very simple, almost story-like narrative style that feels deceptively plain Chapter One has been shared online for this tour for those curious about the style. Camilla refers to poetry and classic Chinese literature as she tells her story, and the narrative is liberally peppered with quotes, which takes this rather grim story and gives it a fairy tale-like element. Much of the plot is dependent on some seemingly improbable coincidences and a very zippy timeline, which normally would drive me crazy.
But in Yip's hands, and through Camilla's eyes, there's a kind of formal aloofness to the unfolding action. Camilla isn't above bragging, but at the same time, she's not going to dwell on the grimy day-to-day details. The historical feel to the story is thin, sadly, but I felt more a sense of Shanghai and Hong Kong in this book than in the previous novel. I liked this one more than Skeleton Women , perhaps because Camilla's plight and adventure resonated more. As one refusing to love, Camilla is now a woman awash in love, struggling to do right by those she's impacted and affected, wanting her family because it is right.
As with Skeleton Women , I raced through this book -- there's non-stop action, sex, and intrigue -- and I'm interested in Yip's next offering. Given the end of this book, not likely to be another story of Camilla's -- but I wouldn't mind a book about Camilla's mysterious friend Shadow. Jan 16, J. Just a few things to point out before I begin the review: This book is part of a series and I have not read the other books, therefore i am judging this book as a single work. I don't really read books like this, so I read it with as much of an objective eye as possible.
Please do not quote for publication without checking against the finishing book". Therefore I won I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. Honestly I wasn't sure what to make of this book when I first started it. However, overtime I was drawn in with curiosity, in particular the tidbits of Chinese culture throughout the text, with lines from poems, parables and sayings that flavor this book in a culture I haven't read much about.
The book is set in the underworld of Shanghai and Hong Kong, and even though there's not much description of this world beyond character description, it does add a nice flavor of danger to the story. The story itself works, the protagonist is essentially trying to redeem herself and regain her family. There's a character arc here that works well, in the beginning she is a lot I assume like herself in the previous novel, but throughout the book she begins to change as the events conspire.
The book also works well as a standalone, with references to the events prior to the book littered throughout to keep you in the loop. I am surprised there's not a "Sequel to the novel The ending is satisfying, so if you end up taking this journey and read this book I don't think anyone will be disappointed by what they discover. One thing that bothered me was that the main villain, Wang, came across as so cheesy that it really ruined that element of the book for me.
This was a bad guy fresh out of comic books, laughing with every line he says and contradicting himself with his "I taught you to have no compassion! Yet I'm glad it didn't work! Overall, I did end up enjoying this book and i hope that this book finds more readers. Oct 07, Deborah rated it really liked it Shelves: Shanghai is an exotic place to me even today, so imagine how intrigued I was to be reading a book about the lawless days of the 's in that locale. I was held happily spellbound for hours.
I hadn't read anything by Mingmei Yip up to this time, though I do have one of her other books, which I'll be in a rush to get to now that I've read this one. It's called, "Song of the Silk Road. This book was quite descriptive, the women particularly being visually available, as well as psychologically fascinating. I found "Camilla," the primary character simply irresistible. She was one of those who immediately brings you into the storyline, winds you into her life-images and takes you with her on a journey you can't be torn from.
One of the best features of this book is the many references to Chinese lore or "proverbs. It seems Camilla was a wealth of knowledge and application of them. It just added to the joy of reading the novel. The element of organized crime in the book is an added point of interest. I imagine much of this is gleaned from actual truth of the 's gangs.
I got a kick out of this particular segment of the story. Some of the gang members were hilarious. I asked my husband, who is an author, what he thought about it as I read passages to him. He decided it was because of the translation factor. It may be so. Nevertheless, this is a book I believe everyone will enjoy who loves historical fiction in an unusual setting; particularly in the Orient. I was happy to be introduced to this new author.
I'll be reading more of her books. This book is a follow on to Yip's "Skeleton Women," which I have not had a chance to read. For the most part, "The Nine Fold Heaven" can be read as a stand-alone novel. It did make me want to go back and read "Skeleton Women" though to get a little more insight into the backgrounds of the characters, especially Camilla, who narrates this story. You do get enough detail in "The Nine Fold Heaven" to understand what's going on in the story though so reading "Skeleton Women" is only a nice-to-have and not a necessary.
Oh, I really enjoyed this book. In this book, Camilla has run away from Shanghai only to return to find the son that she gave up. It's dangerous for her to be in the city since all of the city seems to be under the extremely watchful and dangerous eyes of Rainbow, the gossip columnist. I really liked Camilla. She's an incredibly strong character.
She also has a really good heart. I loved following her adventure in this book. Because this book is the second installment of her story, there wasn't a lot of build up of her character, which left me wanting more. I loved, loved, loved the setting of the book. I love armchair traveling and I thought that the author gave you a really good sense of what Shanghai must have been like in the s with its dark underbelly filled with gangsters and gamblers.
From prostitutes to thieves, He treated everyone he encountered based on who they could become in His kingdom, not what they were struggling with at the time. Only through divine guidance, can we learn to reason and act b An unwavering belief in that truth makes all the difference between welcoming the next season or resisting it and letting what is Scripture gives us a seven-part prescription for our seasons of waiting and included in this divine remedy we also find the reasons why He sometimes makes us wait in the first place.
Hunt the Heavens (Shadow Warrior, book 2) by Chris Bunch
In His faithful hands, we can trust that our Father will use the waiting to reveal more about Himself and shape us into being more like Jesus in the process. When you take the time Just as our spines are designed to be the balancing rod of our bodies, so our spiritual backbones are intended to keep our souls pointed in the right direction. Having a spiritual backbone is making peace with your weaknesses, not ignoring them or indulging them, and then letting Jesus transform them into a strong collection of dynamic characte Sometimes the things we think we need are exactly the things which hold us back.
The shoes of comfort, obligation, and skepticism only keep us from sensing the Truth and responding to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The layers in our lives may feel good and seem to promise protection. They may have even served a good purpose for a season. The force of our habits and routines is powerful, but Scripture offers a prescription for not only bringing them under control but also harnessing their potential for The time we have on earth is a lot like living in a big backyard surrounded by an unscalable wooden fence.
Prayerful stillness is one of the best ways to find knotholes, especially if you find yourse While self-sacrifice is a hallmark of a fruitful Christian life, God doesn't ask us to make it the aim of our relationship with Him. Instead, Jesus makes it clear that the ultimate goal of our relationship with Him should be delight and pleasure for His glory. When we find ourselves in the rut of duty and self-denial as the end game — a way of Sometimes an amazing opportunity or idea can appear at what seems like the perfect time and be naturally aligned with your talents, but it turns out to be a mistake.
In John 15, Jesus reveals both the key to letting God make the decisions for our lives and the rewards of doing so. Once we get to the end of ourselves and learn to rely on Him for Reduce stress, increase your contentment, and experience God more deeply when you incorporate S No matter what particular issue scares you or worries you the most, the challenge is the same: We are challenged in encounters with people on a daily basis.
The solution lies in truly believing that people can change and then following through on that belief in our Welcome to Player FM What if radio played only the shows you care about, when you want?
Take it with you. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the crispne Ask the seller a question. World of Antares by Edmond Hamilton contains: Drawings and Sketches 7 of 40 Copies with Orig Certo, Nicholas J ed. Collecting and Using City Directories Don't overlook that old city directory - it is priceless for authors, collectors who focus on specific cities, geneaology, and other niche interests. Positive Representation Matters Books transmit cultural values and can shape the views of society.
A special order item has limited availability and the seller may source this title from another supplier.
In this event, there may be a slight delay in shipping and possible variation in description.