Waiting on Wednesday: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie Dao

A weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns Author: Julie C. Dao Published: October 10, 2017 by Philomel Books (Penguin Group) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl's quest to become Empress--and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny. Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high? Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins--sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.

Why I'm Waiting:

You had me at Evil Queen retelling. Seriously guys, villain retellings are one of my favorite things. I especially really enjoy villain origin stories because I love when you can symapthize with the person only to see them descend into madness while at the same time you understand their motivations (I'm looking at you Adelina Amouteru). So the fact that this is a retelling about the infamous Evil Queen makes me very excited.

Plus I am super excited because this version because it is inspired by Asian culture and mythology. In the past year I have been reading a lot of books with Asian main characters and with Asian influences and especially when it comes to high fantasy it's really great setting. It makes for really gorgeous locations and lush descriptions. I am expecting this for Forest of a Thousand Lanterns.

I have seen a few early reviews of this or thoughts from people who have read it and it is definitely getting rave reviews. People are really enjoying it. It sounds like this may be one of my favorite debuts of the year.

I was really hoping that there would be copies of this at ALA and I was so glad to hear that it was there. I of course picked up a copy and I am so excited to read it!

What about you? What are you waiting for this Wednesday? Are you waiting on Forest of a Thousand Lanterns along with me? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!