THE GIRL WITH NO FACE by M.H. Boroson – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Girl With No Face by M.H. Boroson
Series: The Daoshi Chronicles #2
Published by Talos on October 22 2019
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 360
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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A love spell is not a bouquet of flowers but a boot in your face, grinding its muddy heel.

The nitty-gritty: A worthy follow-up to The Girl With Ghost Eyes, Boroson’s latest shines with magical imagery, sparkling and downright funny dialog, complex characters and an immensely satisfying plot, all framed by the rich history of Chinese immigrants in 1899 San Francisco. This story was a delight from start to finish.

This is probably the best fantasy series that no one is reading, and it breaks my heart to write those words. As a book blogger, I feel it’s my responsibility to help boost amazing books, and I’ll go to the ends of the earth to push this series on anyone I meet. True, Boroson is taking his sweet time between books (although I have no knowledge of the “behind the scenes” events involved in writing and publishing this second book in the series). The Girl With Ghost Eyes came out four long years ago, and I’ll admit I had forgotten some of the events that happened. But the minute I picked this up and started reading, I was transported back to Li-Lin’s magical world and the fascinating historical setting of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the late 1800s.

Li-Lin Xian is a Daoist priestess, skilled in both Kung Fu and the magical art of seeing into the spirit world. Trained by her father, a Daoist priest of the highest order, Li-Lin protects both the living and the dead, performing rituals to make sure the spirits of these dead get to the right places. One day, the body of a young girl named Anjing is brought to the deadhouse where Li-Lin works, which in itself isn’t unusual. But the circumstances of her death are. Flowers are growing out of the girl’s mouth, flowers that choked her to death. When Li-Lin tries to locate Anjing’s soul, she’s stunned to discover her soul is completely gone. 

Li-Lin turns to her father for help, but their investigation only poses more mysteries. Where did this “vampire tree” come from and what does it mean? Who is the ghost girl without a face who Li-Lin finds when she’s looking for Anjing’s soul? And how are all these things connected? Li-Lin and her father, along with Li-Lin’s most trusted companions, set out on a thrilling adventure to find the truth.

There is nothing about this series that I don’t like, and so it’s hard to say which aspect was my favorite. But if pressed to choose, I’d have to say that it’s the characters that make these books so special. Li-Lin is simply a joy. She’s a young woman who has been through some pretty rough times. Her husband, the love of her life, is dead. Her murdered mother’s soul was trapped in Hell and tortured by a demon, until Li-Lin and her father managed to get her out. And Li-Lin herself has been in all kinds of trouble and danger, and working for a powerful Chinese gangster certainly doesn’t make her life any easier. But she’s a wonderfully strong girl whose strength comes from hard work. It’s believable strength, and it makes her much more likable and relatable than, say, a superhero character with unearned powers. Li-Lin’s Chinese heritage is the driving force in her life. She follows all the traditions that her father has taught her, and her love for her community is fierce. Loyalty, tradition, respect and honor. All these things are so important to her, and her relationships are shaped by them. She’s also fallible and makes lots of mistakes, and she’s self-aware enough to realize that she isn’t perfect.

In The Girl with no Face, Li-Lin and her father start off on very rocky terms. In the last book, Li-Lin ignored her father’s wishes and he ended up disowning her. Now, with the threat of the vampire tree and several other dire events, both of them understand that in order to win, they’ll need to work together. I loved seeing the progression of their relationship as her father goes from barely acknowledging her to taking her back under his wing. 

Oh, there are so many wonderful characters in this story, and I just don’t have time to talk about all of them! But here are a few of my favorites: Mr. Yanqiu, the spirit of Li-Lin’s father’s eye, gouged out by him in the last book and sent into the spirit world to rescue his daughter. Now Mr. Yanqiu is Li-Lin’s steadfast friend, a little eyeball with arms and legs who travels in her pocket! Then there’s Shuai Hu, a man who can turn into a tiger and disguises himself as a Buddhist monk. And two Hell Guards, huge fighting beasts who guard the gates of Hell, one with the head of an ox, the other with the head of a horse. And finally, Mrs. Wei, a lonely woman with no children who yearns to have someone to whom she can pass on her knowledge and traditions. She and Li-Lin come to an understanding that was heartbreakingly perfect.

M.H. Boroson is, simply put, a master storyteller. His action scenes are impeccable and spaced out in such a way that the story never lags. There were two scenes in particular that have stuck with me since I finished the book and are probably two of the best scenes I’ve ever read in fiction. Without spoiling things, I’ll just mention what they were, and you will need to get the book and read them so we can gush over them together. One is a scene where Li-Lin nearly falls victim to a love spell, and the other is a hysterically funny scene at the end of the story where a monster challenges Li-Lin to a duel. In both cases, I gasped and laughed out loud, all the while wondering how Boroson could write such perfect scenes. If someone in Hollywood doesn’t snatch up the movie rights to these books, I’ll be so disappointed. This is some of the most cinematic writing you’ll ever read.

And of course, I can’t end this review without talking about the world building. Boroson mentions in his Acknowledgments that he spent ten years researching these books, and it shows. The Girl with no Face brims with elements of magical Chinese folklore, but it’s also grounded in real historical events. The author doesn’t shy away from the challenges and horrors of the immigrant experience. He includes such things as how the Chinese were used as slave labor to build the first California railroads, and the unique area in San Francisco called Chinatown, where immigrants live and flourish. But what most readers will remember are the magical moments: Li-Lin burning paper effigies of clothing to send to her husband Rocket in the spirit world; the wondrous Ghost yamen, a city built entirely of burnt paper offerings; the myriad of magical creatures that fill Li-Lin’s world; and the complicated rituals that Li-Lin and her father must go through in order to care for souls in the afterlife. Boroson’s world is endlessly fascinating, and I am actually very sad that I’ve finished this book.

But one of the best things I discovered upon finishing The Girl with no Face? Boroson definitely isn’t finished with his story. Although this book wraps things up nicely at the end, we’re left with a couple of dangling questions that will hopefully be tackled in future installments. I WANT a story where Li-Lin and Rocket are together again, at least in some fashion. And dare I say Boroson ends this book with a suggestion that my wish might be granted?! There must be many more stories to tell about Li-Lin and her friends, and I can hardly wait to read them.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

Read my review of The Girl with Ghost Eyes