Harbour of Hungry Ghosts by Eliza Chan

I would like to thank Orbit for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Orbit

published - Out Now

Price - £23.00 hardback £13.49 ebook

My name is not Kim, it's Kiamling. It means Sword Spirit. I was forged to cut down the undead. Demons and monsters aren't just in your storybooks, they walk among us."

The Au family serve the people of Hong Kong: blessing shrines, honouring the dead and dealing with dangerous monster incursions. The expectations on eldest daughter Kiamling are high, which is not something her strict grandmother will let her forget.

When the British disrupt the Hungry Ghosts festival and her grandmother is seized by a strange new monster, Kiamling must step up and lead the search. She is aided by unexpected allies: Archie, an earnest civil servant, Hoi gor, childhood sweetheart turned merchant-pirate and Jingling, her younger sister keeping secrets of her own. Kiamling must figure out who is behind the incursion and more importantly, how to defeat them.

With British fables mingling with local Chinese monsters, can Kiamling prove herself, when the old rules no longer seem to apply?

History and setting can very much change a story. Environment changes how someone will be viewed and that can refresh any kind of story. Vampires in Transylvania pfft - Vampires in a rock band? Now we may be talking. What I like to look for is what the book has to say about that world and give us some thoughts for our own time. In Eliza Chan’s great historical fantasy Harbour of Hungry Ghosts a young girl frustrated by so much of the world tries to control her gains understanding of her role in and the forces trying to change it.

It’s 1855 and Hong Kong is swiftly being taken over by the British with new buildings and new ways of doing things. In the city for most residents life goes on and that means the usual issues of demons, ghosts and monsters need tackling. For that you need a Yiugwai hunter and the Au family are reluctantly tolerated to do that for a price. Pot Por is the elderly family matriarch in charge who instructs her granddaughter Kiamling on what to do (harshly). Kiamling has talent but feels hemmed in and so when a mysterious monster takes Por Por away suddenly for the first time she has freedom to make her own choices, innovate and start to get to know the British but she soon finds there is an awful lot still to learn and time to do that is running out.

Chan throws us into the deep end from the start of the novel as the Au Family have to deal with both a crowd of the undead thirsty for human energy and a stupid British officer. This neatly gets the reader up to speed on the setting, the type of supernatural we are dealing with and the unusual dynamics of the Au Family. Kiamling is very much the reluctant hero and a compelling one at that. Under her grandmother’s eyes she is often a disappointment and increasingly feels hard done by. I do love an unlikeable character and in particular when we realise why they are unlikeable. If you’ve been mysteriously orphaned, very impoverished, looked down upon by everyone you know because of the family profession and that you are a girl - an to British eyes even worse foreign then forgive me but I think I’d be a little sour about the world and everyone telling me what to do! What Chan does well though is unpeel the layers of Kaimling and also use this as a way to broaden her (and our understanding of the world).

This is important because the real substance of the story is about using the time and setting to tell a bigger story. This is not just monster hunter battling the supernatural. Kaimling starts to realise the strange magical attacks have specific targets in mind and this neatly pulls into issues of British colonialism and the country’s quest for greater power in the region. We get to understand the impact of opium, how trade routes were being prized and how the British ruled - these are not great outcomes for those being occupied. Really interestingly chan weaves a battle of Chinese and British folklore at odds with one another and her notes there are some similarities in the myths to. Chan makes these appearances menacing and dangerous and reminds us that colonisation wasn’t some gentle democratisation of a country but taking over for power. Kaimling starts to realise the extent of this and also how the world is not as black and white as she thought the supernatural forces of Hong along are not all evil and the British too are complicated.

It’s fascinating watching the cast grow and reveal more of themselves so as well as a story of Kaimling growing into her role after making many mistakes we also have her simple demure sister Jingling who we find….is perhaps not. We also have a fascinating relationship between Kaimling and Archie Rerferne a new British civil servant who is trying to learn local languages with Kiamling’s help but they both are also learning their worlds are both very different and share similar pressures. There is also the mysterious friend Chihoi returning after many years away. It’s creates a core cast with many interesting dynamics and revelations that feels fresh as well as adhering to the rules of people not knowing everyone’s secrets until the worst possible time. They’re all though really well layered and feel real.

Harbour of Hungry Ghosts is a vastly entertaining and smart novel. Chan makes the reader appreciate the context of the world and the often unknown history that changed this part of the world for good. As is in keeping for Chan’s work it also knows when to pull the heart out of the reader and step on it. For me that’s a good thing when I recover. There is potential for more adventures in this world and I’d love to see what Chan does next. Strongly recommended!