The Epic Crush of Genie Lo

By: F. C. Yee

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

American Born Chinese meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this grounded supernatural YA mash-up.

The struggle to get into a top-tier college consumes 16-year-old Genie's every waking thought. But when she discovers she's a celestial spirit who's powerful enough to bash through the gates of heaven with her fists, her perfectionist existence is shattered. Enter Quentin, a transfer student from China whose tone-deaf assertiveness beguiles Genie to the brink of madness. Quentin nurtures Genie's bodacious transformation - sometimes gently, sometimes aggressively - as her sleepy suburb in the Bay Area comes under siege from hell spawn.

This epic YA debut draws from Chinese folklore, features a larger-than-life heroine, and perfectly balances the realities of Genie's grounded high school life with the absurd supernatural world she finds herself commanding.

©2017 Christian Yee (P)2017 Recorded Books

Amazing Performance

The story and writing are very good YA superhero fantasy, but Nancy Wu's performance is outstanding. Every single character is fully fleshed and distinct. Will actively seek more from her to listen to.

Super fun retelling

If you enjoy the original Chinese folklore at all, you’ll enjoy this retelling. Humorous, with enough serious moments to bring to life a really fun story - Nancy Wu is perfect for this book.

Enjoyed it more than I expected.

Bottom line? This was more fun than I expected and was a cool adaptation of "Journey to the West" I am not the target demographic for YA novels, and only tried this because of how much I enjoyed the Avatar the last airbender Kyoshi books. Yee is a great writer and Nancy Wu is a great fit for both stories. If you're looking for something fun and maybe out of your regular pattern, give this a try. I'm glad I did.

Really enjoyable!

I really liked this one! I've been craving some non-European fantasy and this is great.

Kawaii version of the Sun Wu Kong for young adults

Loved it! Great and imaginative writing by FC Yee and another great performance by Nancy Wu. I'm so immersed in the story I sometimes forget it's not the Avatar speaking, it's Ruyi Jingu Bang. As a non Chinese speaker I appreciate it's integrating into the story and not changing traditional names just because I don't yet know them. Will be on my yearly re-read list.

I loved it.

Another great story from F.C. Yee and narration from Nancy wu. I love it.

Great entertaining read

This was a great story that kept me reading all the way to the end and now I'm working on the next in the series.

Max

I usually don’t love the YA genre, but this book was such a delectable blend of mythology, action, insecurity, the pressures of being a teenager, the Chinese-American experience. Anyone who calls this a “Chinese Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is underselling the layers and layers of Chinese mythology explored in the book. The tone is a little teeny-bopper-y but not in a distracting way.

It’s a story about stepping into your power. I finished it in a couple of days and I can’t wait to jump into the sequel. If you like this book, read both of the Kyoshi books by F.C. Lee.

The only negative thing I’ll say is that it seemed like there were some issues in the recording booth. I don’t mean narrator Nancy Wu (who I love). There were a surprising amount of awkward, unintentional pauses and slight background noises, like flipping pages. Still, Nancy Wu makes up for it with her enchanting, easy-to-lose-yourself narration.

I liked it but

I liked the story, but the reading had odd spaces and there were a few too many metaphors for my liking

Surprised at my enjoyment

This is a little different target age group for me but I've read or watched the story on the Monkey King in the past and found this rendition to be delightful. I'll be looking for more work from F.C. Yee snd I just love Nancy Wu.