Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng

I feel pretty dense for not realizing sooner that this is essentially a pandemic-themed novel. I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if I had known, mostly because I’m not in the mood to relive the pandemic right now. So the book struggles to win my favor from the start.

That said, I did like the premise. I liked the supernatural horror elements. I actually thought the resolution of the mystery was really well done. On the other hand, the characters, dialogue, and overall writing style felt pretty generic and not particularly memorable.

A major part of the book is its commentary on Asian hate and prejudice during the pandemic and elsewhere, which I agree is an important subject to address. As a white girl, I don’t feel like I’m the best person to judge how successfully that commentary was handled, but I did recognize that it was a big part of what the book was trying to do.

Book author: Kylie Lee Baker