The Girl With Ghost Eyes by M. H. Boroson is the first book in the Daoshi Chronicles. It tells the story of Li-lin, a young woman who is a Daoshi priestess in Chinatown towards the end of the nineteenth century. She works with her father, another high-ranking Daoshi priest, where she unintentionally gets caught up in a conspiracy that aims to kill her father. After almost losing her own life protecting her father she decides to investigate and work on ending the conspiracy. Finding the evil sorcerer is one thing, finding a way to defeat him is another. Li-lin ends up trying to find allies that typically she would not work with as they are forbidden by her father such as various demons, a rival gang trying to take control of Chinatown and various others. The more she finds out, the more she struggles to figure out what to do to stop what is going on. Something that seems harder and harder to do on her own but that she fears she must ultimately do if she wishes to prevent even more horrible things from happening.
I know very little about Daoism or the beliefs associated with it. That being said I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it in this story. From what I saw it seems to be fairly well depicted. Perhaps even more well-depicted is the culture of the Chinese that the characters are part of. The intricacies that are woven throughout the story indicate either an exceptional amount of research or intimate knowledge of the culture. It could go either way. What I will say is that it added an extraordinary amount of depth to the story and to the plot as well. The culture depicted places a lot of restrictions on the protagonist Li-lin as she is a woman who is also a widow and must follow the dictates of her father, even if she knows he is wrong or if she disagrees. It adds some interesting layers to the story as she has to fight against these restrictions as much as she must fight against the actual enemy. Li-lin seems to be a rather interesting character as she seems devoted to following the rules of her society, culture and role but at the same time is willing to go against those if she feels she has no other choice in order to do what must be done. That seems like it would take a lot of courage and it doesn’t seem like the culture would normally foster that in women though I can’t say for sure based off of just the one book. In terms of the actual plot it really drew me right in and I had a hard time wanting to put the book down at times. Every time it seemed like Li-lin had something figured out something else popped up to muddy the waters and make it more difficult for her. It created a very good story and one that I definitely enjoyed, enough I am looking forward to reading the sequel. I am happy giving this book four out of five stars.
This book is a fantasy novel but it is a historical urban fantasy novel, if that makes sense. If either of those sub-genres appeal to you than you should consider trying it out. It also references the idea of demons and the spirit realm so if you enjoy books about that you might also consider it. However, if you don’t enjoy any of those than I doubt it would hold much appeal to you. The book is primarily aimed at adult readers and I would mostly agree with that as there are some mature references and violent content though nothing overly explicit. I would hesitate to recommend it to readers younger than about sixteen because of that though anybody older than that should be fine. Overall it is a pretty good book and if it sounds interesting consider trying it out. Remember to share your thoughts in the comments if you do.