The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F.C. YeeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
It's been two years and change - or is it three? Either way, F.C. Yee took quite some time to deliver a much-needed, long-awaited follow-up to The Epic Crush of Genie Lo, and The Iron Will to wait for it helped make this second book pretty well worth it. Though I found the opening of this book a little bit confusing - since it made reference to certain events that I didn't remember, and then jumped ahead several more months, like...how much have I missed? - Yee's greatest strengths continue to shine in this story. Not only are we still deeply entrenched in the world of Chinese folklore, as well as the unlikely romance of Genie and Quentin, but Yee continues to depict an extremely accurate Silicon Valley setting with all the names changed to protect the innocent. Hell, this book throws in some party-hearty college touring at an unnamed university that eerily resembles Stanford in its sprawl and Spanish-style architecture, and yet is also an easy train ride away from Santa Firenza - which would be more accurate to Cal Berkeley if Santa Firenza really does equal Fremont as it does in my headcanon. Unless Santa Firenza was always meant as a stand-in for Sunnyvale or Cupertino or Santa Clara? Who knows. Either way, Yee's second Chinese-American urban fantasy is a damn fine book, and while the ending doesn't demand a follow-up quite as fiercely as its predecessor, I'm really hoping to see a third book sometime soon!
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