Blurb
Born into a powerful magical family that focuses on medicinal synthing, an ability to diagnose ailments by seeing colors, Halla struggles balancing her family’s legacy and expectations with her own career running her apothecary in a quickly modernizing world.
As she navigates through her own struggles, she gets entangled with a powerful family and framed for a poisoning, putting everything she’s ever worked for at risk, which sets her on a journey with her ranyi, a reclusive and mythical six-taloned fish-snake, to rediscover her family history, reclaim synthing powers she’s long suppressed, and figure out just who exactly is plotting against her.
Review
This is a heartwarming, feel-good fantasy that does one of my favorite things the genre is capable of: it wraps real, relatable human problems inside a world full of magic and wonder.
Halla is a synther, someone who can diagnose ailments by seeing colors, running her own apothecary while trying to balance her family’s powerful legacy with her own ambitions in a rapidly modernizing world. What makes it sing is the emotional honesty underneath. Halla’s need for the approval of her family’s matriarch is something so many talented young people carry, and Liu presents it with all the pride, fear, and frustration that makes it feel painfully real. I found myself genuinely moved by those moments in ways I didn’t expect.
Halla herself is complex, multifaceted, and easy to root for. Rexford serves as a strong foil that gives Halla room to reflect and grow. But my favorite characters might be Mrs. Nuan and Grandma Wen, whose banter with Halla had me grinning constantly. The family dynamics in this book are a real highlight, full of warmth and humor that feel lived in rather than performed.
The worldbuilding is deeply inspired by Chinese folklore and traditional Chinese medicine, which gives the entire setting a freshness and specificity that stands out in the current fantasy landscape. The synthing magic system and the magical beasts (including Halla’s ranyi, a six-taloned fish-snake) are fascinating, and I found myself wanting even more of both because what’s there is so good. There are a handful of moments where the world is explained a little directly, but they’re few and far between.
The prose is clear and simple in a way that keeps things moving, and there are standout moments that show real range. Halla’s nightmare scene in particular was exceptional, dripping with dread and dream-logic that I could feel. The plot wanders a bit in the middle and things come together quickly at the end, but this is ultimately a character story, and on that front it delivers beautifully.
Synthers & Beasts is the kind of book that leaves you feeling good. It’s warm, it’s charming, it’s culturally rich, and at its core it’s about a young woman figuring out who she is apart from who her family expects her to be. That’s a story worth telling, and Judy Liu tells it with heart.
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