A really eye-opening read! I read Six of Crows years ago and really enjoyed the writing, but after reading this (+ watching your related vid) I have a completely different perspective now. You've def given me a lot to chew on, as a hobbyist author and worldbuilder myself!
As a (related, I hope) aside, this got me thinking about Shu Han's worldbuilding too... I'm Chinese, and honestly, years ago I was so desperate for any "fantasy China" that when I saw Shu Han characters like Kuwei I was thrilled. But the worldbuilding is, uhrm, how do I put this. Yeah. Re: whitewashing of Eastern culture for appeasement of a culturally-curated audience... I actually feel this a lot with English-language ~fantasy China~ novels. Many of the novelists are of Chinese descent, yet somehow the books they write feel like "Panda Express China". Like taking the zodiacs and pig ears and Monkey Kings and qi... like LOTR but with the paint of pinyin names.
Re: diversity within Russia - another point I resonated with. China is so freaking big and there's so much cultural and ethnic diversity. So whenever Anglo authors cram *multiple* EA countries into one (1) fictional country it's kinda... Yeah. Treating the entirety of China as a monolith is bad enough, but all of East Asia? Yikes. (Not saying this is snth Bardugo in particular is doing, just a pattern I've noticed)
A really eye-opening read! I read Six of Crows years ago and really enjoyed the writing, but after reading this (+ watching your related vid) I have a completely different perspective now. You've def given me a lot to chew on, as a hobbyist author and worldbuilder myself!
As a (related, I hope) aside, this got me thinking about Shu Han's worldbuilding too... I'm Chinese, and honestly, years ago I was so desperate for any "fantasy China" that when I saw Shu Han characters like Kuwei I was thrilled. But the worldbuilding is, uhrm, how do I put this. Yeah. Re: whitewashing of Eastern culture for appeasement of a culturally-curated audience... I actually feel this a lot with English-language ~fantasy China~ novels. Many of the novelists are of Chinese descent, yet somehow the books they write feel like "Panda Express China". Like taking the zodiacs and pig ears and Monkey Kings and qi... like LOTR but with the paint of pinyin names.
Re: diversity within Russia - another point I resonated with. China is so freaking big and there's so much cultural and ethnic diversity. So whenever Anglo authors cram *multiple* EA countries into one (1) fictional country it's kinda... Yeah. Treating the entirety of China as a monolith is bad enough, but all of East Asia? Yikes. (Not saying this is snth Bardugo in particular is doing, just a pattern I've noticed)