Vibes: Reylo fanfic turned Southeast Asian fantasy with Fourth Wing style writing.

Listen, I feel like that "vibes" summary will either turn people off to this or have them adding it to their cart immediately. As a reader voracious for more Filipino representation in books, I had to give this one a try despite my reservations!

And unsurprisingly, I have mixed feelings about it...

I am glad it exists and that it is being met with such acclaim and hype. As someone who's used to seeing mainly SJM, Yarros, and other mediocre-white-women-writing lauded as the second coming of Christ, it's nice to see those same bookstagram pages actually promoting a BIPOC author for once with the same energy.

And yet I cannot help but wonder if the reason for that is because so much of the "Filipino-ness" in this book is watered down and made palatable for an international audience. It hits all the familiar notes one would find in a popular, trope-heavy romantasy, just remixed with a setting that most will recognize as Southeast Asian (and only Filipino readers will be able to glean our specific cultural details from the text). 

I loved the matriarchal society of Nenevar, the references to what I recognized as Filipino ("the pudding merchant" in place of taho, chismis, utang na loob, and so much more!), and the tension built between our two main characters. 

The writing feels juvenile at times, with dialogue that had me either laughing out loud or cringing in pain. The initial chapters were painful to get through, with intense world building/infodumping that had me thinking I would DNF it. But I'm glad I pushed through, because it soon became a wild ride I couldn't bear to tear myself away from. Ultimately, I'm counting this as a "brain-off" romantasy read for me, and one that I'm intrigued to continue reading. If you're a fan of ACOTAR, Fourth Wing, or similar books I think you will LOVE this one!