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"A Vietnamese Brothers Grimm tale! A little bit of creepy to read while curled up with on the couch. A 24hr read. Well translated to English." - Reedsy Discovery.

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Spirited Away meets Coraline in the Suburbs of Hanoi, Vietnam with a twist to the genre. A heart-pounding journey of betrayal and bond, strength and perseverance, with the looming threat of ghosts, demons, and black magic... told from the perspective of a comedic protagonist!

An eerie children's nursery rhyme lures Thanh - an intelligent college girl with an unnatural level of trust issues - into an adventure of her lifetime.

On this journey, she meets Điền Mục, a young ghost catcher who can't see ghosts but was raised by a 500-year-old spirit and has about zero experience in human interactions.

The fates of two unlikely companions intertwine on the spider web of a criminal mastermind who has been evading arrest for the past 40 years.

Their lives are on the line; the trap has been set! Meanwhile, Thanh still hasn't trusted Mục yet... But can you honestly blame her for not choosing a total stranger, and a weirdo no less, over people she'd known her whole life?

211 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 12, 2021

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Nghịch Tử

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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for BookishWeeb Olivia.
345 reviews32 followers
April 11, 2021
I just want to start off by saying that this book had not only reached all my expectations but also went beyond that. Eyes, by Nghich, has very quickly become my new favorite novel. You really can't go wrong with demons, black magic, spirits, adventure/danger, and of course the mythical aspect of a children's nursery rhyme. I personally really like how deep and thoughtful the world-building was, compared to many other reads I've gone through. I wasn't able to merely 'skim' or 'glance' over a paragraph, but really truly sit and thoroughly read line by line to get the full effect of the writing. I enjoyed that even though the culture of the setting and the characters are different than what I'm used to, that I was still able to understand and appreciate all the little hidden twists in the writing.

Honestly, I would highly recommend this book to anyone. The story was engaging and interesting and the characters were well built and developed.
Profile Image for PhantomEevee.
1 review
March 26, 2021
The Half-Alive Series is an ongoing book series written by Nghịch Tu and translated as well edited by Viet H. Nguyen. The following review is for Book 1 named 'Eyes', which has been shared on Facebook as well as on Amazon. It is best sorted into the Fantasy Thriller and Supernatural Adventure genre.


Each of the Chapters, 13 in total plus a prologue and epilogue, reads itself relatively well and fastly, but it's still not a leisure read or a read you can just skim over! Especially if being unfamiliar with the Vietnamese culture and interested in learning about it via the story. I even found myself taking little written notes of small details and the special meaning of certain things, both because I found them interesting and to remember the significance if a certain thing comes up – lime leaves are just one example!
The style of writing is decent, pleasant to read, and varies sentence length relatively well in order to add dynamic.

The story itself starts with one of the various main characters Vu Thanh – frankly, it's hard to pin down THE main character from the pool of charas introduced along the way – waiting for the bus that is supposed to bring her from the big city she's attending University in to the small Maize Village she's grown up in to enjoy Vietname's most important holiday among her family. This bus is where she meets a young male of the name Dien Muc , and this is where I had the first feelings of 'there is more than the eye can see or guess behind what is happening'.

Dien Muc, another chara from the diverse pool of main characters, appears to be quite a special case. He has a strong vibe of 'either-you-like-him-or-you-hate-him' attached to him, it's hard to ignore or be indifferent about him as a character in the book. I found myself not especially liking him at the beginning, quite like Thanh who found that odd boy more of a nuisance than anything.
It comes as a suprise that after having read Book 1 completely, he has become the character I must say am liking the most. There is SO much about him that is hidden under the surface of this character, he is MUCH more than a random weirdo Thanh has met on the bus to the Maize Village. He claims to be a ghost catcher, which at first is hard to believe, but soon shows more than true when things are getting dire and the spiritual world takes the offensive against Thanh. It's impressive that he is so even his whole family is born without the third Eye. Yet he remains brave and determined and eventually managed to save Thanh from the assault, along the course it is soon revealed that he is neither fully alive nor fully dead: He's half-alive. He may not entirerly fit the definition of an anti-hero but he still got more anti-hero than hero vibes, adding to his personality.

By his side and with him are two allies:
First there is an 'old man' being some sort of the guardian spirit of the Dien family. Dien Muc himself cannot see him, therefor communicates with him via a phone and written notes. I loved how that 'old man' shows impressive strength and cunning as the story reaches its showdown against the antagonist!
Second is Tam Vi O Van, a spectral and mighty horse that Dien uses for much more than just transportation. The phantom steed expresses more intelligence than expected from a 'usual' horse, and shows almost otherworldy strength and speed in combat against the antagonist. Alongside it's unique decription in appearance and strong bond to Dien Muc, it quickly proofs to be a very worthy ally that I quickly started to admire them once realized that it's not just a horse that is used to get from one place to the other in a scene or two, but reoccures in various situations and adds a certain dramatic flair to things. In the end this phantom steed even managed to become my secon fave character of the book (series), which formerly was Vu Thanh – It's not that I don't like her, I do. She comes off as the average young female at first, joyous and excited to return home for the holiday. Never would she nor I have guessed in what sort of adventure she gets involved upon doing so, and it's fun to follow it through alongside and with her! In the end and as a result of said adventure(?), her own YinYang-Eye even opens. Not much is revealed about the consequences of this by and at the end of Book 1, making me hyped to continue reading what these are in Book 2.

Next I'd like to shine some light on a few special scenes/happenings/points that I found especially appealing and interesting.
The first thing that comes to mind is how clever it was of the antagonist to use the moon to spy on Muc and Thanh! The moon is so natural and not-suspicious that this was a definite 'Whoah!'-moment when it became clear that it's not so harmless in this book series as it appear to be.
The scene with all the maggots with their humanlike faces that attacked Thanh and Muc in Chapter XII was a real creepy one, very well written!
Same with the part where it's been revealed that Dien Muc is half-alive, which makes him, being sort of an 'overgrown fetus' to quote the book, very useful in dark magic. This makes him quite vulnerable, but also all the more impressive that he's not afraid to face the antagonist.

Negative points and critique is scarce in this case. Still however, there are two things I'd like to point out:
Chapter XI ('Mind Games') consisted almost entirerly of explanations and how things are related to one another. While it's understandable that this is necessary to fully understand and follow certain happenings/why they're happing, it makes it a bit of a tough and tenacious chapter to read. Maybe it would have been better to slip the explanations and weave them into more than one chapter?
At some times it was a bit hard to understand certain meanings of particular objects in the Vietnamese culture without either having it noted down somewhere (like I did) or having a good memory, as quite a lot of objects are reoccuring and significant as the story progresses. But then again, it's probably like that for every culture you're so far unfamiliar, it doesn't count as a 'real' negative point, more like something I wished to point out.
Matching that, something that's very appreciated in that case is the glossar, terminologies and cultural explanations-section at the end of Book 1.The footnotes and option to go back to the story itself via one or two clicks makes it easy to quickcheck on something in case a particular meaning isn't entirerly clear, very helpful!


All in all, I'd give Book 1 of the Half-Alive Series a solid 9 out of 10 points. It's a great read if you're interested in learning about an Asian culture that's less known and less portrayed in media, overshadowed somewhat by Japanese and Chinese culture. Prepare for an exciting read with some spooks and scary moments!
Profile Image for Vijay M.R..
Author 1 book26 followers
May 4, 2021


In ‘Eyes’ - a supernatural adventurous fantasy thriller and dark horror with mystery, Nghich Tu has presented us a well-contemplated story absorbingly. It is filled with realistic depictions of - black magic, phantom horse, maggots with human-like faces, ghosts, pigheaded demons and treachery, to keep us entertained. It revolves around Vu Thanh, a college girl who goes to her village to celebrate festivals.

Dien Mục a naive in interpersonal relationship, a paradoxical eccentric who can’t see ghosts but a ghost catcher(!) tries befriending Thanh. A 500-year-old 'Spirit' man is his mentor-guardian.

Thanh is a quiet, reserved person. She talks when she ceases to be at peace with her thoughts (--Kahlil Gibran) . So, she is cynical towards Muc rejecting his friendship gestures, unable to anticipate needs must when the devil drives.

Pulled by a nursery rhyme en route, Thanh would not have dreamt a horrible journey through a ghost village – a topsy-turvy image of her familiar world.



She meets her friends but is in a dilemma of whom to trust when conflicts arise, whether Muc or her long-term friends … that’d all been a ruse, a clever trick to shift suspicion onto Mục… to make Thanh trust them.

Thanh and Muc must survive the horrific onslaught of the antagonists.

Thanh suffers immeasurable agony...really, oh my God! To save her life, Thanh develops a strange bond with Muc to defeat the unadulterated evil, tooth and nail. Adversity makes strange bedfellows.

To achieve success in their mission, the aggressive antagonists create perplexing tactics to trap Thanh and Muc. The misled protagonists use powdered lime, raw garlic, pineapple leaves, peach wood pin and salt, to parry the wicked. They struggle to identify the core antagonist that is as cunning as a fox. Nghich surprises you here!

The fresh and intriguing plot thickens with amazing twists and nail-biting portrayals - blood and gore. It spirals into downright horror.



Nghich admirably introduces the puzzling characters creating irony and surprise. He takes us inside Thanh's experiences and her dynamic emotions. He has beautifully developed diametrically opposite characters in Thanh and Muc and their friendship. He has genuinely portrayed myriads of conflicts between the protagonists and antagonists.

 Thanh: unselfish simple girl who acts scientifically even under dire circumstances; extraordinarily courageous, as brave as a lioness… she was staring death in the face … Thanh still didn’t want to just simply sit still and wait to be rescued.

 Muc: Thanh’s friend in need. Independent problem solver. An interesting half-alive character with duality.

 Crafty Oldman: secretive and invisible with amazing powers leading the protagonists.

 Antagonists: Possessed cannibals with clever ploys.

Nghich as an intelligent storyteller is vivid in world-building … Within the mirror’s surface, Hùng’s soul was trapped, pounding the glass with both hands, which caused ripples to spread out the glass surface as if it was actually made of water.

‘Eyes’ captures varieties of myths suspensefully. Nghich depicts thoroughbred evil with unusual situations. His cultural settings with an original dose of folklore and unique structure of storytelling amused me:

 Horror: Depictions of chilling experiences of Thanh… wanted to weep, to scream out loud, to cry for help… wanted to get out of this cursed place.

 Interesting belief systems: … each living person has three souls and seven spirits.

 Creative imagination: Nghich keeps you wondering with interesting concepts … she’d stabbed just now a ghost; spiritual energy bullets; spy-moon – deserves a special mention.



Unexplained mentally challenging subtleties in twists hinder the flow. However, detailed magical practices and extraordinary torture scenes carry the story forward … millions of pupil-less black eyes were staring at her, Thanh felt cold to her bones.

The climax attacks the senses with terror! If you want something that scares the hell out of you, “Eyes” will surely give you hair-raising moments. It met my expectations as it’s full of ideas. It has wonderful paradigms for you:

The Lotus flowers… when understood in a positive way, represent radiant beauty shining through the black mud, unstained. But when understood negatively, it actually means, ‘the beautiful surface serves to hide the bad, stinky roots.’

Nghich has achieved his purpose. Magnificently!
1 review
February 27, 2021
As a fellow Vietnamese, I am pleasantly surprised to have found a book that promotes our culture. I started this book half-expecting to find cliché situations and types of characters that usually appear in books/movies of the same genre, but the book takes a Deadpool-like twist on the genre. The characters are witty and cunning, dialogues are humorous and as the book reaches its climax, the plots thickens with intertwisting schemes, so you should probably not skim this one. Note that this book isn’t NOT scary: it has its fair share of gore and in my opinion is definitely not for kids; but if you’re looking for Stephen King-type of story, this isn’t for you. Good read, I hope the sequel can keep up the quality.
1 review
February 28, 2021
I don’t often write a book review because others have pretty much summed up my perspective. This one is different, because it’s a new book and I wanted to be the first few reviewers. In anticipation of TET (lunar new year), I wanted to relive my childhood when I used to listen to my grandpa tell ghost stories. I left the Orient in my early childhood and followed my family on a journey to the west (no, not in the same monkey king entourage, I promise). I love Oriental stories where the main hero is a young aspiring martial artist sent on a mission, having trained under an old master that can paralyze you with two fingers. Along the way, the young lad saves people who become willing companions that would follow him to complete his mission. This little wonderful story contains all the usual suspects, a young man, an old man and his willing companions. So naturally, I was totally prepared for this story, right? Haha, I was completely caught off guard, in a good way! It’s not the usual strength meets strength, rather the cast can’t put up a fight and have to resort to channeling cultural practices, wit and planning! It was a page turner for me and I truly enjoyed how the author tried to weave in cultural references to give context to readers unfamiliar with the Oriental beliefs, like Yin and Yang, without being a distraction. The story is primarily centered in a village where physical world meets spiritual world, with a few gory scenes in the later chapters. In terms of the fright meter, if “The Ring” is a 10 (I was scared to death whenever the phone rang), this is a 3, so totally suitable for a young teen. I can’t wait for the sequel!
February 20, 2021
A thrilling adventure to a land where nothing is as it seems . Two young people with their fates entwined , Vu Thanh , a college student and Dien Muc , the socialy awkward ghost catcher arrive to Vu Thanh's home village , Maize , only to find out that they have to endure horrors they never knew that existed . From ancient rituals to ghosts and magic . Instead of celebrating the Lunar new year , the two youngsters and their unexpected allies , are now fighting for their survival

Despite being lore heavy , the authors do a great job explaining the elements of the Vietnamese lore whenever it is needed , for those who are unfamiliar with it . The magic is in the details , the atmosphere always gives you the uneasiness you feel in fantasy thriller classics . Those who love the Lovecraftian Mythos and the Eldritch Horror will fall in love with "Eyes" . And last but not least , the character development is great .
Vu Thanh , from a typical girl to a true survivor .

Definitely looking forward to everything the Half-Alive series has to offer
Profile Image for GivernyReads.
111 reviews14 followers
June 13, 2021
I really loved reading this book. The author was very creative in merging paranormal action with Vietnamese culture. It was really great to finally read a retelling book based on Vietnamese culture. There aren't many books like this, so it made for an interesting read.

The world-building in this book was done extremely well. The author was continually evolving the setting. It was great to see as most books don't do this.

I loved Vũ Thanh's character. She was a strong and intelligent protagonist. Unlike most fantasy horror characters, Thanh always try to reason with the paranormal. Character development was excellent.

The past/present tense that went throughout was a bit of a problem. It was hard to read the book while going back and forth between tenses.

Overall, this book was really interesting. I loved the plot and story line of this book. It was lovely to read and learn a bit about Vietnamese culture. I would highly recommend this book to fans of fantasy horror and retellings.

Thank you to the author for the book in exchange for my honest review.
Profile Image for Pallavi Sareen.
Author 3 books78 followers
May 1, 2021
Woah. Let me just say that I did not expect this.
The foreword itself mentions that Vietnamese culture is still not as popular as Japanese or Chinese Culture and so my curiosity for reading this book was already high because I couldn’t wait to find out!
Myths and ancient stories are always exciting but old lore from different cultures when merged with a fictional story of a female protagonist who is a SURVIVOR? Yep, I was sold.
Eyes is a Fantasy thriller with great supernatural elements but its true quality lies in the writing. It is so well-detailed and engrossing that you cannot skip even one paragraph. The one thing I find weird in books written by authors from different countries is that they often forget to explain the significance of a cultural element and just assume the reader would “know”. The author, here, does not make that mistake. The meaning is woven into the story and as you read, it becomes so naturally imbibed in your mind. There are a lot of characters, each with their strong personality (which did make me feel like I was reading a manga comic). Vu Thanh was surely my favorite but Dien Muc was close second. A ghost catcher, how crazy is that? Crazy Awesome, I say. Then, there is that old man vibes. No Asian story is complete without the presence of an experienced old man who is mysterious beyond understanding.
The second thing I loved about the book was the storytelling. It is NOT easy to tell a story with magical elements. It kept the balance between creepy and intriguing and most of all adventurous. The book is gory enough to please dark fantasy lovers and balanced enough to be enjoyed by teenagers.
What I was most surprised to know was that this book was a translation! Because often books loose their charm in translation. But since the writing of this book was so engrossing, I just imagine what the original would be like.

Without explaining too much about the plot, I would just say, it is the story of magic, mystery and adventure set into a mystical world where bad things happen but people can survive it. There’s gut-wrenching scenes and total awe-worthy chapters so JUST go ahead and READ IT!
Profile Image for Helen Lemus.
50 reviews
May 31, 2021
In this paranormal fantasy, ghosts, evil dogs, demons and the undead all frustrate the heroes' plans to leave a haunted village in Vietnam with their lives and their souls. In a rocking, non-stop action-filled story, Ðiên Muc and Vû Thanh become friends but only if they are able to make it through a literal Hell.

I recommend this novel because not only is it a really fun read, but I really cared about the protagonists. Plus, I learned a lot about Vietnamese folklore. I really enjoyed the twists in the plot in this thrilling novel. Can't wait for the next installment.
Profile Image for C.E. Cannery.
Author 4 books28 followers
March 7, 2021
As someone who has probably never picked up a paranormal fantasy novel, when I think of paranormal or ghost fantasy, I think of quiet, dark, and terrifying, but this book was not that. Things (instead) that come to mind are those of a warmer nature. Action. Adventure. Gore-based horror. Humor. A touch of mystery.

This, I was not expecting. And there are a lot of things about this book that are unexpected, especially if one is not familiar with Vietnamese lore (which I am not), and thus feels, to me, exciting and creative.

Eyes starts off with that more mystical feel (which made me think of Spirited Away at first) as Thanh enters the night/ghost bus on her journey home, but then, the story’s more playful side is almost immediately introduced in the form of the other main character, Điền Mục. As Thanh falls to sleep beside the strange man, a number of mysterious things occur, and she wakes up with Điền insisting that she take the bus back to the city, but Thanh, being naturally a skeptical and cautious lady, refuses. She, instead, marches straight into her village, noting curiously that almost nothing had changed since the last time she had been there. The strange occurrences don’t end there, though, but Thanh refuses to believe and is more concerned about the strange man following her. Things eventually get too bizarre even for Thanh, and she begins to believe that something is very wrong with her village.

The ruse of the “mastermind,” however, is quickly revealed in about the first third of the book. I thought to myself that this was strange and how might the book carry on the plot, but they did and quite seamlessly. The mystery turned into an exciting action-adventure with, I might say, a touch of wuxia (in the end fight scene) and some gore-ish horror populated with a number of strange creatures and occurrences—to give you a taste, there were: pig-headed men, moons with mouths, sentient wooden swords, maggots with human faces, a rooster-doctor, and much more.

My favorite part of this book had to be the characters, though. Thanh is smart, maybe sometimes too smart, and thinks everything through quite thoroughly. She isn’t the type of character you might expect in a ghostly horror. She almost takes a scientific approach to figuring out all the ghost mess. Điền is playful, ridiculous, care-free, and kind of—hmm—monkey-like (A hanuman-kind of character, you know the monkey-guy that you might have seen in other Asian films like Goku in DBZ or you know), but he is also serious as well. He has two very clearly defined characters inside himself. Aloud he’ll say one thing but will be definitely thinking another. And with Thanh and Điền’s personalities being so different, they clash in quite a humorous way. The “old man” with his secret rants and terse notes to Điền is also a fun character, and I enjoyed seeing all of them interact.

That being said, there were some problems, and the writers do mention being aware of them in the afterward, but I figured I mention them anyway for other readers. The book has numerous cases of past and present tense being used in the same sentence, making for quite a jarring read. Also (I get that this is due to the nature of the book), some of the explanations for various Vietnamese cultural things can go on a bit long and break the narrative. There were also times when I thought the book could use more description as many readers might not know what a certain structure looks like.

That being said, I did enjoy this book. When I first picked it up, the constant changes in present/past tense drove me crazy, and I almost put it down, but the story started to win me over. It is fun. It is paranormal with a more upbeat tone. And despite its issues, I think it’s worth a read. I would recommend this for readers who enjoy a story with adventure, myths, humor, and, most importantly, want to dive into a different pool of myths than the usual. But if some of the grammatical issues I stated above drive you mad, you might want to take a pass.

(I was given this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.)
Profile Image for Electra Nanou.
Author 4 books19 followers
May 19, 2021
Eyes is a worthwhile read that merges very creative paranormal action with Vietnamese culture. Despite some narrative problems, it’s a promising start to the Half-Alive Series, a unique and spine-tingling contribution to the dark fantasy genre.
Profile Image for Việt H. Nguyễn.
Author 1 book11 followers
May 2, 2021
As I'm the translator/consultant/editor of this book, this is not so much a review, but a note on how this book has come to be.

It all started back when September was ending and October was beginning in 2020, when I came to visit my best friend in Frankfurt, Germany. We were (and are still) co-running a Facebook page focusing on Literature and Vietnamese culture. As of that point in time, the page had only had Vietnamese contents, even though we both had international friends who wanted us to talk more about our culture.

During that visit, my best friend had decided to write something special to celebrate the upcoming Halloween, utilizing myths and legends of our culture. We stayed up all night talking over plans, character conceptualization, and world build. In the end, we decided to use a world build we'd previously worked on for another project, change the time period to the present, and establish a multiverse we could use for all of our past, present, and future works. At the same time, the main characters and storyline of the first book started to take shapes.

As my friend was writing the first chapter, a suitemate of his expressed curiosity and desire to know what he was writing. After some considerations, I began translating his original work into English as well, and started to share it with our International friends (most of whom were online and gaming friends, while some others were suitemate and classmates). After the initial endorsement and encouragement, we then decided to move forward with self-publishing. Which meant, the manuscript needed major editing, formatting, and make-over.

The biggest challenges while translating, but also what makes this book standing out from most other translated works, were keeping the tone and pacing of the original work, translating the many idioms and proverbs, as well as workshopping a make-up song to work around copyrighted materials. It did help tremendously that I was the main author's best friend, and was given freedom to make edits wherever I deemed necessary, as well as having the author himself as consultant for my translation. So, while I'm technically not the main creator of this series and its characters, they are like my babies none the less.

It was a hard few months, but we were finally done with everything in January, 2021. And spent the next month or so proofreading. The book was finally published on Feb 11th. And now, here we are.

For a work that have only been around for less than a month, written and translated by nobodies like ourselves, both the author and I feel extremely lucky to even have gained the love and heart-warming reviews that we've gotten so far.

Everyone who had decided to take a chance and embark on this little journey with us have shown to loved it. And for that we thank you!
Profile Image for Tony Parsons.
4,156 reviews86 followers
June 3, 2021
12/20, Vũ Thanh (young intelligent college girl) stopped her recording session & sent the files to her editor. With everything she’d recorded. The video would continue through the Tết holiday (Blind Ghost Catcher).
12/23, The Vietnamese people release carps for the Kitchen Gods to ride to Heaven, and 3 days after is the Lunar New Year Day.
Vũ Thanh was terrified of ghosts when she was a child, but now older she was fascinated by them.
On the train Điền Mục (young wannabe ghost catcher) introduced himself to her.

Hanoi, Vietnam. Granny Mai (aka, elderly, diabetic) greeted Vũ Thanh when she arrived in Maize Village.
Vũ Thanh could now prepare for the Kitchen God rituals.
There was still the Tết tradition of cockfighting.
Her childhood friends: Trang (college girl), Đào (Dance-school), Hùng (military school), & Quang had returned & wanted Vũ Thanh to meet them at the Communal Temple.
Điền Mục was introduced to Vũ Thanh’s friends, they thought he was weird.
The Thiên Linh Cái (Heavenly Maiden Spirit) ceremony consists of the practitioner burying the condemned girl, then planting a banana tree on top of her grave.
Điền Mục defeated the demon red-nose white dog’s corpse again.
Điền Mục then went into the biological garden to pick up more ingredients for his upcoming battle with the she-mastermind.

Điền Mục (real blind ghost catcher) climbed aboard Tam Vĩ Ô Vân (phantom horse) & galloped off to rescue Vũ Thanh.
There was no prison anywhere that could keep Vũ Thanh contained. She would commit suicide, then come back 1/2 alive somewhere outside the cell wall & continue her mission.
Mrs. Mai told her enforcers to tie Vũ Thanh up. The ritual would begin at the Hour of the Horse56.

I do not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing free books from publishers & authors. Therefore, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one.

An awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very professionally written Vietnamese tale book. It was quite easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters & facts to keep track of. This could also make another great Vietnamese fantasy movie, an animated cartoon, or better yet a mini-TV series. Quite a culture difference but I really enjoyed it & will rate it at 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Author (s); Goodreads; Making Connections; Making Connections discussion group talk; PDF book
Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn)
Profile Image for Gee Liz Reads.
113 reviews5 followers
October 8, 2021

First off I would just like to say how impressed I was by the translation of this novel from Vietnamese to English. Though not perfect, it was pretty darn close and I've read plenty of English novels with more mistakes. One thing I do not agree with in the blurb is that the story is told from the perspective of a comedic protagonist. This novel is NOT 1st person, it is 3rd person.

I am not familiar with Vietnamese culture at all and I felt like I learned so much from this novel. I found the culture interesting and it's made me want to continue learning more. What I loved about Eyes is that anything that the reader may be confused by (such as something associated with Vietnamese culture), a number was placed next to it and an explanation was provided in the back of the book.



Overall the storyline was good, the world building was solid and it and was filled with strong and likable characters with defining personalities. I definitely agree with the blurb - Spirited Away meets Caroline - 100%. I could actually see this novel being turned into a Studio Ghibli classic. It would be fantastic!



I enjoyed the book thoroughly until about 60% of the way in and then it became a bit tedious. I think it was because there was so much explaining to do about how things linked and I felt myself getting wound up at times as the characters would talk to each other for a long period of time even when they where in grave danger. Being in that situation, you would definitely keep your talking to a minimum and the enemy wouldn't just stand around and let you have a chat.



It did pick back up at the end and become more enjoyable again. It felt slightly rushed towards the end but I think most of my questions were answered. The story ended with a cliff-hanger which has naturally left me wanting to read the next book. Even if it hadn't finished on a cliff-hanger I definitely think I would read the next book.


Profile Image for puglord.
20 reviews
April 1, 2023
It’s an entertaining ghost story infused with Vietnamese lore and superstitions. It follows two characters, Vu Thanh and Dien Muc, who face a practitioner of dark magic. Vu Thanh is a human girl returning home from college for the Tet celebration, winds up in a ghostly version of her home town by mistake. Dien Muc is a beginning ghost catcher assigned to the town. I enjoyed the story, though I wish the main characters were more active. For most of the time, Vu Thanh is a damsel in distress to be saved. I would’ve liked it more if she used her wit and ghost knowledge to find her way out of trouble without relying on Dien Muc. As for Dien Muc, it comes off as him being overly reliant on the old man family guardian to save him from trouble. The ending wasn’t as satisfying since the two main leads were conveniently saved by the old man.
Profile Image for Lois Strachan.
Author 7 books13 followers
July 26, 2021
I really enjoyed this fantasy. I found the physical and cultural setting of the book refreshing and the characters engaging.

While probably aimed predominantly at a YA audience, the book will also be enjoyed by adults who read fantasy and mythology-based stories.

Looking forward to reading more in the series.

Profile Image for Joshua Grant.
Author 21 books253 followers
March 17, 2021
Nghich Tu and Viet Nguyen show us that not all change is good in their fantasy horror thriller Eyes! Young Vu Thanh is returning home to her village to celebrate Lunar New Year only to discover that things aren’t quite right in her village. Now she has no choice but to trust a strange young man if she has any hope of surviving the darkness that has descended on her home. Eyes is a great mystery soaked in black magic, spirits, and Vietnamese culture. I loved getting to learn more about Vietnamese culture and folklore over the course of this pulse-pounding ride, and I really felt connected with Vu Thanh! If you love darker fairy tales like Pan’s Labyrinth or you want to learn more about Vietnamese culture, come celebrate the new year with Eyes!
Profile Image for Jayna.
56 reviews13 followers
July 5, 2021
Review of Eyes – Book #1 in the Half-Alive Series – Written by Nghịch Tử, Translated by Việt H. Nguyễn

My rating: 4 stars.
Reading Time: 1 day.

Thank you to the Author and Reedsy for allowing me early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

A Vietnamese Brothers Grimm tale! A little bit of creepy to read while curled up with on the couch. A 24hr read. Well translated to English.
I thought when I first started reading this book that I would likely give it a 3 star rating. But by the end it would be unfair to rate it less than 4 stars.

As an Australian reader with zero knowledge of Vietnamese culture or folklore I was not sure what to expect or if I would enjoy this book. For the first few chapters I worried that, despite it being very well translated to English with no grammatical errors that I noticed, I would be find it difficult to get into the story as it did 'read' differently to what I was used to compared to English writers. However, the story did eventually sweep me away and by the end I was excited to see that there was potentially going to be a sequel.

If you are interested in folklore, fairy tales and dark superstitions and would consider reading more from a different culture, then I highly recommend this book. It was well written, the characters are likeable and interesting, and the combination of multiple Vietnamese folklore and children's ghost stories made for a curious read. I did not guess who was behind the horrors of the small town until it was revealed.

Towards the end, the 'horror' is a bit more graphic, but as someone who never reads horror stories I found it manageable and it did add to the flavour of the book. So be prepared, but not put off would be my advice.

Overall, as said above, I was surprised I enjoyed this book as much as I did. There is plenty of room there for more books in the series (provided there is more Vietnamese folklore that can be utilised, of which I have no idea). I would recommend to those who are looking to step outside of their own culture, enjoy fantasy/dark fairy tales, or perhaps looking for something that has a little extra creep factor to what they are used to.

Well done to the author and translator/editor who are friends and have been working on this project for some time. You've done a great job, and I look forward to reading book #2 should you choose to release it.
1 review
February 26, 2021
I didn't know what I was expecting, but this was certainly not what I expected from indie Vietnamese author(s). Was skeptical at first, but once you got through the beginning, the story just draw you in.
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