If I’m being completely honest, this post was drafted partly out of spite, but these are also books that I have a great amount of love for or am looking forward to read due to recommendations from trusted friends. I want to elaborate on my experience as a huge fantasy reader from 2010-2014 in a separate post, but I will say that own-voices representation makes a world of difference for the person reading a book. For a long time, even if I was able to find a character who looked like me in a book, they still failed to accurately represent me as a whole, unique person, because they were written by white authors. When I finally found a book that represented me, where the character’s Asian-ness was not used as a way to other them in a fantasy world, where they were actually connected with their culture and took pride in it, I cried. My tears came from joy, yes, but also sadness for younger me as I thought about how different my own journey to being proud of my culture could have been if I had found these books sooner.

Without further ado, here are 20 books written by Asian authors to add to your TBR immediately.

Read more