KESHE CHOW For No Mortal Creature. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley

Australian Keshe Chow’s award-winning debut The Girl With No Reflection became an international bestseller. Her second does not disappoint.

In her hidden magical village, Jia Liu hasn’t felt as though she belongs for a long time, ever since it became clear that she was an anomaly among her people – an Empty, with no magical power. Jia struggled to feel useful until she started foraging and hunting for her village along the border with the neighbouring kingdom of Yske, where ‘witches’ are executed. As an Empty, Jia has always been safe from their witch-finding creatures, unlike the rest of her closeknit family.

When a routine foraging trip goes terribly wrong, Jia discovers that she has the rare ability to move between the realms of the living and the dead. All she had to do to unlock her magical power was to die.

Now that she has magic, everyone seems to want something from her, when all Jia wants to do is protect her beloved grandmother, whether in this world or the next. Forced to rely on Lin, the ghost of the boy who had broken her heart, and the Yskian Prince Essien for help, Jia has to work out who to trust and how much. She would sacrifice anything for her grandmother, and it may come to that as she faces the horrors of the death realm, following a vague prophecy that she once believed was nonsense.

The plot is gripping, full of misunderstandings and their often terrible consequences. In her acknowledgements, Chow describes the book as being in the spirit of both Inception and Wuthering Heights. Do not be deterred, however, if neither of those is your cup of tea. Comparisons to other things can always be made but, at its heart, this is a beautiful, original story about grief, letting go and finding your place. It also strikes a good balance for dark fantasy with a romance element – neither too horror-heavy nor too soppy.

There are some very insightful observations not only about romantic relationships and families but also about people and their motivations in general. The best examples are spoilers but this was powerful too:

Its rooms were garishly bright compared to my own modest dwelling, and I wilted in shame at the stark contrast. I knew [he] barely noticed the difference – or if he did, believed it charming – but privileged people rarely do. It’s those of us who’ve had to live with the reality, not the sanitized, romanticized version, who see such things with painful clarity.

I enjoyed discovering the richness of Chinese mythology, which is full of stories of many different kinds of ghosts and demons, as Chow shows in glorious, terrifying detail:

The shuǐguǐ jostled closer, their eyes black and hungry, their skin deathly pale, their fingers strangely elongated. Dark hair swirled around their heads like crowns, and their mouths were hinged open in silent, perpetual screams.

This hidden magical society has a place for non-binary characters, too. This inclusivity isn’t too hard to believe about an alternate ancient culture with a harsh day-to-day existence. Even though they’re often forced to move to hide from persecution and should know better, the people in Jia’s village still fall into a pattern of persecution themselves, adding a sense of realism. The outcasts this is directed at, however, are the Emptys born among them – who children tease is often a good indicator of what the adults are teaching them, whether on purpose or incidentally.

For No Mortal Creature is both entertaining and moving, and full of Jia’s dry wit:

I was six years old when it had become apparent. By that age, when I hadn’t so much as accidentally set any of my playthings on fire, or levitated, or unwittingly disappeared, the suspicions started.

This is a gripping read – very easy to binge. It almost feels silly and too obvious of me to describe a book about ghosts as hauntingly beautiful, but it’s true.

Keshe Chow For No Mortal Creature Penguin 2025 PB 480pp $27.99

Amelia Dudley has degrees in plant biology. But despite spending a lot of time in the garden, her plants still occasionally die.

You can buy For No Mortal Creature from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW.

You can also check if it is available from Newtown Library.

Tags: Australian authors, award-winning author, Chinese mythology, dark fantasy, fantasy fiction, Keshe | Chow, magic, prejudice, spirit world, The Girl With No Reflection