Fantasy world of a village of birds and other animals with valuable life lessons

Giang Hoang
Monash University
giang.hoang@monash.edu

September 3, 2023

*Editorial Note: This column reprints the Book Review on Amazon.com with permission from Dr. Giang Hoang, Monash University, Australia. It has been slightly edited for house-style presentation.

Fable, which is a literary genre and a succinct fictional story that illustrates or leads to a particular moral lesson, can be dated back to ancient times and found in almost every culture [1]. While this form of folk literature has been in history for thousands of years, it is probably not at the center stage of the book world at present when people are intrigued by a variety of entertainment.

Therefore, I think it takes a great deal of courage for author Quan-Hoang Vuong to write fables and venture out on Amazon’s bookshelf because he might find himself a lone wolf in this journey. Or perhaps they are written out of the author’s great passion or out of deep thoughts and lessons he wanted to share with readers. Embracing this view, I thoroughly read The Kingfisher Story Collection [2] and drew as many lessons as possible.



Illustration. Review on Amazon; https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG2NNHY6

One of the stories I like the most is the Virtue of Sacrifice. This piece of writing resonates with me because the sacrifice by a person for the greatest good of society might be forgotten or less recognized in this modern time. Still, one might argue that when someone serves more than himself/herself, he/she lives a meaningful life. Is it true that we all search for life’s purpose?

All in all, this book is worth reading as it brings readers to a fantasy world of a village of birds and other animals while still learning valuable life lessons.

References

[1] Cambridge Dictionary. (2023). Fable. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fable

[2] Vuong QH. (2022). The Kingfisher Story Collection. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG2NNHY6